Must Have/Classic Games

[Strazos]

How many times are we going to do this thread? No one is ever really happy with the results, because you Always forget a title that someone puts up later in the thread.

[Merusk]

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.

No.  There is another.

It wasn't a bad little game.  Not great, but it amused me enough that I didn't feel robbed of the $20 I paid for it.

[Morfiend]

Sorry, I didnt word my post very well. It was an idea that sprang in to my head right as I was leaving work and wanted to post it before I left for the day.

What games from recent years, IE the last 2-3 years, would you consider the "New Classics". Games that in 3 to 4 years from now we will look back and say "Damn, that game was awesome, Im glad I didnt miss playing it, and if you havent, go back and play it now".

[Yegolev]

Oh, New Classics.  Sure.

Shadowhearts 1/2, maybe 3 but haven't tried that one yet.
HL2
Thief 3
GalCiv 2
TES IV
God of War
RE4
Culdcept
Phantom Dust
Paper Mario: TTYD
Ninja Gaiden
KOTOR
Atelier Iris 1/2
Can I say Mount & Blade?

I'm having that more-than-five problem again, but this list is more manageable.  Still forgetting some stuff.  I'll have to peruse the shelf again.

[Rasix]

I'll go with  a publication date of no earlier than 2003.

2003
Knights of the Old Republic
Beyond Good and Evil
Max Payne 2

2004
Shadow Hearts 2
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
Rome: Total War
Katamari Damacy
NWN: Platinum Edition (Ok, I'm cheating a bit here, but HOU came out in '03 and it's what makes NWN worth buying))

2005
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
God of War
Shadow of the Colossus
Resident Evil 4
Lumines

2006
Disgaea 2
Okami

All I can think of at the moment.  Games, from my perspective,  that will definately leave you a more enriched gamer.  I want to put Windwaker up.. but Okami is such a better version of it. 

I don't really care much for FPSs and I don't ever think MMOs will be considered classics.  In 2009, I really won't be able to play the WoW I did last year.  Something that evolves so much never really deserves a permanent place in time.

[WayAbvPar]

BF2

BF2 over BF or CS or Quake3 or UT2004?

Never played any of the Quakes or UTs other than demos. For small squad v squad games, I vastly prefered the RS series over Counterstrike (the tard factor was far lower). And I like BF2 more than any of the others in the series.

I can't believe I left off Master of Magic. That game ruled. Another oldie but goodie I thought of was Darklands. Buggy as hell, but was just a great game.

[Bunk]

Without reading everyone else's, and only going back a few years... (so no M.U.L.E. or Civ 2)

1) KotoR
2) GTA: San Andreas
3) Oblivion
4) Sims 2 (I'm sorry, I can't help it.)
5) Civ 4

Honorable mentions to Diablo II for still being installed, WoW, and Vampire:Bloodlines

[HaemishM]

ESPN NFL 2k4 (because of the FP football - 2k5 was a better game, but the FP wasn't as good)
Unreal Tournament 2k4
Everquest (yes, I said it, EQ. I played the fucking game for 2.5 years, if that's not a classic I don't know what is)
Vampire: Bloodlines
Resident Evil 4
Deus Ex

[Sky]

Ok, I'll try to tighten mine up. Going back to 2003:

Planetside - the best implementation of mmo to date imo
KotOR - wish I had played the pc version, over 100 hours on the xbox version
Gothic 2 - playing this right now
GTA:VC - SA was great, but VC is the classic imo
Vampire: Bloodlines - patch it!
CoH - until the grind :(
Deus Ex - not 2!!
BF:V/BF2 - I liked 1942 the best, though
Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic - Master of Magic returns
GalCiv - haven't played the sequel yet

[Riggswolfe]

Ok, no earlier than 2003:

Kotor 1/2
Jade Empire
WoW and Coh
Oblivion
Vampire: Bloodlines
Resident Evil 4 (the first RE game that I've truly played more than once)
Gothic 2 (I still need to finish it)

[Strazos]

From looking at these lists...especially mine...there seems to have been a sort of Peak in Gaming, particularly PC, between '98 and '02.

[raydeen]

All the main Elder Scrolls games
All the Kings Quest games
All the Doom games
All the Infocom games
All the Ultima games

That counts as five 'cause they'd all be on DVD or Blu-Ray or whatever high capacity format is coming down the pike.

