Forum > Blogs > Dvader's not exactly 100 Favorite Games of All Time
Dvader's not exactly 100 Favorite Games of All Time
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Tue, 05 Mar 2019 06:24:21

76. Uncharted 3, 4 and Lost Legacy

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Uncharted became THE playstation franchise during the PS3 generation. I feel each PS gen we ask who is the mascot of the PS, well it was Nathan Drake during the PS3 due to the incredible trilogy of games Naughty Dog developed. The second game remains the pinnacle of the series which means the third entry was a slight letdown but still epic in many ways. The setpieces in particular might be the best in the series and some of the most mindblowing sequences of any game. That airplane mission is better than most movies and you get to play it! An entire cruise ship turning upside down with you in it! These moments of awe and excitment are what makes this series standout and Uncharted 3 was filled with them, almost too many as it felt a tad unbalanced. The third games pacing was off, it had a few chapters where it was trying to tell a story and left the player with almost nothing to do. But once the action started it was balls to walls crazy.

Uncharted 3 brought some improvements to the series like a deeper melee combat system, deep as in its not a puddle anymore but its still pretty shallow. At the very least it made fist fights look like a hollywood brawl. Something happend with the gunplay, there was a whole uproar at release at how aiming just didn't feel right. A later patch fixed some of this but that stain kind of stayed with Uncharted 3. Then there was the expanded multiplayer mode with more maps and coop missions, I spent many hours playing it with members from here and the RoF. It never reached the highs of Uncharted 2's multiplayer but it was a great time. The core gameplay is so solid and the journey was filled with so many memoriable moments that it overshadows any complaints, Uncharted 3 is one of the best PS3 games.

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PS4 comes around and Naughty Dog wants to make another award winning game after their dark turn with TLOU. Out goes Amy Henning and in comes Uncharted 2 directors Druckman and Straley. Uncharted 4 was going to be griiter, more grounded and have a heavy emphasis on story. Thats all great, I just want shit to explode and shoot people. Indiana Jones didn't need to talk about feelings, why does Drake. Well the result is something of a mix bag but I cannot deny the artistry at work and the excellent story which was told. For one Uncharted 4 is one of the most gorgeous games ever made, the locations you visit are stunning and incredibly varied. It's the longest Uncharted game but a lot of it is filled with just walking and talking, it has the fewest setpieces in the series but the one big one it does have is mindblowing. I think I spend more time taking pictures with the photo mode than I did play the game.

So there is a tradeoff, pacing has gone to shit but the gameplay is better than ever with fantastic upgrades like the grapple hook which makes navigating the larger combat areas a joy. Vehciles are introduced as are open areas that allow Drake to explore optional points of interest in one chapter. It was kind of half baked, clearly ND just testing the waters for a more open game in the future, still it was nice to have some freedom. Then there are the little moments of story that really stands out like having a dinner conversation with Elena where you play Crash Bandicoot. The back and forth between Nathan and his brother who is a compulsive liar is the best dialogue in the series. It is one of the best narratives I have seen in gaming, who knew that Indana Jones could have a story that can make you emotional and has depth.

I got Uncharted 4 early from some dude who knows another dude who has a dude that gets them from some south american country, I don't ask I just get the games early. I was extremely hyped because I felt this could rival the second game. For a few days I played this before reviews and was getting hounded for impressions. I wish I could have said it's the follow up to 2 we always wanted but having gone hours with only one gunfight I knew this was a different animal. Like 3, Uncharted 4 got pieces right, it's gameplay enhancements and the mastery over storytelling from the character models, the voice acting and direction sets Uncharted 4 above 3 for me.

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A year later we got an expansion which became a stand alone game, Lost Legacy. It's shorter, the story doesn't have half the emotional impace but my god is the action a large improvement. Setpieces are back including a train chase to rival the one in 2. A massive open world chapter with awesome optional tombs and puzzles to solve. The pacing was great and the action beats kept coming and surprising the way the series should be. Lost Legacy managed to be better than Uncharted 4 even though it was the "expansion" game. I love these games, they take the TPS formula and inject a level of movement and creativity to the gun fights that few games ever do. They are all so well done, the only reason 1 isn't here is cause it was rather simple, I hardly replay it, good for the time but doesn't hold up. The rest of the series is so much fun to go through, characters that are so well fleshed out that you can't help but love them. This is a series I will revisit many times.

