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[nynt9]

Inspired by: "100 Hot Takes: The Best Games Ever Made" by Piston Hyundai and "The Top 100 Greatest Video Games of All Time (IMO)" by Nuu.

Now, I want to do things a bit differently. Similar to Piston Hyundai, I intend to separate my posts into entries of 5, because I think the discussion that stems from it is great. But there's a catch. Every other day, I'll alternate between posting entries from my top 100, and entries from a separate unordered list of 100 that didn't make the cut. I'll explain all of these, and I hope we can find out some games we missed, ones we forgot, have some discussion and maybe even some recommendations. The honorable mentions list will generally be tied in some way to the previous 5 entries in the main list. I'll also occasionally post some anectodes relating to my gaming life. This is kind of like a journey of self reflection for me.

Now, if you're going to be reading about 200 games that I cared about, you probably need to know a bit about me. I started gaming in 1993 on my dad's PC. He was big into adventure games, like Police/Space quest, the Lucasarts games, Myst and such. I quickly got into action games as well. Living in the middle east, it was difficult to get console games at the time, and we would either get them delayed, or imported, which would mean region locking was an issue. A friend of mine has an NES and I'd go over and play SMB3 and TMNT there. It was a blast. But my first console of my own was when my mom brought me a PS1 from America. That shit was the bomb. I never had a sega console, a PS2, or a NES/SNES/gamecube, but ever since then I've owned pretty much every console. I've also tried to go back and play games on systems I missed, but of course it's not the same thing.

I'm generaly a gameplay guy, but I don't think story based games are better off being movies. In fact, I highly rate some story based games. I value how the game makes me feel over how it blows my mind or how tight it controls, but the rare few games that nail multiple of those aspects are real gems.

I have a few rules for how I make my list. I generally tend to value how a game made me feel when I first played it, and whether I can still respect that when I go back to it. For franchises, I tend to not want to include multiples per franchise, as I feel that the better games from a series represent the series as a whole, unless I REALLY love a series or it's a series that has gone through large paradigm shifts. And let's remember that this is a list of my personal experiences, so please don't get upset about some of my choices which will surely seem bizarre to some of you. Some games I straight up haven't played. Others, I didn't enjoy. I'd love to discuss why I didn't enjoy them.

Edit:
I decided that as per the journal-like format of the thread, I'll make two posts per day at least. Early in the day, ill post an anectode about video games throughout my life, and later I'll post the day's 5 games.

Top 100:
100-96
95-91
90-86
85-81
80-76
75-71
70-66
65-61
60-56
55-51
50-46
45-41
40-36
35-31
30-26
25-21
20-16
15-11
10-6
5
4
3
2
1

100 that didn't make the cut:
Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII | Part IX | Part X | Part XI | Part XII | Part XIII | Part XIV | Part XV | Part XVI | Part XVII | Part XVIII

Anectodes:
SBFC and FSR
Crysis in Turkish
7th gen ennui, retro revival
Tekken conquest
The Shareware CD that started it all
Call of Duty house rules
Internet cafe fun times
The case of the missing GBC
Mega Man's monkey paw
The death of my first console
The bazaar
The piracy scene
GFWL support
Touchpad mastery
Starving for a PS3
Ambitious programming all-nighter
Stranger in a strange Comiket
Knytt Stories blunder
QUAKE
HL2 vs Doom 3
\m/
Pokemon and sickness
The DS of my relationship
Akihabara shopping adventures

 

[nynt9]

100. Nosferatu: Wrath of the Malachi

This game is pretty weird. It's a first person horror FPS where you go to a castle and its surrounding residence to save your family from the vampire lord Malachi. While it didn't look good even when it released or didn't play particularly well, it had some pretty interesting ideas. The castle was semi-randomly generated, and this was in 2003 before the boom of roguelikes. You could tackle the castle in a nonlinear order and save your family members in different orders. The twist is, you only have 90 minutes to do this. At midnight, they will get sacrificed to Malachi. You have to traverse this hostile castle with very powerful enemies that are designed to jump you, which always keeps you on your toes. You also have to escort your family members back to the entrance of the castle, so you really need to be efficient with your time and you can't just blaze through the area as you have to protect your family.

