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Games so good that everyone should beat at least once in their lifetime

Matter of taste.
I just don't care for the backtracking brought about by the lack of shortcuts (less warp points than the Sorrow games, etc.; floors/walls breakable by powerups that give way to shortcuts back to previous areas in Super Metroid) and there being too many hallways and vertical shafts lending artificial size and traversal time to the castle.
 

GymWolf

Member
I just don't care for the backtracking brought about by the lack of shortcuts (less warp points than the Sorrow games, etc.; floors/walls breakable by powerups that give way to shortcuts back to previous areas in Super Metroid) and there being too many hallways and vertical shafts lending artificial size and traversal time to the castle.
When i played aria of sorrow people told me that was as good as sotn, boy the disappointment was absurd.

Like i said, matter of taste, for me they are not even in the same universe.
 

Needlecrash

Member
Oh I got some recommendations...

  • Bayonetta 1
  • Killer7 (CULT CLASSIC/MUST PLAY)
  • No More Heroes (Switch port is the lead platform)
  • Dark Souls 1 & 3
  • Bloodborne
  • Elden Ring
  • Onimusha 1-3
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2007 version. The "All Ghillied Up mission is one of THE most memorable levels I've ever played.)
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009 version)
  • Max Payne 1-3
  • Mega Man X3
  • Bioshock
  • Final Fantasy Tactics
  • Final Fantasy VII
  • Chrono Trigger
  • Star Ocean Second Evolution
  • Front Mission 3
  • Brave Fencer Musashi
  • Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2005 version)
  • Need for Speed: Underground
  • Super Metroid
  • Metroid Fusion
  • Metroid Dread
  • Resident Evil (1996 & 2002 Remake)
  • Resident Evil 7
  • Resident Evil 8
  • Einhander
  • Battlefield 4
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time
  • The King of Fighters XV
  • Super Mario Brothers 3
  • Mass Effect 2
  • Kirby's Adventure
  • Contra: Hard Corps
  • Castlevania: Bloodlines
  • Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo
  • Thunder Force IV/Lightening Force (One of the best shmups on the Sega Genesis/Sega Mega Drive)
  • Vectorman (Sega's answer to Donkey Kong Country)
  • Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Sega Saturn version too - Gekka no Yasoukyoku)
  • Castlevania :Rondo of Blood
  • Returnal
  • Demon's Souls (2020 Remake)
 
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rofif

Can’t Git Gud
Bro go on YouTube and you’ll see loads of young uns discovering NES classics. Gen z is based.
This is not real. it's like 0.01%
but sure - I would also recommend old games to kids. THat's the reason why I packed my nephew laptop with this stuff
 
No point in listing a bunch of games everyone knows, so I just mention two which are seldomly mentioned:
Clickr (sort of match3 game but literally with a twist, storepage seems to be removed from steam but keys might be available somewhere)
Waves (RIP to the dev who made both games free!)
 
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Dr.brain64

Member
Watch dogs 2 is so good!

MarcusHolloway.png
 

Fools idol

Banned
if I narrow it down to a single game I battle in my mind between 2 so therefore, I'll say both.

Mario Odyssey
Dark Souls 1 + Artorias DLC.

Why Mario Odyssey? It's gaming at it's most joyful and polished, purest quality. The blissful gameplay, beautiful light hearted world to explore. The simplistic yet challenging puzzles that engage players of any age or skill level. It really is a joy to play and completely timeless.

Why Dark Souls?

Well, simply put, aside from generally being a masterpiece, it is a pure form of perfectly executed vision regardless of industry notms and expectations. It's genre defining, it's challenging, a formula that will be replicated and borrowed from for decades (unique when it came out and for new players, obviously). To this day I have never had 'that feeling' from anything else. All souls fans know what that feeling is. Miyazaki was allowed to go wild with the mechanics that demons souls laid out as a foundation, in his own way of obscure world building.
 

asker

Member
Been gaming since 80's but the only game the game that has had a profound impact on me, outside of just being a fantastic video game, is Outer Wilds.
 
Trying to think of something more obscure, so I'll go with Shining Force II. I loved the way the game had a wide variety of playable characters and also how it avoided random encounters (which I loathe). It had a good story and was really enjoyable.
 