Edit: Going back through I see we're talking newer games.

Oblivion
CoH
WoW
WC3 (Footies only. I can't get into WC3 past that).
UT2K4

[Yoru]

From looking at these lists...especially mine...there seems to have been a sort of Peak in Gaming, particularly PC, between '98 and '02.

That perception is probably unfairly skewed by the emphasis on "no more than ~5 years ago". There was lots of good stuff in that era and the years leading up to it.

Looking at the last 3 years though, and I'd be hard pressed to come up with more than a handful of outstanding titles.

[voodoolily]

Katamari Damacy
Paper Mario 1K Year Door*
Okami
God of War
Shadow of the Colossus

*The N64 Paper Mario really broke it into the genre and IMO is the real classic. I really want to add Lego Star Wars, but it's kinda niche-y.

I still think the single most important game to the birth of my fandom of gaming is Oregon Trail. The End.

[schild]

I still think the single most important game to the birth of my fandom of gaming is Oregon Trail. The End.

That would make a good thread. Most influential games. Etc.

[voodoolily]

So did you start it yet or shall I?

[Zetleft]

Ok for newish games.  I really had to struggle way too long on this list.
I guess GTA: SA & VC  (miami >- teh ghetto for aesthetics) but both are great games, still haven't beaten SA.
HL2 - and yet I stil haven't finished it either, must be my out of date computer
Planetside - Played this alot longer then any other MMO even UO and had a blast with it.  If my old outfit was still really active I could almost see myself still playing it.... too bad Sony just would not devote much resources to it besides those crappy expansions.  
BF2 - Hell I play it enough so that's gotta count for something.

bout all I can think of right now.

[Engels]

EQ (see Haemish's post, but tack on a few more years)
At least 3 games from 1982-84 who's name I don't remember that I played on either the Sinclair ZX-Spectrum or the C64
Spaceward Ho!
A REALLY OBSCURE adventure game by Sierra where you were a CIA agent. You were coached throughout the game by actually filmed 'segments' with ex directors of both the CIA and KGB. Does anyone remember this game at all?
Fallout
Deus Ex
Dark Forces (the first one)
Half Life

[Johny Cee]

Some great picks I had forgotten.

Tie Fighter:  We took turns playing this game in college.  Someone went out and bought the Star Wars soundtrack,  and we put the "Imperial March" piece on repeat and played.  Actually used to replay to get each and every bonus objective just to make sure we were advancing in the Order of the Empire.  Fun.

Colonization:  I loved this game as much or more than Civ.  The late game "fight for your independance against your home country" bit overcame the let down Civ-style strategy games give you when you fight past the mid game balance point and it's all just wiping up the remains of the other factions.

Myth:  Great, great, great RTT that pretended to be a RTS.  Formations and whatnot mattered,  and there was a hell of alot of tactics on some of the maps.  Good story (with massive Cook/Black Company influences) in the single player,  very good multiplayer.

I haven't been able to really enjoy resource based RTSes since.

Pirates!:  Old school black & white free form gameplay.  GTA owes alot to this game,  though some of it was bullshit.  I remember that the wind in the carribean was perpetually coming in one direction,  so to beat back upwind across the whole map I'd tack at a steep angle and go away for an hour or so.

Castlevania Symphony of the Night (that was the name of the last one on the original playstation, right?):  The greatest,  and last, sidescroller.

Honorable mentions:

Europa Universalis games and sequals
Total War games
Majesty (I don't know why I loved that sims meets fantasy rpg/rts thing)
The old Lucas Arts adventure games (Loom on through)
Quest for Glory/Kings Quest games
Diablos
The old Gold Box rpgs
Populous

[Driakos]

A REALLY OBSCURE adventure game by Sierra where you were a CIA agent. You were coached throughout the game by actually filmed 'segments' with ex directors of both the CIA and KGB. Does anyone remember this game at all?

Was it Spytek or Spycraft or something like that?  I think I remember the box.  It was next to 7th Guest and Myst at my store.. ..or the game I'm thinking of was.

[Lionhunter]

Where is Gothic 1!?!?!

[stray]

A REALLY OBSCURE adventure game by Sierra where you were a CIA agent. You were coached throughout the game by actually filmed 'segments' with ex directors of both the CIA and KGB. Does anyone remember this game at all?