The game is rather clunky, but it's so unique and has such an oppressive atmosphere that it has always been on my mind ever since release. It has a bunch of interesting design choices. You can use stakes to kill vampires, or you can burn them for light. You need to bless water with your crucifix for it to become holy water which is then damaging to some enemy types. There are boss battles, where you can beat them, but if you don't stake them they'll come back later. Honestly, it's a flawed game that can also be buggy, but I've been captivated by it ever since I first played it and I still go back and play through it a few times every once in a while. It's always fresh.

99. Alpha Protocol

"The Espionage RPG" is a selling point in itself. This game is notorious for how much choice it allows you and how many ways the relationships between the characters can turn out, but also for how buggy it is. It's the game that cemented Obsidian as great writers for me. You play as spy Michael Thorton who is burned and then needs to solve a global conspiracy. Along the way you encounter a cast of characters, and you can with them in one of three different ways. The three JBs, as Obsidian calls them - Jason Bourne, Jack Bauer, James bond. As Kotaku puts it: "It has the most hilarious RPG protagonist ever. Alpha Protocol's dialogue wheel is tone-based, and player character Mike Thorton has three tones: super dull and matter of fact, humongous impatient asshole and smarmy piece of shit. It's incredible.". The writing is amazing, and playing through the game many times to see all the possible interactions is totally worth it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUydx57te9s

Sure, the skill system is unbalanced and you can make a ridiculously overpowered character, and the hacking minigame is really bad on PC - but it's totally worth it regardless. Every character is memorable, and every version of Michael Thorton you can play as is as well. It's rarely fun to play the asshole in Bioware-style RPGs, but here it's as enjoyable as being a straight shooting do-gooder government man. The way the game keeps track of all the minor things you do and has them matter is great as well. In many ways, this game is what Mass Effect should have been. If it was slightly more polished, slightly more complete, it would easily be significantly higher up in my list.

98. Shadows of the Damned

Grasshopper manifacture. Goichi Suda. Shinji Mikami. Akira Yamaoka. Let's go.

While the gameplay is a relatively straight forward third person shooter, what makes the game click is the tone. The spaghetti western feeling combined with hilarously immature humor, Yamaoka's amazing soundtrack, the color grading and atmosphere, the end result is more than a sum of the parts. Garcia "fucking" Hotspur is a demon hunter whose girlfriend gets kidnapped by the lord of the demons, and he teams up with the demon gun Johnson (who is the punchline of so many dick jokes) to save her from hell. Johnson is a torch, but can transform into a gun or a rifle, a shotgun. There are puzzle elements involving entering darkness zones and trying to find access to a goat you must shoot before you die. There are also boss fights, random elements like side-scrolling, and it all helps the competent but relatively standard shooting feel fresh.

Really, though, what makes the game shine is the vibe. The mix of noir, western, infantile humor, and overtly stylized horror is unlike anything else, and makes the game worth playing on these merits alone. Garcia's a cool guy, and every moment in the game is oozing attitude. Not a game to take seriously, but a memorable, weird game that three of the biggest names in Japanese video games got together to make, got EA to publish, and somehow filled it with as many boner jokes as possible.

97. Bioshock 2

Some might consider this the black sheep of the franchise. I consider it to be the best entry. This is kind of a trend with my top 100, where I tend to prefer the second entry that fleshes out the world and systems introduced by the first. In the first Bioshock I didn't connect with the story or characters at all. Here, I cared about my past and fate as Delta, about Eleanor and the setting. Rapture is in a different state, and it's a lot more compelling. You get to be a part of Rapture, a piece in the cog, instead of an outsider who is discovering the city. What really sells the game to me though, is the gameplay.

Every encounter in this game is a puzzle. You have a wide variety of tools at your disposal, and you can approach the situation from many different angles. That you can use a weapon and a power at the same time immediately ups the complexity of what you can do, and the drill adds a whole new layer of interaction as well. The big sister encounters brought a new level to how terrifying big daddies were int he original. I appreciated how the gameplay was a lot more complex and the atmosphere was more thrilling as a speechless enigma viewing this system from inside. The multiplayer was surprisingly enjoyable while it lasted too, and Minerva's Den was awesome.

