Top 10 games of all time

[Zarniwoop]

I find these sorts of lists fascinating. What are the best 10 games you ever played, IN ORDER? Whatever criteria you like.

I will start, and my criteria will be total enjoyment experienced and average level of enjoyment while playing.



1. Everquest - far and away. By a factor of 100. There never has been and never will be anything to match EQ in my lifetime.

2. Anarchy Online - this will stun many because of its launch, but this is easily the most underrated game in the history of gaming.

3. Civilization - (2 primarily and to some degree IV). I once played Civ2 for 32 hours straight.

4. Baldur's Gate 2 - best single player RPG ever. There will never be a strategic RPG this good again based on the current trend.

5. Heroes of Might and Magic 2 and 3 with expansions (two more than three). VERY close to as addictive as Civ. The series should have just ended after HOMM3 though.

6. Might and Magic VI - sentimental pick. This was my first rpg and I played hundreds of hours in this world. I still play it every few years just for nostalgia. This was an important game because when it came out there was flat-out nothing else going on in the RPG genre and hadn't been for years.

7. Diablo 2 - Fiendishly addictive and if I didn't burn out after a few weeks every ladder I'd move this higher. Its the fact that I've essentially had to play this game alone that burns me out. The one season when I sort of pooled with a couple other guys was far and away the best its been. If it was like that all the time, this would go higher.

8. World of Warcraft (Original release only) - what can I say. Even if it has made the genre more "accessible", its done so brilliantly.

9. Half Life 2 - the perfect shooter in terms of atmosphere, pacing and "we aren't going to force-feed you the story like Bioware you lazy punk" storytelling.

10. Deus Ex - One of the most important games of all time and the only brilliant action-RPG I'm aware of besides system shock 2 (Bioshock isn't on the list).


Honorable Mentions:
Master of Orion II - Flawed, but great
Dungeon Keeper - I want this on the top 10, and I want a sequel that doesn't suck
Lord of the Rings Online - a solid game if you go into it with a casual mindset
NOLF 1 and 2 - completely unexpected and a crime that it didn't sell enough to continue
Age of Mythology - the best RTS I've ever played
Team Fortress Classic - it kills me to not have this on the list, but it sort of is with HL2
Portal - short on time invested, but it qualifies for sheer unexpected brilliance
Quake - after almost 15 years this is still an example of great level design.
XCom - In the discussion for greatest game design in history
The Elder Scrolls Series, but its falling into decline. The best of series is pretty obviously Morrowind.
Fear (only the first one). Cheesy, campy and sometimes clunky, but it nailed it enough to make me actually finish it. I RARELY finish games.

[Xenon[XoA]]

Chrono Cross

Shadow Hearts 1

Chrono Trigger

Tales of phantasia

Terranigma

Grandia II

Assassin's Creed II

FF9

.hack/Infection

Valkyrie Profile

EQ makes me rage like no other.
hate that game. nothing like them rose-tinted glasses.

[zrk]

Not sure what to think of all the MMOs lol, kinda like saying that shooting heroin up the veins is the greatest fun in the world. It might feel great but it aint the real stuff(unlike gameplay based "great games" like the rts, tbs, fps games)

[Leopold Stotch]

can i do a Top Five? lol! i've played more than ten games, but of all time? it's tough and i didn't grow up playing the latest games, ya know?

Top Five:

1.) Chrono Trigger
2.) Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
3.) Tetris (idc what anyone says, this fulfills my OCD fix i get with this game)
4.) Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck's World of Illusion
5.) Spyro the Dragon for the original PlayStation (that was the only "recent" game system my family ever bought and my sibs and i would play all day long. we never finished it because we'd get stuck at Gnasty Gnorc's level and we couldn't find him, but man... that was one of the best summers ever)

and i hate admitting this, but... i have to mention that the Pocahontas game for the Sega Genesis back in the mid-90s was the best game ever when i was 8 YO. it was a lot of fun, i beat it so many times (and lost to see what would happen. my village burned to the ground and i had to start over. ). good times.

*hides*

and i can't believe i forgot... Sonic the Hedgehog. idk if i ever beat it, but i remember one night i had gotten pretty far. we went out to go eat across the street (where i used to live then, there was a bunch of fast-food places and other restaurants), i left it on pause and came back home and played.

so while my accomplishments aren't as huge as others around here, im proud.

[BRKO]

Cant really put them in order by how awesomen they seems to me so I will stick to alphabetical order. Also I will mention two lists of pc games, one for single-player (games I have played more than twice) and the other for multi-player.


SP:
1. commandos
commandos1 + datadisc and commandos 2 are superb games that take dozens of hours to finish

2. diablo
played d1 about 2 months really much and then got my hands on d2, simply the best and most addictive BPG (build playing game) ever, the only one I keep playing ever since, and its here because I play alone even on bnet

3. fallout tactics
f1 and f2 just didnt get me but FT certainly did, pure awesomeness gearing and perking the squad, huge maps, tons of gear, again hours and hours of battling enemies

4. hidden & dangerous 2
h&d2 + datadisc is a top game of its genre (squad based tactical fps) and imho the best ww2-themed game ever, this game is not so well-known so link here

5. tom clancy's franchise
almost always excellent gaming experience, here 3 games really stand out for me

• ghost recon with both datadiscs, the original GR not the later GRAWs!
• splinter cell series though havent played SC Conviction yet
• rainbow six 3 raven shield - the best anti-terrorist simulator ever, again squad based tactical fps/rts with insane difficulty and without save option that makes you wanna smash your pc every time Ding Chavez dies

MP:
1. battlefield bad company 2
I was really impressed with this game, I thought I had dropped online shooters for good before this one appeared last year

2. counter-strike source
imho the best online team shooter, superb and most balanced gameplay experience that no other game has ever offered, note I regard css an improvement over cs1.6 eventhough its kinda hard to separate these two games

3. team fortress 2
the most fun online thing if you play on your own

[plastiqe]

In no particular order

Diablo II
Blizzard won me over when they released the 1.10 patch, for free, 3 years after the expansion.

