Your favorite game recommendations

[EnigmaticParadigm]

Crystalis, Chrono Trigger, Legendary Axe, Blazing Lazers, Eihander, Super Metroid, Castlevania III, and Dragon Warrior IV.

To be young again .

[Lord Thanos]

If it came down to 1 game, I would say

Final Fantasy Tactics (for PS1, can be played on PS2)

Great story, great characters, you start off as a very weak character, eventually you become amazingly powerful due to the fantastic weapons and equipment you buy, unlock and find throughout the game

To fully enjoy it, avoid using characters like Orlandu, Cloud, Agrias and a few other secret characters, they make the game way too easy, they deal sick damage

[Vinen]

In no order,

Star Ocean, Tales of Destiny 2 (JP release, not ToE), FF4jp, Grandia, Xenogears

[McCheese]

Advance Wars, for the Gameboy Advance.

Not only the best portable game ever made, but quite possibly one of the best turn-based strategy games ever made...for any system. It even blows most PC games I've played out of the water.

Easy to learn, hard to master. Incredibly eye-pleasing graphics and tons of depth. Tons of extra maps, CO's, and other goodies to unluck PLUS you could make your own scenarios.

Anyone who owns a Gameboy and doesn't own at least ONE of the Advance Wars games (there have been a few now) isn't really a video game fan.

I've had the game for years now, and I still break out my dusty old Gameboy Advance every-so-often just to play a little Advance Wars.

Screenshots:

[Kiksar]

Originally Posted by Vorph

I could try to explain my fascination with the game, but if I was into self-deprecation and telling my life story on the intarweb then I'd just link my LJ or MySpace. Thankfully I'm not one of those tards though.

So... yea, I agree--Shenmue was a great game. One of these days I'm going to actually sit down and play the Shenmue II import I bought for my Dreamcast like 3 years ago and never touched. :/

Heh, I guess if you feel it's justified... Just don't say another unkind work about HL2, and stop listening to so much goddamn death metal :-(.

I played like 1/3 through Shenmue 2 and I thought it kicked ass as well. I didn't own a memory card for my Dreamcast when I got it though. And whatever gameshark card (or something) you needed to play it with wouldn't let me save either, so I never took the time to beat it without turning it off. I seriously miss so many Sega games, if you couldn't tell from my post.

But!

The new plan for Shenmue has been to include the whole series - chapters 1-16 - on at least one next-generation console.

I'll take a guess and say it'll be the on the XBox 360.

Oh, and someone mentioned Psychonauts, there's another good one if you like the style of old LucasArts stuff made new!

[Communistbloc]

Psychonauts is soooo good.

[Schar]

Originally Posted by McCheese

Advance Wars, for the Gameboy Advance.

Not only the best portable game ever made, but quite possibly one of the best turn-based strategy games ever made...for any system. It even blows most PC games I've played out of the water.

Easy to learn, hard to master. Incredibly eye-pleasing graphics and tons of depth. Tons of extra maps, CO's, and other goodies to unluck PLUS you could make your own scenarios.

Anyone who owns a Gameboy and doesn't own at least ONE of the Advance Wars games (there have been a few now) isn't really a video game fan.

I've had the game for years now, and I still break out my dusty old Gameboy Advance every-so-often just to play a little Advance Wars.

Screenshots:

I just bought Advance Wars: Dual Strike for my DS. I'd never played a game in the series before, but i'm really enjoying it. I'm only 10 missions in so far. Have you played it?

[Mero]

Ultima IV

Elder Scrolls:Morrowind. (except combat system)

Tecmo Bowl for Nintendo

RBI Baseball for Nintendo

Call of Duty(and CoD:United Offensive)

---actually DS2 isn't bad, I'm playing it everynight and find myself enjoying it but having to "nerf" myself to keep it exciting. 4 man group is just two easy. Playing it with just 2 right now and its keeping me interested---

Neverwinter Nights.

