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What makes your favourite games so special to you?

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Calvinッ

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What is the reasoning your favourite game is indeed your favourite? Is it nostalgia? Maybe it got you through a hard time? Maybe you love certain mechanics within the game?

For me personally, my favourite series is Legend of Zelda, and there's a fair few games I like within the series (and there's a fair few I don't like too!)

Ocarina of Time: This game I just have so much nostalgia and fondness for and whenever I try to pick it up again these feelings come rushing back. I do recall when I was younger I wasn't too sure on the game, I found the inside of the Deku Tree a bit scary. But man when you hit the Hyrule Field, Peahats fly at you which terrified me. Not getting to Hyrule Town in time before the drawbridge closes and it turns night time and stalchildren appear. I recall thinking to myself the game was great when I was growing up and there was a lot to do, so imagine my shock when I got to the Temple of Time, which I found eerie, turning into an adult and having the entire world being spun on it's head. The ReDeads screaming at you and literally making you shudder, going back to Hyrule Castle to see there's a huge lava moat and the castle has been taken over. Even typing all this out makes me want to go back to it. One thing I haven't touched on is the music, but to be honest the entire LoZ series is incredible with the music.

Majora's Mask: On the same engine as Ocarina of Time, but it's low development time mixed with how they used a 3 day system due to the constraints that just worked perfectly. Having a smaller scale game allowed for NPC schedules where everyone was in a specific place when they needed to be. The bombers handbook and side quests and smaller stories (I remember being a bit weirded out by the Kafei / Anju was a bit weird till you did the quest. But so many things in this game are "weird", cause it's a much darker game than many of the series.) So many times I remember trying to ring the bell in Clock Town where Kafei is, and trying to run into the door behind him wondering why it never worked. The clock noises, the moon creeping me out, the whole looping process. I feel like I could go on forever for these two games and others in the series, but I just wanted to give a couple of reasons for each.

Beyond this, Zelda has been a major part of my life for almost it's entirety, and it has genuinely got me through some extremely hard times whether it's messages in the game I can relate to, or just being a thing where I can turn off my brain from the real world and get immersed.

There's other games outside of Zelda of course that I love, but I wouldn't want to make a huge wall of text haha!
 
-cracks knuckles-

okami - i encourage anyone who hasn't played this game to give it a shot and then you'll understand why this has had so many re-releases and ports into everything in existence. i think okami is most renowned for its artstyle, but that's only really part of its allure. what really made it special to me--and why i have no problem beating it many times to this day--is the gameplay mechanics, the story, the characters, the combat... all of it comes together in such a neatly packaged bow that it's hard to describe how much of a masterpiece it is. this was originally a playstation 2 games for goodness' sake! and it still looks good in the year of our lord 2026. this game had such a significant impact on my younger years and always will and for this reason and many more, it's earned a solid place among my favourite games of all time. there's a reason why amaterasu is also my avatar here sometimes and she's a big part of why i enjoy this game, too.

xenosaga series - i think this one was a bit difficult to get into initially, and i got into it when i was still kind of green into jrpgs. but i'm sure glad i did!! while i will say that the graphics may not have aged entirely well into the modern day, it's still perfectly playable and i think the combination of how much i loved one of the main characters (kos-mos) and seeing her kick ass in just about every game has hyped me up to the point where this cemented itself solidly among my favourite games. i like the antagonosts in the series, i like how intense things can get pretty quickly in the plot, and there's so much more positive things to say about this series. it's just such a shame that it ends in a cliffhanger and i wish it would've continued.
 
So for me, my favorite games have always been about atmosphere and sense of wonder, exploring new and weird worlds, creature designs, etc. These days we obviously have plenty to choose from, but as I was growing up in the 90s, anything new seemed amazing and immersive. Even as a kid I leaned towards sci-fi (probably influenced by my father's tastes first and foremost) and I never owned consoles, just the PC. That means I only saw PC games or console ports (often badly made :wynaut:). And my favorites were early 3D FPS games such as Unreal (yes, we mostly know the Unreal Engine now, that was its humble beginning) and Half-Life because of how fascinating they were to my kid brain. Out of them all, Half-Life was the one that persisted - these days I much prefer its remake Black Mesa though, because it's very well-made.