96. Crysis 2

And here we go again. The first Crysis was one of the most important PC games of all time. It was a new IP that pushed the bounds of specs, introduced a cool new sci-fi concept, and the unforgettable nanosuit. The semi-open design of the island was fantastic as well. That being said, I prefer the sequel. While some of the openness from the first is lost in the sequel, the gain in focus is something I actually appreciated. With the urban setting, they were able to introduce more distinct environments and design more interesting encounters. I have a thing for ruined cities, you'll see. The first game was almost too free-form whereas the restrictions imposed here made it more interesting. We also had more enemy types, and the suit functions were streamlined in ways to make the game more interesting.

Furthermore, I really enjoyed the batshit plot. That we are playing as the remnant of Prophet in the suit was great, and the more action movie-like campaign was very engaging. Hargreave was an interesting plot point as well. In general, the expansion of the mythology was a direction that I enjoyed. The big gain from the change to the urban locale was the introduction of verticality, which was sorely lacking in the first game. This made encounters more complex, and the Ceph being more capable than the human soldiers in the first was a welcome gameplay change as well. And I just prefer the look of this game, even though the first one is the bigger technical accomplishment.

 

[thecrunked]

Cool post but I think you forgot 95-1

 

[nynt9]

Cool post but I think you forgot 95-1

If you read the OP, and know the threads I'm referring to, I'll be posting this over time. It gives people more time to read the entries and for me to talk about them because I prefer to talk things out instead of dictating. Every day I'll post 5 games. I'm committing to this as an experiment.

 

[2blackcats]

Thanks for the effort op. Will read.

 

[TheExodu5]

Subbed.

 

[Fancy Clown]

Already a pretty fun list. I'm hoping you're an Evil Within stan.

 

[isaacnukem]

You starting off with Nosferatu: The Wrath ot Malachi means you got my attention. I absolutely loved that game and I wish more people would see it as the hidden classic it is. It's like an FPS Metroidvania. I remember reading the PC Gamer review wherein it got favorable score(70%), reading that made me want to play the game and when I did it delivered everything the review promised. And maybe more.

 

[nynt9]

Already a pretty fun list. I'm hoping you're an Evil Within stan.

I liked the game, and it will surely have its place in this thread

You starting off with Nosferatu: The Wrath ot Malachi means you got my attention. I absolutely loved that game and I wish more people would see it as the hidden classic it is. It's like an FPS Metroidvania. I remember reading the PC Gamer review wherein it got favorable score(70%), reading that made me want to play the game and when I did it delivered everything the review promised. And maybe more.

It's so weirdly ahead of its time despite being so low budget. The roguelike aspect was unheard of at the time, and all the hoops it made you jump through (staking bosses, blessing water, a bunch of other minor mechanics) really amplified the immersion.

 

[CannonFodder52]

Nice thread.

That Nosferatu game looks really cool, I gotta check that out.

 

[nynt9]

Nice thread.

That Nosferatu game looks really cool, I gotta check that out.

Thanks. Beware that it is quite rough around the edges, but if you can stomach that, it's a really unique experience. Here's a longplay of it if you'd like to get a sense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TDJkOZx9Os

 

[Thores]

Looks like I'm subscribing to another of these! I've been thinking of making my own, hopefully GAF won't be burned out on them by the time that happens.

 

[Zasa]

Lovely, these threads are great. Subscribed!

 

[lastrealgameralive]

Subscribed.

I've only beaten one of your picks (SOTD). That game has to be in the top 3 games for slickest weapon transformations in a third-person shooter. You're definitely right about the setting: not many games can pull off a dark, yet colorful world without being tacky, the way this game did.

 

[nynt9]

Subscribed.

I've only beaten one of your picks (SOTD). That game has to be in the top 3 games for slickest weapon transformations in a third-person shooter. You're definitely right about the setting: not many games can pull off a dark, yet colorful world without being tacky, the way this game did.

In a way, the game kind of side steps that by being intentionally very tacky and claiming that tackiness so that you can't use it against it. It's pretty brilliant.