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Wed, 06 Mar 2019 05:51:05

75. Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!

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NINTENDO! First Nintendo game on the list and it's one of the best NES games, the legendary Punch-Out! Back in the 80's there were the Michaels, the biggest stars in the world in different areas, Jackson, Jordon and Tyson. Not since Ali had there been a more electrifying fighter, he was undestructable, murdered his oppnents in no time. For him to be the boss in a boxing video game meant having to make that boss the most ferocious bastard around, and Tyson in Punch Out was just that. One punch was enough to knock you down, his battle was the ultimate test of reflexes and pattern recognition.

And thats what Punch-Out was, it wasn't a boxing sim, it was a series of boss battles against really colorful sterotypes where you had to learn their moves, tells, and timing to overcome. The cast is so iconic from Glass Joe to Piston Honda, Soda Popinski to Iron Bull oh and who can forget King Hippo. It didn't mattter what ethinicity or culture, it was going to have a sterotypical fighter for you. Sure that would not fly in today's world but there was no malice there and it was charming. The journey to the Dream Bout was a hard one, back then games didn't give a shit about you, no save feature, lose and start over. And so I did, many many many times. I world get to the final title stages no problem but around Iron Bull's second match thats when I would have trouble. If I past that we had Soda Popinski waiting. Every run was a thrill, sweaty palms, every press of a button mattered. It was the eye of the tiger, the thrill of the fight, rising up to the challenge of our rivals.

When I finally got through that gauntlet of fighters, feeling on top of the world like few games could make me feel you reach Tyson. He signified one of the hardest challenges in gaming, if you could beat him you are a badass. My brother was the first to beat him so I of course had to follow suit. It took me years and some cheating with the code that takes you right to his fight, but I eventually beat Tyson. Once you get what you need to do it wasn't that hard but still very fullfilling. Punch-Out is one of the most easy to pick up and play games ever made. Any time I wanted to play something just for a few minutes I would pull out Punch out. It never got old. it's extremely playable to this day, its a classic.

Oh and the bike ride music is an all time music track.

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Wed, 06 Mar 2019 15:08:35

Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! is 8 ranks above Dragon Quest VIII. Let that sink in folks. Words escape me right now.

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Wed, 06 Mar 2019 15:25:05
Huh..... I don't understand...

Is Vader counting down in reverse?
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Wed, 06 Mar 2019 21:28:10
Archangel3371 said:

Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! is 8 ranks above Dragon Quest VIII. Let that sink in folks. Words escape me right now.

Yes! Yes! I feel the anger. Just wait till we reach sonic games.

And come on now Punch out is better than DQ8.

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Wed, 06 Mar 2019 21:46:28
Yes, it is.
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Wed, 06 Mar 2019 22:35:55

So tell me guys, how long did you smoke crack until it ruined your brain beyond repair?

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Wed, 06 Mar 2019 23:21:56

I don’t smoke it.

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Thu, 07 Mar 2019 02:07:25
Are those suppositories?
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Thu, 07 Mar 2019 02:40:40
Dvader said:

Yes! Yes! I feel the anger. Just wait till we reach sonic games.

And come on now Punch out is better than DQ8.

travo said:

I don’t smoke it.

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Thu, 07 Mar 2019 04:47:36

Omega-3 filled crack. Probably sell that at Whole Foods. lol

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Thu, 07 Mar 2019 05:17:22

74. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

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This is probably my most disappointing game on this list, simply because I expected it to be the greatest game ever made. For many it was, BOTW provides a level of freedom seldom seen in gaming, and never in this genre. Nintendo took the idea of the open world and expanded it to include open story, open progression, open physics, everything is available to you its simply up to you to do it. I do have a long list of complaints mainly about the repetitiveness of the enemy encounters, the large spaces of nothingness, pacing being thrown out the window and the big one, no true dungeons. If the next Zelda game takes this template and adds just a few of the things that made past Zelda's great it would be my perfect game.