Overall though, I can never choose between Black Mesa and Half-Life 2 as my all-time favorite game, so I usually lump them together. Half-Life 2 has a lot of nostalgic value for me. I love the enviromnents, sound design, enemy design (and everything about the Combine aesthetics; RIP Viktor Antonov) and Gordon Freeman being the badass scientist that he is. I also fondly remember my first copy of the game which was apparently a bootleg without me knowing, and how buggy it was - it's thanks to it that I remember Source engine console commands to this day :bulbaLol: I also always liked games that tried something new, and HL2's physics were revolutionary at the time.
 
there are a lot of games i like, so i see myself coming back to this thread and adding on to it a lot but... most of the time when someone asks what my favorite game is, i will say:

nier (2010)/replicant ver 1.22... (though i'll just be calling it nier)

first off: the setting. nier takes place in a world that is already dying, the world as everyone knows it will end eventually. but the world ending isn't really the main focus of the game's narrative, the game focuses on the protagonist's familial (father-daughter or brother-sister, depending on the version) ties with yonah, and the friendships he forms with the other characters (weiss, kainé, emil).
the world is gloomy, yes, but what i truly adore is how, even if the world is doomed, the characters keep trying their hardest anyway!
when i was a teenager, i often said i liked the game because it was sad and tragic, but as i've matured, i've finally realized that the game being tragic isn't what makes it mean so much to me, but rather that in the face of such tragedy, the characters keep going anyway.
there's a lot more that i can't say due spoilers, but trust me.
 
There's 3 games for me that come to mind.

Final Fantasy Tactics: My first Final Fantasy game that I played when I was around 10 years old. The game is very deep with it's mechanics so I was constantly learning how to use the game's depth to improve my performance. 10 year old me just felt like a genius every time I'd think of building a unit in a certain way to alleviate a singular but notable weakness or do something creative in battle that ends up working out. Story wise I love how It's a gritty but very human story about a succession crisis that leads to a civil war that your character is trying to stop. But before that you're trying to rescue a princess and the chase to save her only ends up dragging you into a conspiracy that causes you to be branded a heretic and you're now being hunted from all sides while corrupt nobles throw the whole continent into war. And just like any Final Fantasy game, the music is incredible.

Grand Theft Auto San Andreas: Still my favorite GTA game. The thing that I love about this game is the story. Things start off small with you returning to your small neighborhood home, reuniting with your siblings and childhood friends and generally causing havoc for the rival gangs in the neighborhood. But then the game does what no other GTA game has done since and probably never will, the story takes you out of the entire city you were operating in and takes you on a journey across an entire state. You meet new people, form new alliances, kill the ones who betrayed you and go from a 2-bit hoodlum into a state-wide kingpin. The state-wide journey is so cool to me and it ending by coming full circle is about the best way it could have gone. And what I also love is that the story's atmosphere changes depending on the city you're currently working your way through. Which makes a lot of sense since the objectives of the story change depending on the arc and the cities the game uses are based on cities that are very different from each other. It would make sense that the arc that takes place in a city based on Las Vegas would have you fighting the mafia and planning a casino heist or how the early arc taking place in a city based on LA would involve a lot of gang warfare against street gangs. San Andreas also has my favorite music in the series and is by far the funniest game. And the humor still doesn't detract from the overall seriousness of what actually happens, that's just good writing.

Pokemon Black and White 2: My favorite Pokemon game to pick up and play. Great and numerous options for team building, fun hidden encounters (like the HA Braviary in the desert or the early Volcarona in the Relic Castle), Join Ave, tons of content like Pokestar Studios, PWT, White Treehollow/Black Skyscraper. The story is good, not the best but I do like the callbacks to BW1. BW2 is also like my other pics in that the story, tone and setting are gritty and have their characters and story be centered around very human conflicts.
 