I decided that as per the journal-like format of the thread, I'll make two posts per day at least. Early in the day, ill post an anectode about video games throughout my life, and later I'll post the day's 5 games. Now I sleep, and I'll see y'all in the morning with a story that I hope will be interesting.

 

[nynt9]

Sorry for the double post, but here's today's anectode. It's loosely relevant to yesterday's list because Suda.

A few years ago, I went to magfest. I'm a big fan of the Super Best Friends, and I knew they were going to be there, so I decided to attend the meet&greet. At the time, they were talking about Suda games on the podcast a lot, but they seemed to be unaware of Flower, Sun and Rain, which was originally released in Japan only, but then was remade for DS and localized. I decided to give them a copy.

I went to the meet&greet, but it was extremely crowded, and I didn't realize that I had to show up to line up before it started and they were at capacity, so I was told by staff that they couldn't guarantee if I would make it, but I was free to wait around in case they had extra time. May and Woolie were there, and when they were done, they saw that there was still a lot of people around, so they decided to have a fast greeting with everyone in the line as they went out. I made it, and gave Matt my copy of FSR, which he seemed to be interested in.

I leave, then I check out my bag and realize that there's a game cartridge in there. Turns out my box of FSR opened and dropped the cartridge! I was quite embarrassed. I ran back, but it was too late, they were gone. I happened to notice Matt's then-girlfriend (now wife) there and told her about the situation. She told me where to find Matt, and I ran and found him and explained the situation. He laughed, saying "I was very confused when I opened the box and it was empty - I thought it was a prank and went oh well, what a weird guy" then he thanked me. It was a pretty stupid situation but it ended well.

They ended up not liking the game but at least I tried!

 

[Alethebeer]

It's sad that Massimo Guarini is always forgotten.
Edit: nice writing, can't wait to see the rest.

 

[Grudy]

This should be fun.

 

[nynt9]

It's sad that Massimo Guarini is always forgotten.
Edit: nice writing, can't wait to see the rest.

I don't mean to undermine him, I just don't know him. What else has he done?

 

[Mimosa97]

How old are you OP ?

And +1 for Bioshiock 2. The multiplayer was great !

 

[nynt9]

How old are you OP ?

And +1 for Bioshiock 2. The multiplayer was great !

28 - I started at the age of 5 as me and my dad played space quest 4, then I moved on to DOS platformers like Duke Nukem 2 and Commander Keen.

 

[Tizoc]

Nice Idea for a thread, always interested in getting into more games as well as reading more people's impressions on games they enjoyed.

 

[Piston Hyundai]

So you're one of those Bioshock 2 people, huh? I'll give you that it's the best playing game in the series, but I always thought it was too easy and the narrative never did anything for me. The first game was one of the games that was on my list at one point, but was eventually cut.

 

[Bishop89]

Turrrrn up the radioooo

 

[NoFaceNico]

I was skeptical about this thread. Top 100 anything lists usually never speak to me and are loaded with bias towards one console or dev. But then I saw Nosferatu as number 100. Now you caught my attention.

I got Nosferatu super cheap recently in a bundle and I've really been enjoying my time with it. It has its fair share of design flaws, it's not helped by being such an old game and a budget title. Just like the early films that inspired it, I would never recommend the game to everyone, it's an aquired taste and you have to be a forgiving player to enjoy what it has to offer. But when you really lend yourself to it, it becomes a neat FPS period piece with some interesting and unique mechanics.

 

[pixellated_man]

Subscribed.
Really enjoyed the last two top 100 threads. Intrigued by your choices in particular, cos of my familiarity with some of your posts on gaming side.

 

[StarPhlox]

Subscribed to this thread. Gonna be interesting to see how these pan out since these choices so far are...pretty left-field by mainstream standards.

 

[Mimosa97]

28 - I started at the age of 5 as me and my dad played space quest 4, then I moved on to DOS platformers like Duke Nukem 2 and Commander Keen.

Damn .. I'm only slightly younger than you lol

I wish I had a dad who played videogames ... sigh. Must be nice.

 

[nynt9]

Subscribed.
Really enjoyed the last two top 100 threads. Intrigued by your choices in particular, cos of my familiarity with some of your posts on gaming side.