Still as it stands it is a grand adventure like no other, I put over 200 hours into this game, I do not do that if I don't love the game. I remember when Witcher 3 came out and how much praise that world got for feeling alive. In terms of story and NPCs no game world matched it's sheer attention to detail but it lacked player interaction, that world was static. Zelda is the opposite, very little in terms of story and NPC interaction but the world is part of the gameplay in ways I have never seen. The four powers Link aquires at the start give you all the abilities you need to solve every puzzle, part of me really misses items but these items allow you to invent ways to solve puzzles and attack enemies. No longer was zelda a game with eleborate setups for what was essentially taking a key to a lock. BOTW has the best puzzles in the series and the shrines are easily the best part of the experience. I remember seeing a chest way up on a wall and thinking ok how do I get there. So I used magnesis to stack boxes on top of one another and there was this bridge that I was trying to set at a certain angle so I had to lock it down with time so I can reach the chest without it all collapsing. I did it, I created my own puzzle solution... later I saw there was some switch that elevates a platform right to it, but it didn't matter cause what I came up with was so much more rewarding.

Thats the entire game, its the ultimate sandbox to express your creativity any way you want. My favorite moment of the game was seeing an island in the distance, grabbing a boat and sailing off and once arriving to it having all my things stripped away and now naked I had to solve three trails to escape. The only things you have are your wits and the ability to create weapons and defense from whats on the island. So I would sneak into an enemy camp and use magnesis to snatch swords in a thunderstorm and then float the sword near the enemies to have lightning strike them. I would kill chu chus and use their goo as mines and lure enemies wielding fire weapons right into my trap. For that hour Zelda became the ultimate survivavl game, it had the same quality that made me fall in love with MGS games, I can creatively take down enemies.

I would lose myself for hours on end exploring every inch of the world. Most of the time my efforts didn't reward me with much but when I found a shrine it felt so good. Sadly so many shrines were reptitive garbage combat ones but when I got my puzzles, oh so good. The sense of discovery is unmatched, I climbed the highest snow peaked mountain and slid down it on my shield. I discovered a lake filled with rocks that created wind tunnels that had to be used to launch bombs to open up caves. I battled giant sand worms while hitching a ride on a sand seal. I found dark woods where only fire is your source of light. I entered massive mazes found in the corners of the world.

BOTW brings Zelda into the modern age of gaming, the old formula absolutely needed a tune up, BOTW exceeded all expectations I could have in the gameplay mechancis department. It's just too big, of those 200 hours about 100 hours was me just messing around or trying to find something of actual interest but only finding yet another korok. Cut the fat, provide some form of pacing and progression but keep the freedom and then we have a game worthy of the top spot on my list.

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Thu, 07 Mar 2019 10:58:54
One of the best Zeldas ever should not be ranked so low.
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Thu, 07 Mar 2019 15:14:58
I need to give BotW a second chance. I made a mistake of starting it 2 weeks before Dragon Quest 11 came out.
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Thu, 07 Mar 2019 16:12:07

Breath of the Wild at 74?!? surprise

There is no god!

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Thu, 07 Mar 2019 18:07:07
travo said:
One of the best Zeldas ever should not be ranked so low.

I would not use one of the best but that’s just me.

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Thu, 07 Mar 2019 18:13:44
I'd say that one of the best games ever ranked so long BECAUSE it is a Zelda game.  74th does strike me as rather low, but if we've learned anything from the previous 25 games, it's that Vader's taste is pretty wonky.  Nyaa
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Thu, 07 Mar 2019 18:51:33
robio said:
I need to give BotW a second chance. I made a mistake of starting it 2 weeks before Dragon Quest 11 came out.

I need to get back to it as well. I almost beat that game but I stopped right before I started the final Divine Beast just other stuff came up; also I don't have a Switch yet. I was playing it when my nephews were at school.

SUPER MARIO MAKER LEVELS:

  • SMB Mix-Up! (1AB2-0000-0047-5A7D)
  • Storm the Castle (77BD-0000-00E0-A9C0)

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Sat, 16 Mar 2019 16:29:20

The list will continue soon. Coming up next more killer children, who needs arms and legs, and much sorrow.

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Sun, 17 Mar 2019 05:35:33

This list is pretty much all about being the killer of childhood dreams. Nyaa

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