One of my favorite Non-Pokémon franchise is F-Zero. I have most of the games barring F-Zero Climax on the GBA (which is now available on NSO anyway), but if I had to pick a particular one, it'd be F-Zero GX on the GameCube. Even if I haven't played it in a long time, the sense of speed is very much around with barely any lag. The difficulty is high, especially for its Story Mode, but it makes accomplishing certain goals much more satisfying. My favorite feature though, would be how absurd its universe feels like. You're telling me that solving every problem or stopping evil villains could be done by whoever wins a race where the average speed is at least Mach 1 ? And most of the characters are hamming it up too (Chapter 2 of Story Mode being a small source of memes by itself) ! And ! The lore is just vague enough that you can fill in the gaps for potential background expansions !? Get me in !

As far as Pokémon games go, the original Gold/Silver are my favorite. Even to this day, the musics bring tears to my eyes. Despite the limitations and how bad the level curve is, I still enjoy playing those games every now and then. I had reached the post-game in my "tanky team" playthrough, where I'd use only Pokémons that have a good amount of bulk as a way to innovate replayability further. The team itself consists of Meganium, Sandslash, Dunsparce, Slowbro, Weezing and Umbreon. Did you know Weezing could learn Rollout by TM ? I didn't until I actually used it in battle. :lapras:
 
-Ocarina of Time
-Majora's Mask

Even though I don't play them anymore and don't plan on it again these were a apart of my childhood especially since they came with my first game system (Nintendo GameCube)

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-Dragon Ball Z Budokai 1-Infinite World
-Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi series
-Naruto Ultimate Ninja 1-4

Grew up watching Dragon Ball and a little later Naruto when it aired on Toonami back in the fall of 2005.

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-GTA San Andreas
-GTA Vice City
-Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
-Final Fantasy X
-Halo 1-3

These are some of the best games I've ever played. Had a lot of fun playing San Andreas whether it be the missions, working out, learning fighting styles, responding to the pedestrians or using the cheat codes. San Andreas is my favorite GTA and that's while also playing GTA V when that came out. Vice City was good even though some elements of it didn't age as well. I think Tommy Vercetti is the best GTA protagonist, he was smart and dangerous. How he rose to the top is reminiscent to Tony Montana in Scarface.

I spent so many hours playing Halo Combat Evolved Multiplayer Capture the Flag on the Blood Gulch map for PC. I still remember camping in a hiding spot with the scorpion tank getting a ton of kills for Red team.
 
I won't list any Pokemon-related ones but I feel those memories are a bit too faint to recall and wanted to bring attention to some other games I don't feel I often get to mention.

Tales of the Abyss: A month or so after my dad passed away in 2015, I stumbled upon a used copy of this game in a GameStop and remembered a friend of mine being really into this game. It was my first real experience with JRPG-like games and Tales series as a whole. I was enamored with a lot of the characters for their writing even though I was really lousy at the combat system and its mechanics at the time. Been wanting to revisit this game in the future to see how I would see it after over a decade.

Bloodborne: This was my first foray into other games after being burned out on Pokemon in 2018. I didn't expect to adjust so quickly to the gameplay flow on top of being immersed in a way I didn't feel prior (it's why I am really into story breadcrumbs type exposition these days). The reason it's here is that it not only set a foundation for my gaming preferences in a way RuneScape and Pokemon didn't but it indirectly segued into me eventually playing another game I'm about to list that I still think about that first playthrough I did. Unfortunately, PS4 croaked so I cannot do a revisit. I could put Dark Souls here as well by extension but it doesn't do much aside from FROM's titles generally making me get comfortable with failure and taking it in stride.

