Must Have/Classic Games

[Morfiend]

If you guys HAD to pick a few games, say, up to five in the last few years, that you would consider your favorites or "classics" fo you. They dont have to be big games, just what you feel are classics. The kind of game you just really really had fun playing, and looking back woulfd be very bummed if you missed them. What would you pick?

I was thinking about this, what would my 5 classic games be.

Beyond Good and Evil
Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4
Saints Row
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

Those are the only games I can think of that really sucked me in, and where downright awesome for me.

[Samwise]

Have to agree on GTA:Vice City.  I liked the other two as well, but Vice City had some indescribable sparkle that the others lacked.
Max Payne.  (The first one.  I try to pretend that the sequel never happened.)
American McGee's Alice.
Half-Life Episode 1.
Vampire: Bloodlines.

[WayAbvPar]

Can I pick series of games? If so, it would look like this-

Ultima series
Civ series
X-Com
Pirates!
5th place tie between the Rainbow 6/Rogue Spear/Raven Shield Series and the Battlefield series


If I had to pick individual games, it would go something like this-

Ultima IV
Civ II
X-Com
Pirates!
BF2

Honorable mention to EVE, Elite, Jagged Alliance, Seven Cities of Gold, Madden series, anything by Stuart Smith, and the Elder Scrolls series.

I am sure I am forgetting some fantastic games, but those are the ones that leapt instantly to mind.

[schild]

Posting in a list thread about Deus Ex and Planescape: Torment.

OMG, 5 GAMES? DESERT ISLAND STYLE?

Deus Ex
Planescape: Torment
Disgaea 2
Super Mario All Stars
Resident Evil 4

Honorable mention goes to Final Fantasy 6.

Edit: That's right, I'm switching things up on you. No one expects All Stars, eh eh? Yea, that's right. I'm the fucking bleeding edge. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.

[Trippy]

How far back are we allowed to go? You say "classic" games but also "last few years".

[hal]

OMG!! Someone said vampire the masquerade bloodlines. Samwise is the guru!1. That game blew away my ideas of what a computer game can be. I'll guess it doesn't work for everbody but It sure worked for me.

[schild]

OMG!! Someone said vampire the masquerade bloodlines. Samwise is the guru!1. That game blew away my ideas of what a computer game can be. I'll guess it doesn't work for everbody but It sure worked for me.

Huh? We gave it game of the year before the official patches. Noob.

[hal]

Ya, how far back?? hitchhikers guide of the galaxy was pretty huge in its day ( I can still tell you how to get the babble fish). Zork in its day. The original adventure (what are we talking here? 1977??). Hunt the wompas if you had access to an ASR33. But thats punch cards and paper tape. Ya I was there, Ya I played them and Ya, I was crappy at them but loved every minute of it. There are signposts in the evolution of computer games. Ultima comes to mind. We should do a thread about them some time. Seems like  place for angst but well meaning angst. And thats gotta be good don't ya think??

[Azazel]

This is tricky. I mean are we talking games that were teh awesome at the time, and maybe for quite awhile afterwards?
What if they've been superceded now? (ie noone plays them anymore, or you hand a great time but wouldn't go back again?)

I'd go:

BF1942 w/DC (dead game now, since it's effectively online-only)
Everquest 1 (cant go back)
Vice City (yep, there was something special about VC over the other two)
Max Payne 1 (though I enjoyed the sequel)
World of Warcraft (well I'm still playing it, but on and off for nearly 2 years now has to count)

..though, let's face it. three of those five just won't work on a desert island. And EQ1 isn't a game I could honestly recommend someone go and start playing these days.

I'm just not sure if you can call something "classic" a few months after release. To me you kinda have to be able to look back at somethng after at least a couple of years. Sants Row is only a few months old, so you may have loved it but will it age gracefully or badly or indifferently? (think Tekken 1, TohShinDen on PS1, Daytona on Saturn)

[sinij]

BF2

BF2 over BF or CS or Quake3 or UT2004?