Oh god, I've become noticeable? *hides*

Ok, time for 5 games that didn't make my list. These will be loosely related to the 5 entries I covered here.

Mass Effect 2

I never really loved the Mass Effect series. They had something I liked, but were mired in too many tropes I didn't. The first one was a cool RPG, but had a pretty poor UI, annoying combat, and was generally clunky. However, the setting showed promise. The second was the Empire Strikes Back of the series in a way. Darker second entry. I like the new approach to color grading and the cinematic look. If you watch Raycevick's video about ME3, he talks about how ME3 had automated camera angles where every shot in 2 was manually framed, and it shows. The Illusive Man conversations alone show this.

Really, this game is a cool-looking game. I liked the grimmer look into the less travelled corners of the ME universe. I liked the light questions about whether Shepard is really Shepard, and how many companions were outlaws. I still find it weak that every companion quest kind of ends with you having relations with them and then that's it - like they're some sort of sexual reward. Also dislike how the game really started to rely on the formula of "enter flat area with chest high walls, shoot things, then talk a bit, and repeat". But still, a game that came close to the series's lofty ambitions that were never reached.

The Evil Within

As one of the posters predicted, I really like this game. Unfortunately, some issues prevent me from top-100 liking it, but still, I really like it. Great atmosphere, a good balance of visceral-feeling shooting and "maybe I should run away horror", limited resources and a really intriguingly confusing story. Really, this game would have easily made my list if it had a bit more consistent pacing, slightly better combat design and less technical issues.

Despite its flaws, the game was really good at inducing terror when it wanted to. Some encounters felt unfair, but that was almost ok. Horror isn't necessarily supposed to be fair, and I can take some frustration if it's well designed and part of the experience. TEW towed the line between intentional frustration and poorly-designed frustration too often, but it had enough moments of brilliance that it still deserves a mention.

Clive Barker's Undying

Man, what a wild ride. Nosferatu feels like weirder eurojank attempt at this, really. Undying is a pretty awesome FPS, and one that barely missed the cut of my top 100. Honestly, it's probably a better game than Nosferatu, but the unique quirks of Nosferatu just make it more memorable. Similarly, this game features a character called back into an old estate to save their family, who then encounters a bunch of supernatural horrors.

Undying is more of a traditional FPS, with lots of ammo and spells and puzzle solving and lots, lots of enemies. This game was a pretty big deal around the time when it came out, but unfortunately it sold poorly. It was even supposed to have a sequel! If I could see a reboot of any game in modern times, this would be a good contender, as I feel like modern tropes applied in an oldschool context a la Doom 2016 would do this game well.

Crysis

As I mentioned before, this is a hallmark of gaming. A technological marvel that put Crytek on the game engine map, this game was a spiritual successor to the original Far Cry after the developers separated from Ubisoft. It took the formula to the next level, and provided open-ended FPS gameplay like never seen before.

I feel like the early alien parts are influenced by Predator. Then, of course, all hell breaks loose on the island as you go on a big trek across the entire place. I said earlier that I think this game is too open and environments look too similar, but there are moments where openness works in its favor. While I think it's been improved on in many (not all) areas in sequels, of course the first one will be dear to my heart. I just enjoy replaying the sequel more, personally.

The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena

The Riddick games are pretty fascinating. Not only do they have no business existing, they have no business being this great. They capture the character and atmosphere perfectly, and are also great games. Combining stealth and melee and Shock-like elements (as in System/Bio), few games make you feel as accurate to the source material of any adaptation.

Most of you who know this game probably know contains a remake of Butcher Bay in addition to the sequel. That's a pretty cool way to go about remaking a game, honestly. Unfortunately while the original game is great, the Dark Athena part sometimes doesn't live up to its design. The sequel is too focused on gunplay, which feels un-Riddick-like. Both games also kind of make you go around a lot and reuse areas, which feels like padding. Still, it's amazing to me that we got two great Riddick games that would totally stand on their own as unique, memorable experiences even without the movies.

Here's my cat, by the way. His name is Riddick.

 

[Wok]

Hello, Riddick. 😽

 

[nynt9]

Anectode time.