-Dino Crisis 2
- Grand Theft Auto San Andreas
-Live A Live
-BoTW
-NFL Gameday '98
-StarCraft 2 WoL
-Crackdown
- Final Fantasy Tactics
- Front Mission 2
- Front Mission 3
- Suikoden III
- Suikoden V
- Xenosaga III
- Mario Kart 64
- Mario 64
- Waverace
- Starfox 64
- Nuclear Strike
- That Star Wars game for GameCube
- Mike Tyson's Punch Out!!
- Tecmo Bowl
- NBA Jame
- Street Fighter 2
- Final Fight
- Dolphin Blue
- Pussy Galore
- Tactics Ogre Knight of Lodis
- Radiant Silvergun
- Panzer Dragoon Saga
- Ogre Battle 64
- Shadow of the Colossus
- Sonic CD
- Warhawk
- Twisted Metal 2
- Skies of Arcadia
- Grandia II
- Power Stone
- TMNT 2
Dork
 
Doing a lot of talking for someone who didn't name a better JRPG or WRPG.
JRPGs: Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy XII, Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest IV, Dragon Quest V, Suikoden II, Paper Mario N64 and Thousand Year Door, Persona 3-5, various Shin Megami Tensei games

WRPGs: Baldur's Gate II, Planescape: Torment, Divinity: Original Sin 2, Fallout: New Vegas, Ultima Underworld

And that's just for starters.
 
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When i played aria of sorrow people told me that was as good as sotn, boy the disappointment was absurd.

Like i said, matter of taste, for me they are not even in the same universe.

SotN has more going for it in terms of lore, items and bestiary, but wastes too much time with the backtracking and traversal.

Aria is way better about not slowing down the player. But I guess you're right that it's a matter of taste. I just don't care for too many space filling hallways and shafts.

Lots of games listed here that most people are going to have a really fucking hard time enjoying compared to modern games.

Says the person with a Pokemon avatar.
 

Tams

Member
Says the person with a Pokemon avatar.

The Pokémon games are one of the few that have aged well, mostly because the art style isn't anywhere near an attempt at realism. Well, from the second generation.

There are of course others, like Age of Empires II (though like Pokémon, Age of Empires (the first one) has aged terribly too).

I think I've played enough 'retro' games and been disappointed enough for my opinion to be valid. Goldeneye was the worst. I wish I'd never gone back to that and kept my rose-tinted glasses on for it. I used to adore it.
 
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solidus12

Member
Here's a varied list of great games:

Metal Gear Solid
Tekken 3
Metal Gear Solid 3
Until Dawn
Bloodborne
Batman Arkham (Asylum/City/Knight)
God of War (2005)
The Last of Us
 

Naked Lunch

Member
Silent Hill 2 - preferably play it after midnight alone in a quiet room. An unforgettable experience for any media let alone videogames in general. The closest anything has come to an actual dream/nightmare.

Radiant Silvergun - every gamer needs to play thru the entire story mode to see just how far devs can push the limits of skill based gameplay requiring 100% of the gamer's concentration. The bosses are all masterclass and the full experience is a demanding, unrelenting, exhaustive epic - hard to describe unless youve done it. The final set of bosses really need to be seen (played) to be believed.

Streets of Rage 2 - play it with your little cousin or your grandpa. Anyone will enjoy kicking thug ass with incredible music from start to finish. The perfect beatemup coop videogame.

Final Fantasy VI and Dragon Quest VIII - just perfect comfort food unforgettable JRPGs.

I think a Nintendo game needs to be there as well but im having a tough time pinning the right one down.
 
Chrono Trigger
Super Metroid
Metal Gear Solid
Super Mario World
Shadow of the Colossus
Dark Souls
Skyrim
Final Fantasy VI, VII
Monster Hunter 4U/World
Super Mario Galaxy

Those games would be a good start, but there’s way too many to name. Also, highly subjective as these kinds of lists always are.
 
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AlexxKidd

Member
JRPGs: Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy XII, Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest IV, Dragon Quest V, Suikoden II, Paper Mario N64 and Thousand Year Door, Persona 3-5, various Shin Megami Tensei games

WRPGs: Baldur's Gate II, Planescape: Torment, Divinity: Original Sin 2, Fallout: New Vegas, Ultima Underworld

And that's just for starters.

You're still doing a lot of talking for someone who didn't name a better JRPG than FFVII or better WRPG than Witcher 3.

I'm waiting on you to name such games?
 

MacReady13

Member
Just off the top of my head-

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Silent Hill
Silent Hill 2
Resident Evil
Resident Evil 2
Resident Evil 4
Super Mario World
Super Mario Bros 3
Super Mario 64
Mario Galaxy
Mario Galaxy 2
Super Metroid
Metroid Prime
Zelda Ocarina of Time
Zelda A Link to the Past
Uncharted 1
Uncharted 2
Uncharted 3
Crash Bandicoot
Mega Man 3
Donkey Kong Country
Donkey Kong Country 2
TMNT Turtles in Time
Super Mario World 2 Yoshi’s Island

Plenty more but that’s a small sample size of classics.
 
The Pokémon games are one of the few that have aged well, mostly because the art style isn't anywhere near an attempt at realism. Well, from the second generation.