For me top 5 would be:

PlaneScape Torment
Star Craft
Fallout 2
DeusEx
MoO2

[Azazel]

Well it depends how "classic" we're going with this. Doom may have been a classic for example, but I only played the PS1 port. CS may be a classic but I didn't like it. Quake 2 bought but never got around to playing (still have it in the shelf behind me). BF was where *I* had my biggest and longest FPS 

[hal]

see?? Angst!! But well meaning angst. BF 1942 is surely a point for at least some of us. PVP centric but a good game. I'm guessing our Aussie friend doesn't get the same experience being half a globe away. Lag and all.

[Azazel]

We have servers here for FPS games. Much like any major cities will. Melbourne has roughly the same population as Denver. I'm sure Denver has some servers for FPSs somewhere..

Lag only becomes an issue with games where the servers are located in the US, though games like Planetside sucked while WoW and EQ are just fine.

[Strazos]

I'm kind of bending the rules here...

Every BioWare game from BG1 onwards, excluding NWN. Specifically, this includes the entire Baldur's Gate Saga, KotOR and Jade Empire. Yeah, I went there.

BIS's Infinity Engine games - IWD series, Torment. Also, Fallout.

Kohan. This game has a special little spot in my RTS heart.

NOLF 1/2.

Deus Ex.

That should be about it for a very short list.

[Flood]

1. System Shock
2. System Shock 2
3. Soldier of Fortune: Double Helix
4. Civ 4
5. Twisted Metal 2 (Play Station version)

If Schild can slip one in I will too, for Honorable Mention I'd add The Syndicate, with M.U.L.E right behind.

[Azazel]

3. Soldier of Fortune: Double Helix
5. Twisted Metal 2 (Play Station version)

Rulesets never work for these things.

SOF2 was on the edge of my list. I played through it twice and have been thinking about rnning through it a third time. Shame Ravensoft didn't make a third.

TM2 was *the* multiplayer PS1 game for me and my friends. I'd have to add that to my list.
Oh, and X-Com. The first one.

[Big Gulp]

5 Desert Island games, and I'm ignoring the "recent" thing, these are all time.

X-Com
Roadwar 2000
Thief 2
Civilization II
Red Baron

[stray]

Games released in the last 5 years?

Thief 2
Deus Ex
Battlefield 1942
GTA:SA
THPS 4

[edit]

Would be too hard to list a "Best 5 Games Ever". Not gonna try.

[Flood]

Yeah, SOF2 is a great game, but I admit that a certain amount of egocentrism is coloring my opinion because I was a top ranked league player for a good little run, back when I thought I might play games "for a living"    The weapon design and physics in that game are still the best I have ever played IMHO.

And as for TM2, oh lordy how I loved me that game.  I'm surprised my PS didn't melt as much as my best friend(s) and I played it.  If there is ever a TM2 World Tournament I still beleive I can come out of the woodwork and fire up Specter and destroy all who oppose me with my cheeser ghost missle tactics. 

[Azazel]

Fir me SOF2 was the first PC FPS that really stuck in my mind after I played and finished it. Not because of the gore either, it just had a great feel to it and a good variety of environments, and was damn good looking, too. Also, Warthog FTW!

[Flood]

Fir me SOF2 was the first PC FPS that really stuck in my mind after I played and finished it. Not because of the gore either, it just had a great feel to it and a good variety of environments, and was damn good looking, too. Also, Warthog FTW!

LOL Warthog!  Man I miss my days playing that game with my pals *sigh*  Anyway yea, I'd say the only other FPS games in the calibre of SOF are HL2 and Far Cry.

[Yoru]

There are too many awesome games. I'd have to break my top 5 down into "best in genre".

1. Builders/Simulators: Sim City 2000. Expacks optional.
2. RPGs: This is a hard one for me. I'd say Fallout 2 narrowly edges out Torment for me. Narrowly.
3. Shooters/First Person Action: Deus Ex, hands down, no questions asked.
4. Adventure: Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge. Hands down, no questions asked, again.
5. Strategy: Master of Orion 2. Third time, no contest.

(If I can sneak in RTS, then #6 is Total Annihilation. If I can sneak in mods, then #7 is Action Quake 2.)

Oh wait, last five years? Uhm...

1. Shooters/FPA: Deus Ex.
2. Strategy: Civilization 4.
3. Roamers: Oblivion.
4. RTS: Homeworld.
5. RPGs: Knights of the Old Republic.