Monster Hunter: I started with 4 Ultimate briefly before having to drop it due to irl things going on in 2015 but the entry I want to partiucularly mention is World. 3,000+ hours over two characters and hundreds of uses on nearly each weapon although I rigged it with some probably is the shortest way to say I was enamored with this game but starting around Iceborne is when I would eventually get acquainted with my main friend group in Mathalos before we departed to make our own personal home server. I loved the game for how fun it was to play but I really appreciate it more for opening a path that eventually led to me finding my best friends I could find on the internet. Side note for those who also play, I main Charge Blade and Switch Axe for the most part.

Runescape 2: Going to specify 2 and not Old School for a reason because Old School released after I stopped playing. This was my first MMO and also first time learning to socialize online in general as a child and teen. However, this game is special to me for bittersweet reasons because I learned a lot of unpleasant and painful things from interacting with others in this game. Most of it was from dealing with trolls and scammers but also those who weren't who they say they were. As painful getting swindled out of my gold coins from scammers in Falador Park or getting betrayed by supposed friends was, it did help me learn a lot of things that carried over to today. I did try out Old School for a bit and enjoyed it a lot but couldn't really bring myself to play. Sorry for dropping all of that, but on a lighter note one of my longest lasting friendships that led to me picking up Pokemon and realizing my gender identity is also the result of this game making that interaction happen.... and also by extension Bloodborne/Tales/MonHun too. Oh.

Sly Cooper & Tony Hawk Underground: I never owned these games or played them much but the reason is here is because I got reminded of Summer 2004/5 where I stayed at a friend's house across the hill (yes, hill) and he showed me his PS2 and oh Arceus the start up sound on that thing was musical bliss. I ended up re-meeting him the other month and have him added on mobile.
 
In general, I like games with responsive, intuitive movement with lots of complexities to uncover as you get more in depth into the game. I can think of no better example of this than:

Spider-Man (2017) and Spider-Man 2
These games are just fun. The best way of praising the movement is that unlike most open world games I’ve played, I almost never find myself using fast travel. The movement is just too fast and too enjoyable. The combat flows so nicely, with all the unique and mobile options available to you. I generally like one’s story better but think both are solid in their own right. All the collectibles and little side quests are great, the humor is great, the games look amazing. Honestly my only major critique is that the boss fights aren’t great.


SSBU: The roster. The stages. The… well not really the spirits. This game is again, just fun to play. It’s very gone back and played a bit : of Melee and Brawl and their gameplay just doesn’t feel right to me, they just feel so sluggish (admittedly if I got more into the competitive side of melees gameplay id probably vibe with it more.) I honestly just have so many fond memories of this game, and especially playing it with friends. Even as someone who is more competitive with the game as opposed to treating it like a chill party game, there’s tons of fun to be had in 1v1s on flat stages even just changing around the character selected. One of my definite favorites.

NHL: Look I never said my favorite games were good games. As flawed as the series has become, I still love playing it. This was one of the first games I ever played, and I still have great memories playing it with my dad. Playing it now with more of an emphasis on online single player, I still love it. Surprise surprise, I think it’s the movement I like so much. The turning is so responsive, emphasizing good timing to avoid checks and get around defenders. The stick handling is also pretty great, and despite the serious flaws, I do enjoy some parts of the hitting system as well. I know EA is evil and the games are poorly constructed, but I still enjoy these games greatly.
 
honestly? just being dubbed in my language

there are some exceptions like Genshin Impact or CrossCode, but games no matter how good simply aren't special to me if I don't hear French voices. that's why I keep going back to Bethesda and Bioware games even if they've fallen far down their pedestal since their golden days... and why Pokémon games are just a distraction rather than a love to me
 
Is 2004 the best year for gaming?
  • Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
  • Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
  • Halo 2
  • Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3
  • Spider-Man 2
  • World of Warcraft
  • Half-Life 2
  • Def Jam: Fight for NY
  • Killzone
  • WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw
  • X-Men Legends
  • Star Wars: Battlefront
  • Red Dead Revolver
  • Burnout 3: Takedown
  • Fable
 
