» Thu Aug 19, 2010 1:47 am
1. Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. This game is responsible for so much, but mainly it was the first game that got me addicted to video games and computers in general. It affected my tastes in music, my taste in art, my penchant for learning new things, my taste in games, everything.
2. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. What can I say? It introduced me to RPGs and Fantasy worlds, and brought me to these forums. I know every nook and cranny of Vvardenfel, and have bought the game no less than six times for discs wearing out from sheer overuse.
3. Jet Force Gemini. In the years before Morrowind I played JFG constantly. Sure I had other N64 games, and all of them were good in their own right and were given due love and affection, but Jet Force Gemini was the crown jewel of my collection. It had the biggest impact on me. Not even Ocarina of Time stands out against this game.
4. Company of Heroes. Probably one of the best World War II games period, including all the FPS ones, and my favorite "modern" RTS game. It's got the sound, the story, and the personality. Even though your men are just little figures, the voices make them feel alive and make you want to do whatever you can to pull that one lone infantry squad out alive no matter the cost.
5. Guild Wars. If ever I liked an MMO, this is it. Guild Wars stands unique for being so vastly different than other MMOs too, because of it's integral focus on story and unique caps. All of the weapons and armor have a max rating that they stop at, and everybody stops leveling at level 20. Since the field is so even then, it's completely up to your decision of what 8 skills to bring on the field and how you use them that determines the victor. Rather than being about who has played for the longest time and gotten the best items, it's about who is the most creative.
6. Summon Night Swordcraft Story. Guilty pleasure #1. It's adorable. Irresistibly adorable. I have played through it TWICE now, which is a far sight more than I can say for 90% of the games I play (most of them I never even finish), and I have every intention of playing through more times.
7. Rune Factory 3. Guilty pleasure #2. Also adorable. It has everything I enjoy most in these kinds of games. Cooking, crafting, forging, alchemy, fighting monsters, magic, and cute women! The list of things you can make is just massive.
8. Street Fighter IV. One of the newer games, and my first real fighting game. I'm terrible at it, but for some reason I keep going back and keep having fun even though I get stomped. It's single-handedly opened an entire new genre of video games that I never considered playing before.
9. Pokemon. I'll admit it. I'm a man. I play Pokemon. 600+ hours on the DS ones alone can't lie. You all know what you need to about Pokemon. It's formula hasn't changed much, because it just works. I keep saying I won't, but I'll probably end up getting the new one too one of these days.
10. http://www.foddy.net/Ninjas.html. What's this a tiny little flash game? Why yes it is, and yet for years I have found that it's the perfect little game to waste a few minutes on, and it never gets boring.
Honorable mention: Aquaria, Homeworld, Beyond Good And Evil, World Of Goo, Muramasa, The Lion King (for Sega Genesis), Aladdin (Sega Genesis), Blade Kitten, Borderlands, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic, Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance, all the Zelda games, Splinter Cell, Tropico 3, Vanguard Princess, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, Fallout (the first one), Ogame, Minecraft...and all the other games I really liked but can't quite remember right now.