World of Warcraft
Gone through quite a few gamecards, the most fun I ever has was leveling a 24ish orc shammy right around when we had the honor system and battlegrounds were first released. PvPed my heart out in WSG and ended up ranked #1 overall on the server that first week.

Civilization IV
BtS expansion makes this is an incredible game, I so enjoy an industrial era war to the tune of Dvoark's Slavic Dances #7, there is no better music to conquer and subjugate other countries with. It's a shame CiV V is such a pathetic offering.

Rhye's of Civilization III
By far my favourite mod for this version, I had a lot of fun re-creating the Mongol Empire with those Mangudais.

Goldeneye
I was so good at multiplayer Goldeneye on N64 my friends didn't want to play me. If they let me pick the settings I'd flip the Y axis or remove the targeting crosshair (since I'd practiced with both). If you gave me proximity mines in a 2 player game I could mine every spawn location infinitely.

Shining Force II
Legend of Zelda: Orcania of Time
Nostalgic RPG picks from my childhood, I replay them both every once in a while.

Dune II
The original RTS game, grrr stop eating my harvesters damn worms...

Settlers of Catan
The board game, our group played this A LOT.

Diablo III
Preemptively adding this one.

[kavlor]

Theres so many I dont think 10 is enough but anyway

Dungeon keeper 1+2
Advance wars series
Outcast
Battlezone 2
Diablo 2
Dune 2
Populous 3
Magic carpet 1+2
Planescape Torment
Fallout 3(haven't played the previous)

Worthy mentions(didn't make top 10 and I might edit in some more)
Syndicate
Sacred 2
Dungeonsiege series
Baldursgate
Gothic series
Majesty (only discovered last year)
Xcom

[Elly]

Top Ten (read 11)

Tribes - Just incredible for team-based multiplayer fun.
Quake Wars - Another cracker for team-based multiplayer, this also scores high for vehicle variety.
Diablo - The only game out of the three that I would get a bit scared playing it alone at night going into dark areas and hell.
Sim City - Classic city builder.
Command & Conquer - The first truly polished RTS and stands the test of time.
Hi-Octane - Insanely fun multiplayer combat hover racing game from the mid 90's
Hexan - Shooter/RPG
Dungeon Master - Dungeon Crawler from the early 90's.
Operation Flashpoint 1/2 - Brilliant Co-op.
World of Warcraft (Vanilla) - Before they dumbed it down for the masses
Phaoroh - Historical city builder


Honourable Mentions

Mafia II
Battlefield Bad Company 2
Red Alert
Quake

Future favourites

Rift
Diablo 3
The Secret World

[nubikoen]

Ten best games / series of games.

In no particular order.

Thief series. (PC)
Sentinel (C64).
Secret of Mana (SNES)
Diablo (1 and 2) (PC)
Battlezone (PC)
Syndicate (Amiga 500)
Counter-Strike (PC)
X-Com / UFO series (PC)
Lemmings (Amiga 500 / PC)
Street Fighter II (SNES)

Honorable mention must go to Magic Carpet (Playstation)

Future Favorite Thief 4!!!

[SaroDarksbane]

Not sure I could rank them, but here's a list (yes, there's 11 of them):

* Chrono Trigger (SNES) - Flawless game mechanics, brilliant music, massive replayability, a ridiculous number of endings, memorable characters. It just really has everything.
* Final Fantasy VII (PS) - Epic from beginning to end. The first foray of the FF series into the 3D realm, and the last great FF before Square decided they wanted to make semi-interactive movies instead of games.
* Diablo (PC) - Diablo 2 was fun, but it just didn't have the same atmosphere as number one. No game has yet matched the terror I felt when I first opened that door and heard, "AHHH, fresh meat!"
* Fallout 2 (PC) - Like nothing else. Sucks you in and doesn't let go.
* Deus Ex (PC) - Engaging storyline, great RPG mechanics, morally and philosophically intriguing.
* Painkiller (PC) - A work of art in FPS form.
* Alien vs. Predator (PC) - The original version, not the new one. The marine campaign was a harrowing and atmospherically faithful recreation of the Alien movies. As the coupon in the game box said, "A game so scary, we're giving you a free pair of underwear."
* Starcraft (PC) - The story, the characters, and the cut-scenes will stick with me forever. THE standard-setter for competitive eSports. I'm still amazed at how well Blizzard did balancing three VERY distinct races.
* Goldeneye (N64) - How many hours did I spend on this game? And I never even owned it! Oh proximity mine, how I both love thee and loathe thee.
* Asheron's Call (PC) - My first MMO, and one that I still hold dearly in my heart. Nothing since has come close to recapturing the magic of my AC days, and I find it sad that so many MMOs since have gone the EQ model and borrowed nothing from one of the most original MMOs I've ever played.
* The Quest for Glory Series (PC) - The classic Sierra RPGs from the point-and-click era, rendered in beautiful 256 color VGA. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that they shaped me as a person when I was growing up, and gave me a longing for the heroic.

(I am also happy to see so many Syndicate fans here. What a great game that was.)