There are of course others, like Age of Empires II (though like Pokémon, Age of Empires (the first one) has aged terribly too).

I think I've played enough 'retro' games and been disappointed enough for my opinion to be valid. Goldeneye was the worst. I wish I'd never gone back to that and kept my rose-tinted glasses on for it. I used to adore it.

Eh, a lot of people in this thread haven't had their brain mature enough to comprehend how subjective video games are, and aren't careful enough to realize how easy it is to post something stupid.

How you enjoy something that you're not accustomed to depends on your level of leniency and about a billion other biases and influences that form your view. You don't need to post a drive-by and diss other opinions that don't fall in line with yours and your world view on the subject at hand.

I wouldn't play a Pokemon game even if you would pay me, but i wouldn't disrespect the fact that you love them with lazy blanket shit statements like "OhHhh tHeY h4vEn'T AgED wEEll!!". As for Goldeneye, well, that framerate and its controls were pure shit to begin with, though i know some that can stomach it, and on the other flipside of the coin i knew people wen Goldeneye released which couldn't stomach it at all (mainly PC gamers, as i have always been one as well since the 90s). I'm one of those people who couldn't stomach it. I don't know how the Hell you could enjoy that even as a kid, haha, unless you had no frame of reference and never played something above 1 FPS.

But on a more serious note, i think you can play that thing on PC with mods and standard controls if you're feeling nostalgic about the game.
 

Tams

Member
Eh, a lot of people in this thread haven't had their brain mature enough to comprehend how subjective video games are, and aren't careful enough to realize how easy it is to post something stupid.

How you enjoy something that you're not accustomed to depends on your level of leniency and about a billion other biases and influences that form your view. You don't need to post a drive-by and diss other opinions that don't fall in line with yours and your world view on the subject at hand.

I wouldn't play a Pokemon game even if you would pay me, but i wouldn't disrespect the fact that you love them with lazy blanket shit statements like "OhHhh tHeY h4vEn'T AgED wEEll!!". As for Goldeneye, well, that framerate and its controls were pure shit to begin with, though i know some that can stomach it, and on the other flipside of the coin i knew people wen Goldeneye released which couldn't stomach it at all (mainly PC gamers, as i have always been one as well since the 90s). I'm one of those people who couldn't stomach it. I don't know how the Hell you could enjoy that even as a kid, haha, unless you had no frame of reference and never played something above 1 FPS.

But on a more serious note, i think you can play that thing on PC with mods and standard controls if you're feeling nostalgic about the game.

Clearly it wasn't a drive-by if I'm still here defending my position.

And the appeal of GoldenEye, for me at least, as that it was James Bond. I didn't care about it being a console shooter or whatever, it was James Bond. You couldn't find that on PC (as a proper released game) at the time.
 

TonyK

Member
In my case, The Last of Us part 1 (remake) and part 2, together the best playing experience I have had since Resident Evil 4 and Half Life 2 (my previous favourite games).

Also, Inside, a true piece of art.
 

cireza

Member
Outer Wilds
The Talos Principle
Steins Gate
Nier Automata

I like science-fiction.

Not listing older games, otherwise it would never end.
 
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MastAndo

Member
Outside of the classics mentioned in this thread, I'm going to go with Cuphead (and DLC).

It's difficult, but it just takes a little stick-to-itiveness, and comes with a great sense of accomplishment. Plus, the graphics style and music are just topnotch. One of my all-time favorites.
 
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Oof85

Member
I consider Outer Wilds one of the best games of all time, IMHO, it has a unique game design, that breaks the fourth wall in ways that no game did before, making a connection with the player that it's the most organic one that the medium can aspire to.

In such a way, that to talk more about its mechanics, is considered a giant spoiler.

Its a game about knowledgement, space, curiosity, and exploration.

This game should and is worth to be talked about much more.
Don't worry, it's spiritual godfather MM never got the acclaim and respect it deserves either.

Some games are just too great to be as lauded as they should be.
 

Oof85

Member
To answer the thread, I'd say if you don't have a few Nintendo games down as a requirement you're not understanding what the threadstarter asked.

There's so many games nowadays that have Nintendo influenced game design DNA running through them that their exclusion is frankly, odd to me.

Super Mario Bros is one.
TLOZ:LTTP is another.
Super Metroid doesn't have to explain itself.
Hell, Paper Mario seems to be the next Nintendo ip that's being mined from these days.
Smash Bros Ultimate

Now imo I don't think you have to just have Nintendo games on your list but imo they should have a presence.

Tetris, Sotc, Mgs, Myst/Riven, Lucas Arts titles, a Simcity management type as well, Resi4, Halo 3, COD MW, Baldurs Gate, Diablo, Thief/System Shock/Deus Ex/something emergent based, and so many more.
 
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