I'm categorizing Oblivion as a Roamer since I feel it has more in common with the freeform gameplay of GTA than with the story-centric experiences of KOTOR, Torment and other RPGs.

[Rasix]

Uggg.. too many games.  Limiting it to 5 seems criminal. 

I'm not going desert island style, because that would mean a special reverence for replayability.  I felt the tone of the original post was a game that moved you in the sense that you feel you'd be less of a person if you missed out. 

Shadow Hearts 2
Planescape: Torment
Fallout 2 Earthbound
Deus Ex
Disgaea 2 (this would cover the replayability)

I'm pissed that I'd be leaving games like SS2, Vampire: Bloodlines and KOTOR.  Games that had a profound effect on my gaming experience.  Of course, if you go last five years, I think Fallout 2 and PS:T fall out of that.  SS2 I only played a couple years ago and it still had a rather poignant effect on me.  Gah, leaving RE4 off is making me cringe.  I feel bad, dirty somehow.

[Yegolev]

No way can I narrow this down to five games.  No desert-island style for me, either; I'd only be able to play a few of them multiple times before I started trying to make a car out of coconuts.

Games I played that had a big effect on me, how about that?  Games that left a real mark on my psyche, or are just damn fine games.

X-COM/X-COM:TFTD
Thief
Super Mario World
Blaster Master
Ultima VII
System Shock
System Shock 2
Daggerfall
Vagrant Story
Final Fantasy Tactics
Final Fantasy IV, VI, and yeah even VII
Super Metroid
Shadowhearts
Pac-Man ... yeah, that's right, bitches
Monkey Island
Day of the Tentacle
Ocarina of Time
Diablo 2
Starcraft
Bushido Blade
Deus Ex

I am assuredly leaving out a few.

[Azazel]

LOL Warthog!  Man I miss my days playing that game with my pals *sigh*  Anyway yea, I'd say the only other FPS games in the calibre of SOF are HL2 and Far Cry.

Oh yeah, HL2 was great and I finally played through FC early this year. Both awesome games as well in the genre but I completely forgot them. I guess SOF2 stands out as the first one of that quality I played. And I guess that's another point about these lists. The differences between something persistant like a MMOG, or primarily online-and-replayable like a BF/2 compared to the SP FPS experience that you put away after finishing. Once I buy my new gaming rig later in the year or early next year I might give one or both of them another playthrough with everything set at maximum. Might do the same for the Max Paynes as well. And hell, one more run through SOF2...

That's a difficulty beyond MMOGs and your CS/DOD/BF games when it comes to finding the time to play new things.. old favorites that are still fun for another-go-round. Not to say anything of the Civ/Sims/Movies type games.

[Driakos]

Diablo II
Zelda: The Wind Waker
Dawn of War + Expansion
World of Warcraft
Grim Fandango

I was actually depressed when Grim Fandango ended.  Like you are at the end of a good book (or series of books).  Depressed that the entertainment was over.

If I get to include older games.  Magic Drop, Samurai Shodown IV, and Final Fantasy III (the US 3, I forget what FF it was in Japan). Ohh.. and Super Bomberman 2.

[Tebonas]

Deus Ex (or the System Shocks, hard to choose one of the three over the others)
GTA: Vice City (Its scary how much better I like it than the other GTAs, I have absolutely no clue why)
Master of Magic
Nethack (The Original Diablo, accept no substitutes)
Planescape: Torment

[Trippy]

Nethack (The Original Diablo, accept no substitutes)

That would be Rogue not Nethack.

[Cyrrex]

Crap, I'm worried that I am going to ruin what is otherwise a nice thread, but I'm gonna post anyway.  In no particular order:

Far Cry (PC) - talk about an underrated game.  Minus the ridiculous system requirements (at the time anyway) technical and compatibility issues, easily the best FPS I have ever played.

FFVII - opened a whole new world of gaming for me.  Was, at the time, the most amazing thing I had ever experienced...the only 40+ hour (single player) game that I have played through twice.  How the fuck did they manage to do all that shit on the PS1 anyway?

SWG (pre-CU) - yeah, I know.   But it got me back into gaming after more than a year off, plus the fact that it popped my MMO cherry.  No other game has gotten so much of my time, and I don't regret it.