Diablo2

Doom

Splinter Cells Series on Xbox

[McCheese]

I just bought Advance Wars: Dual Strike for my DS. I'd never played a game in the series before, but i'm really enjoying it. I'm only 10 missions in so far. Have you played it?

Unfortantly, no. I don't have a DS. However, I have actually been tempted to buy a DS just so I can play Dual Strike

[Cadrid]

Gonna do this by genres.

Role-playing
Final Fantasy 6 (3 in the US)

For one thing, the story was epic, the plot twists were great, and the game had some of the best characters I've ever witnessed, each with great backstory. The graphics were amazing for its time, as was the musical score. There were so many side-quests, areas to explore, and the game felt very epic.


First-person Shooter
Half-Life

I know others will scream "QUAKE!!11!" at me, but the fact that Half-Life had not only a good multiplayer game, but the single-player was, in my opinion, awesome as well. Great story, great engine, great multiplayer... Gotta give props.


Fighter
Mortal Kombat

Aside from being the first fighter I played, MK was one of the first games ever made to shatter the link between "videogame" and "kids". Fatalities, blood, numerous characters, quick combat, and great controls made for some memorable and fun times.


Adventure
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

Again with the graphics, the musical score, and the epic feel. Lots of exploring to be had and hidden items/upgrades to gain, plus a long playtime on the whole. I did fucking hate the monsters in Dark World that ate your shield, though...


Real-time Strategy
WarCraft II: Tides of Darkness

Props to the C&C series, but I've always been more of a "knights and dragons" kinda guy. The upgrade in graphics from "Orcs and Humans", the addition of aerial and naval units, and playing via modem with my cousin was a blast. Took me a few times to figure out that the cheat codes worked for both of us, though.


Turn-based Strategy
Civilization 2

It had a relatively high learning curve, but if nothing else one could use cheats and build the spaceship, or nuke the hell out of the French. Not to mention upgrading your throne room .


Puzzler
Myst

I will say right now, I never beat it. But damnit, it was actually kinda fun going insane while wracking my brain, trying to fit everything together.


MMORPG
EverQuest

While there are plenty of things to bitch about when it comes to EQ, it was still the most addicting game I've ever played. The core game was amazing, the graphics (in the original, Kunark, and Velious) were very impressive for an online game with thousands of simlutaneous players, and I made many good friends whom I stay in contact with today.

[ValkyrieIsAboutToDie]

Xenogears. Hands down. The graphics are nothing to write home about, the battle system is average at best, but holy fuck did this game have the greatest story, characters and music I've ever experienced. Sure, it's a little pretentious, but the characters and the development and the mystery and the intrigue... fuck, I don't know. Fei, Id, Elly, Krelian, Citan, Billy, Ramsus... so goddamn memorable... Just play the damn thing, it changed my life. It was like a goddamned gaming epiphany for me. I would kill to rewind to 97 and drop some cash in Square's pocket to help them polish off Disc two, which, as sorry I am to say, can be summed up by this quote I heard:

"Disc 2 of Xenogears is Fei channeling the spirit of the old guy from the Werther's Originals Butterscotch candy commericals. He just sits in a fucking rocking chair on his porch talking about absolutely nothing."

Zombies Ate My Neighbors was mentioned before, and I'd have to agree. Just a good fucking time. Also, if you remember Chainsaw Hedgmaze (aka, stage 4) listen to this: Neighburgers

Valkyrie Profile is a little gem of a game make by Enix before they joined forces with SS. It's actually a cross between a platformer and a turn-based RPG. In it, you play a Valkyrie who has been assigned by the Norse gods to harvest souls to fight in Valhalla and help win the war against the giants. You travel around the lands trying to 'ping' troubled souls who are on the brink of death and bring them into your party. You go through the fucked up backstories of each person, watch them die, have them join you, train them, then send them off to fight. There's also a countdown system where you have a limited amount of time to capture warriors and send them off, and there are a couple different endings according to what you do. Unfortunately, copies of VP go for upwards of 100 bucks on Ebay, so you'll have a tough time getting your hands on one. But if you do stumble across a copy of Valkyrie Profile, I suggest you give it a try.