Was it Spytek or Spycraft or something like that?  I think I remember the box.  It was next to 7th Guest and Myst at my store.. ..or the game I'm thinking of was.

Spycraft. Never did finish that one, but I remember it well.

Adventure title like Police Quest, except espionage based.

[edit]

Speaking of obscure CIA games, there was another one that came out in the 90's called "Central Intelligence". It was a strategy title like Romance or Nobunaga, except in modern times and espionage based. Instead of sending out ninjas to assassinate a warlord, you'd pay off disenfranchised South American students to carbomb their president. You could incite coups, arm guerilla forces, make shady deals with cartels, engage in propaganda for political parties, conduct surveillance, and generally make a mess of things.

[Ironwood]

( I can still tell you how to get the babble fish).

I really wish you would.

[Soln]

Where is Gothic 1!?!?!

SMOKE THE WEED!!  best buff evar

[Riggswolfe]

Where is Gothic 1!?!?!

Gothic 1 was neat but way too short for an RPG for me to be able to include it. Gothic 2 was a much better game. And of course, Gothic 3 comes out at the end of this month. (meaning I better hurry up and beat 2.)

[Sky]

Yeah, Gothic 1 was great. I was playing that when I was jonesing for the yet-unreleased Morrowind. I was a big Daggerfall fan, those epic dungeons were so cool. The funny thing is I ended up enjoying Gothic waaay more than the bland Morrowind, it had so much more character.

But Gothic 2 is a better game, especially the Gold version with the Night of the Raven expansion. I just got through to the new part of the island a couple nights ago and started exploring it last night. Logged off in a pirate camp, arr! I'm thinking it might be the best expansion I've ever seen because of the way it integrates throughout the entire game and adds a ton of content, instead of tacking it on the end. I'm still only Circle 3 magician, but omg Storm spell! One of the cooler spells I've seen outside Sacrifice.

Sacrifice was a great game, dragged down by having to have that hoard of (regretfully named) manawhores following you around to have enough mana for spells. A buddy and I played a shitton of that over the LAN back when we had a LAN group here. The high level spells in that game set the bar that has yet to be surmounted, any developer owes it to themself to play it and check out spells like Volcano and Tornado.

[WayAbvPar]

( I can still tell you how to get the babble fish).

I really wish you would.

 :-D :-D :-D

[Yegolev]

That counts as five 'cause they'd all be on DVD or Blu-Ray or whatever high capacity format is coming down the pike.

The first eight Ultimas plus Aklabeth are all on one CD.

I have to place Ico above Shadow of the Collossus.  Really.

[Rasix]

I have to place Ico above Shadow of the Collossus.  Really.

2001!  :-D  That is one I should probably pick up sometime.  It's under $30 on GameQuest Direct.

[Furiously]

I can't believe no one mentioned:

Star Control 2
Star Flight

props to sky for Syndicate.

[Yegolev]

I have Ur-Quan Masters installed on my PC right now.  It kinda makes me angry with the time limit.  I don't like time limits.

[Furiously]

I have Ur-Quan Masters installed on my PC right now.  It kinda makes me angry with the time limit.  I don't like time limits.

Change it in the source code.

[Sky]

I had it installed on my work mac for a while but had to uninstall it before I got fired.

[Zetleft]

I can't believe no one mentioned:

Star Flight

props to sky for Syndicate.

Star Flight, thank you, could not remember the name of that one.  Lost much time playing that game over and over, even though I sucked at it.  And yeah Bullfrog made some great games (insert EA hate), syndicate was the awesome, chain guns and flamethrowers and all assortment of armaments for my killing cyborgs. 

[Engels]

A REALLY OBSCURE adventure game by Sierra where you were a CIA agent. You were coached throughout the game by actually filmed 'segments' with ex directors of both the CIA and KGB. Does anyone remember this game at all?

Was it Spytek or Spycraft or something like that?  I think I remember the box.  It was next to 7th Guest and Myst at my store.. ..or the game I'm thinking of was.

Spycraft. Never did finish that one, but I remember it well.

Yep, that's the one. It had an ending that, nowadays, seems ironic; you could interrogate the prisoner with torture or not. If you tortured, you got the wrong answers and got thrown out of the CIA, ending the game. If you didn't, you finally found out who the mole is by simply lying to your superior about the information gathered, and flushing the mole out that way.