My favorite games, which i would probably narrow down to Persona 5, Mother 3, and Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, have incredible amounts of personality and charm. A game can look nice, but good art direction and writing are things I'm a sucker for.
The opening movie for Persona 5 is a good example of the vivid personality I'm talking about - YouTube
 
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My top ten:

  1. Disco Elysium - Beautiful, novelistic prose, achingly emotive characters, and one of the most moving narratives I've ever played through, Disco is politically and thematically sophisticated and mature, and I take more from it every time I play it.
  2. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker - It's a bit nostalgic of a choice but it's still my favorite Zelda. The open ocean is wonderful to explore, the music and art direction are phenomenal, and the story sees the franchise further maturing into its modern form.
  3. Persona 5 Royal - Everything about this game oozes style, from its art direction to its music to its flashy turn-based gameplay. The story and characters are also excellent, of course, but more than anything this is the game that got me really thinking about the value of presentation as a part of game design.
  4. Red Dead Redemption II - A wonderful story about how change is always possible, and how doing the right thing at the right time can be transformative, the open world is also a blast to wander, and it's the best dress-up simulator in the wild west.
  5. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - A meticulously-crafted JRPG which boasts an incredible amount of ways to build every playable character, it also boasts a beautiful narrative centered on familial trauma, grief, and regret, which asks as its final question, "whose selfishness are you willing to indulge?"
  6. Pentiment - A gorgeously-crafted and unique RPG, the art direction is worth the price of admission, and it also has an extensively-researched narrative about religion, culture, and myth-making.
  7. Fallout: New Vegas - It's a bit of a stereotype for this to be on my list, but it deserves to be. The best Fallout game since the original, New Vegas boasts a thoughtful, politically-driven narrative and a huge world to explore. Its expansions explore other genres and thematic ideas while building upon what the base game brings to the table, culminating in Lonesome Road, which really serves as the final word on the Fallout series as a whole.
  8. Ty the Tasmanian Tiger - A nostalgic childhood favorite, it's also a fantastic 3D platformer. Nuff said.
  9. 1000xResist - A shining example of what can happen when people outside the industry try their hand at making games, 1000xResist is the product of a collective of artists who chose to enter game development when the pandemic made their usual creative outlets unavailable, and the result is little short of a masterpiece, a beautiful game about generational trauma, racism, and life in the time of plague.
  10. Slay the Princess - One of my favorite love stories. Endlessly modular, I still feel as if I haven't even scratched the surface of this sprawling game about human connection and the ways in which knowing someone else inevitably changes you.
 
I'm not good at in depth descriptions of this stuff so forgive my short and basic responses.

Chrono Cross was the first video game I beat start to finish on my own without needing handholding or guidance. I was like, 5 years old or so, and I had watched my mom and uncle play it and thought it looked cool and wanted to try it myself, so I did, and I loved every second of it. I just love how magic/skills work in that game.

Also echoing Dorothy's Clair Obscur sentiments. Chrono Cross was my number one favourite game until this masterpiece came along. I genuinely think it's a once-in-a-generation epic, a timeless instant classic that will be looked back on the same way we look at games like Ocarina of Time and Chrono Trigger.
 
Lets go into depth

EarthBound: Biassed yes since its the game for my favorite game character. This game is always a delight to play for me since its perfect in every single way. The battle system, easy to learn controls, spicy difficulty and the jokes and jests make it my favorite game of all time

Super Mario Odysesy: Still my favorite Mario game of all time! I love using the motion controls especially and shaking my pro controller like a madman

Mario Party 3: Not very popular among critics but i dont care what they say this game RULES! I think it has the funniest scenes out of any Mario Party game (Bowser calling himself an idiot, The Millenium Star falling in love with Daisy and Waluigi kicking Bowser's ass got me laughing hard). On top of that it has great boards, minigames and items
 
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (2006) for the PS2, this game was my Marvel Rivals. You have a good amount of Marvel characters to choose from to make a team of four along with boosting their stats, using different costumes and gear. This was when I first discovered Deadpool before he became popular through the movies.
 
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