Kingdom Hearts ... yeah, laugh all you want; it's a fucking awesome game just oozing with production value, action and heart. If you grew up watching Disney movies, you will enjoy this game. I don't care how much of a stone-cold bastard you are (athough Under the Sea may make you want to dropkick your TV)

Final Fantasy Tactics is a given. This is the best game in the entire Final Fantasy series, edging out 6 (US) by a little bit.

Super Smash Bros. Melee. At first glance, you may say to yourself "what a joke, it's a kiddie nintendo game" and you'd be wrong, because SSBM is one of the most in-depth and well-designed fighting games (or any game genre for that matter) on the planet. When your gimp Luigi gets the piss beaten out of him by a Pichu or Bowser gets rocked by a Shiek or Fox, you know something's up. SSBM at high levels requires some of the fastest reflexes possible in a video game. The only thing I've ever played that even comes close to the hand-eye coordination necessary in SSBM is a Counter-Strike Cal-0 match.
SSBM is a fucking awesome party game, and I'd go so far as to say it's reason enough to own a Gamecube.

Super Mario World : The greatest platformer ever created. Some say SM3 is the greatest in the series, but I just disagree. There's something... charming about Super Mario World... something deeper and more engaging. It just feels right to play SMW, as if every care in the world melts away the second you start cruising through Donut Plains...

[DJ3]

Originally Posted by Cadrid

Final Fantasy 6 (3 in the US)

For one thing, the story was epic, the plot twists were great, and the game had some of the best characters I've ever witnessed, each with great backstory. The graphics were amazing for its time, as was the musical score. There were so many side-quests, areas to explore, and the game felt very epic.

Truth.

And for some lesser mentioned categories, the best car-related game of all time would have to be Twisted Metal 3 on the PS1. Fuck racers, fuck all the other Twisted Metals, that game nailed it. The physics just got so out there after that, in TM3 you could make those cars do exactly what you wanted them to do. There's nothing like having your buddy playing Warthog chasing you across the post-apocolyptic LA freeway setting off Patriots, when you execute a perfect spin turn and simultaneously let off a freeze combo and lay into the motherfucker with Thumper's flame cannon. Never underestimate a hardcore motherfucker in a pink cadillac.

Best sports game of all time? Tecmo Super Bowl for the NES. Nothing can stand up to Tecmo. Quarterbacks who can throw 130 yard darts, the most sadistically cheating AI coding in the history of any game, and Bo flipping Jackson running a hundred yards in six seconds flat. Honorable mention to any of the NHL Hitz games.

[Kayiznaru]

Originally Posted by Vorph

Mmm, Privateer... that's another type of game I'd love to see made with today's graphics/cpu power. Freelancer sucked, and doesn't count. I've been tempted to try the Privateer Remake project, but haven't gotten around to it.

Freelancer was decent. The same could be said of the PRP. They're still working out the kinks from the VegaStrike engine.

This was around May 2005, apparently they released 1.2, so I'd have to give that a whirl. If all else fails, I still have my original disk.

[woot!]

GTA San Andreas and GTA Vice City (PC not console) are the best to me, just because of the whole universe where you can keep playing even after you are done with missions. Those are probably the two games I spent the most time playing (well after mmorpgs)
Battlefield 1942 was also realy great, since to me, it was the first quake like where you could take control of so many vehicules (tanks, boats, airplanes). Loads of fun in multiplayer.
As for older games, I'd go with UFO : Ennemy unknown.

[Kasonic]

The Suffering.

Solid action game that can be genuinely scary. Very much enjoyed it.

Manhunt was also an incredibly good game.

The entire Silent Hill series. Nothing can come close to playing a SH game by yourself in a pitch black room. Easily the best sound and art direction in the industry.

Going to second Advance Wars and Earthbound. God, I've played that game through probably ten times. One of the best RPGs ever, so simple and plain but genius. It really sucks that Earthbound 64 was vaporware.