Every February on whatever message board I'm hanging out on, I try to have a little stupid fun and do a theme month. Didn't pull it off last month, but usually it works out. Anyway this year, I'd like to present my Top 28 games of all time. This is a list I've been thinking about during a lot of down time at work for the past week, and I'm actually pretty proud of it. It's just my list of favorites, so there will be several games you've never heard of or at least never played. And there will likely be some that you'll go, "seriously? you like that turd?" Well, fuck you in advance. It's my list and I love it.
Anyway, I'll be posting one game a day with a blurb about why I love it so until the month is over, with my number 1 game being presented on Feb 28. Before we begin here is a semi-sorta sneak preview. Just a quick list of the honorable mentions. The ones that came so close and yet..... not good enough.
- Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess
- Fortune Street
- NiGHTS Into Dreams
- Final Fantasy Legend II
- Lemmings
The top 28:
28. Super Mario Bros. 2
27. Dig-Dug
26. Hero's Quest/Quest for Glory: So You Want To Be A Hero
25. Scorched Earth
24. The Saboteur
23. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
22. Azure Dreams
21. Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant
20. Legend of Mana
19. Harvest Moon: Magical Melody
18. EverQuest
17. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
16. Rune Factory Frontier
15. Street Fighter Alpha 2
14. The World Ends With You
13. Pokemon Snap
12. Mother 3
11. Heroes of Might and Magic III
10. SimCity
9. Super Mario World
8. Chrono Trigger
7. Tetris
6. Red Dead Redemption
5. Persona 3
4. Resident Evil 4
3. Final Fantasy Tactics:
2. Valkyria Chronicles
1. Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King
#3. Final Fantasy Tactics
After Final Fantasy 7 came out I'm sure most people thought there was no way Square could follow it up with anything nearly as good. In my mind though, they completely and utterly topped it with Final Fantasy Tactics. Tactics takes all the characters classes and monsters from classic Final Fantasies and puts them in an entirely different gameplay. More importantly Square opted to tell what was one of the most mature and intelligent stories that gaming had seen at that point. People still talk about this game's ending as one of the darkest end notes we've ever seen. It's also one of those games that I almost quit on immediately after starting it. After the "hold your hand" start-up battle I was unable to figure out how to place my additional teammates and so I fought the first real battle with just the 2 default characters about a dozen times and continually died. On my last attempt I accidentally hit a button on my controller and realized I had an additional 6 troops on my team. Yeah... totally changed the battle. Glad I figured it out too, because I can't imagine missing out on what I now consider to be one of the greatest games of all time.
I played that game through two or three times spending hundred of hours on it, fantastic, amazing game.
I most remember throwing rocks at my own people to gain job points.
And a hidden Cloud.
#2. Valkyria Chronicles
It's always great when you play a game and you don't expect anything more than just a good game. But when that good games actually becomes a legendary experience... well that's just about the best feeling you'll get from a video game, and Valkyria Chronicles fit that bill from start to finish. This strategy game is pretty unlike anything that came before in the way it was presented. It mixed elements of a FPS, over the shoulder shooters, and strategy RPGs to come up with a unique anime styled war story inspired by WWI and WWII. The story was amazing, and did a pretty good job of running the gamut with the players' emotions. But as good as it was (and it's as good as a story gets in video games), the battle scenarios are what make this game a piece of gaming history. I would find myself standing in front of my TV screen looking at the huge map, running through potential strategies in my head picturing myself as a great general preparing for a decisive battle. I'm sure I looked like a douche, but dammit this game was so good I didn't care. Not caring about being a douchebag... that's the measure of a great game.
Can't wait for number one!
Surprised it's this high, but I knew it would be on the list, so it had to be one or two by this stage. One of my favourite games of the gen, no doubt.
Shouldn't be too hard to guess if you think about my tastes. I actually left one giant clue to it in one of the reviews for one of the other games.
VC is a game that has continued to grow on me. While it was frustrating as hell a few times, I had a great time with the game and enjoyed the hell out of it. But after I completed and went back at a tougher difficulty I started to realize just how much I liked it. I tell you, knowing that we're never going to see the third game in the trilogy fucking kills me.
It's this, right?
Yep.... guess I can go ahead and skip it and just call the whole thing over.
Apparently a fan translation is in the works.
I've seen some of the early work they've done. It's terrible. It reads like a 1st year Japanese student is doing it with a Japanese to English dictionary.