KOTOR - there are probably a million ways that the KOTOR formula can be improved, but this was the first game that showed me that "interactive movie" type of game (maybe that is a poor description...I'm thinking storytelling, voice-acting, decision making for good or ill, etc.) could really shine.

Street Fighter 2 - Best Fighter Ever.  If I could find like minded idiots to sit around with me and drink beer in front of a copy of SF2, I'm sure I could still play it for hours every day.  Sadly, the XBL version is said to be a lagging monstrosity, and I cannot force myself to face that let-down.

Honorable Mention:  Ocarina of Time is probably my favorite from the Zelda series...kept the charm of prior installments intact and brought the series into 3D.  I thought Wind Waker lost some of the original appeal, even if it was nicer to look at.

[stray]

I was actually depressed when Grim Fandango ended.  Like you are at the end of a good book (or series of books).  Depressed that the entertainment was over.

All Tim Schafer games make me feel that way.

Well, everything except Psychonauts. And even then, that was good fun.

[Tebonas]

That would be Rogue not Nethack.

Accoding to the Diablo developers it was both.

"Rogue-like games really influenced us when we created Diablo. When we started conceptualizing, we got together and said to ourselves:

-remember Rogue and Nethack?
-yeah! yeah!
-Remember how goo they were? Everything was placed randomly, you never knew what you would find ahead of time. You would pick up these great
items all throughout the game and then when you started over, everything was different!
-yeah! yeah!
-Well, that's what we want to do.
-Great!

But we also wanted to be graphically stunning (or rich), like all games in 1997 had to be.

A mention of Rogue just didn't make sense when talking about Nethack. But I'm always ready to geek out about Roguelikes, I loved them all to death over the years. The Epyx version of Rogue on my Atari ST with tile graphics? That was the game that started the whole obsession I have for them.

[Merusk]

Hm..

TIE Fighter
Master of Magic
Civs

Those games haven't left my hard drive since I bought them.  Even 4 PCs after I bought TIE, I hunted-down a version that would work in XP just so I could continue playing, and searched to find a way to continue playing MoM so they must remain.  Civs i'd just go with the current iteration (4) because I don't have the problems with the new systems a lot of oldtime fans do.

The last two are hard, though.  Let's say

Baldur's Gate II
Lego Star Wars II

[Sky]

Recentish stuff:

GTA:VC
BG2
BF1942
Thief 2
Alpha Centauri

Bah.

Ultima (4,5,7,7.5 never played 6)
Ultima Underworld
SimGolf
Age of Wonders:Shadow Magic
Master of Magic
Wing Commander (1,2)
TIE Fighter
Dune 2
Syndicate
Tribes 2
Dungeon Keeper
Vampire: Bloodlines
GTA (3, VC, SA)
Civ (1,2,3,4 but especially 2)
Alpha Centauri
Colonization
Daggerfall/Arena
UO
System Shock
Deus Ex
XCom
Fallout (1,2)
Mafia
Thief (1,2,3)
Freedom Force (1,2)
KotOR
Gothic (1,2)

And of course the game that got me into computer gaming, Adventure (aka Colossal Cave aka Zork) running on a mainframe, played on a dumb terminal in the 70s.

Just off the top of my head. Just trying to think of games I played a lot of over the years. There were other good games I didn't put in as much time or finish like these.

[Yegolev]

I forgot about Master of Magic.  At first I thought everyone was talking about Magic & Mayhem, but as far as I know I am the only person that bought a copy.

Street Fighter II Turbo

[Riggswolfe]

Hmmm, for me:

1.All Bioware games, yes even NWN, if I'm stuck on an island the toolset alone could keep me busy for months. (I found playing with it to be great fun, I just didn't have the time/inclination to truly make it work like it could have. My biggest achievement was creating a new follower who was a vampire and had a fairly cool storyline to go with her.)
2.Fallout 1/2
3.MOO2
4. Sims 2 plus all expansion packs. If nothing else, finding ways to make my Sims into weird Sim serial killers would keep me entertained.
5. Probably WOW. An mmo can waste huge chunks of time and WOW is probably the one that kept me busy the longest. That or COH, the grind might not be that bad on a desert island.