Crysis was developed by Crytek, helmed by the Yerli brothers who are of Turkish birth like me. When Crysis was being promoted, it was promoted as being fully localized in Turkish for Turkey. The game would have a complete dub and menus in Turkish. Not a lot of Turkish people are proficient in English, so this was a move to give back to their country from them I guess. This version of the game is separate from the international version, you can't enable Turkish language support like this from a menu or whatever.

Anyway, the game comes out, and the dub is positively hilarious. Now, many of you probably know this, but English to Turkish translations are generally very awkward due to the formality structures in both languages. Dubbed versions of 80s actions movies always had hilarious translations, especially for curses. "God damn it" translates to something closer to "may god lay a curse upon you" which just sounds amazingly awkward in colloquial speech.

Crysis's dub was that taken to the extreme. I'm not sure if they were taking the piss or not. Every character sounds like the Turkish equivalent of an incredibly foul mouthed stereotypical redneck. It's so bad that it kind of became a meme. It also uses the Turkish equivalent of "faggot" a lot, which I don't remember being a thing in the English version. The "maximum" lines from the suit still use the word maximum, which makes them sound incredibly tryhard, even more so than the original. Because of this I just can't take the game seriously in some ways.

Thankfully this version still let you switch to English, and I went ahead and played the game like that. They never bothered localizing the sequels in this manner to my knowledge. So Crysis 1 stays as an artifact of a bizarre localization of a AAA game.

 

[CannonFodder52]

Riddick was awesome, really blew me away on the first Xbox. Thanks for reminding me, I really gotta play through that game again soon. Also I heard PS4 pro fixes some of the fps issues that The Evil Within suffered from.

Born in an English speaking country, I guess I'm lucky that I very rarely have to deal with any localisation issues, with the exception being games coming from Japan.

 

[nynt9]

Riddick was awesome, really blew me away on the first Xbox. Thanks for reminding me, I really gotta play through that game again soon. Also I heard PS4 pro fixes some of the fps issues that The Evil Within suffered from.

Born in an English speaking country, I guess I'm lucky that I very rarely have to deal with any localisation issues, with the exception being games coming from Japan.

I played TEW on PC and the port was just... unstable? The performance was inconsistent. I appreciated being able to remove the black bars though, as I have a 21:9 screen.

I mean, the Crysis case less bad localization and more "who ever thought this was a good idea" - the thing is there is really no good English-to-Turkish localization in the movie industry either so it always sounds stilted, and the hilariously over the top translation with the super hammy dubbing is just something else.

 

[Secret Fawful]

I love your picks, reasoning, and anecdotes. I just wanted to say that you have great taste, OP.

 

[Fancy Clown]

I am well pleased to see TEW even if it didn't crack the top 100

Nice shout on Riddick too, I should get around to playing Dark Athena

 

[nynt9]

So you're one of those Bioshock 2 people, huh? I'll give you that it's the best playing game in the series, but I always thought it was too easy and the narrative never did anything for me. The first game was one of the games that was on my list at one point, but was eventually cut.

I recall it having difficulty settings and being quite challenging on higher settings. As for the narrative, like I said, I enjoyed being a weird insider over a confused outsider.

I love your picks, reasoning, and anecdotes. I just wanted to say that you have great taste, OP.

Thanks!

I am well pleased to see TEW even if it didn't crack the top 100

Nice shout on Riddick too, I should get around to playing Dark Athena

I really wanted to like TEW more (I liked it quite a bit) and I hope the sequel fully realizes how great it can be. There's potential.

 

[FallenGrace]

Alpha Protocol in a top 100? Yes op! Hat was a great game! Loved the writing, huge variety of endings, the dialogue wheel etc.

The gameplay had a few faults here and there but I had a blast with it. Four play throughs and the platinum trophy.

 

[Pachimari]

28 - I started at the age of 5 as me and my dad played space quest 4, then I moved on to DOS platformers like Duke Nukem 2 and Commander Keen.

Oh, we're the same age. Gonna be interesting which games you'll have on your list. Will you have any Commodore 64 or Super Famicom games on your list? My list have some of those old games on it.

 

[nynt9]

Alpha Protocol in a top 100? Yes op! Hat was a great game! Loved the writing, huge variety of endings, the dialogue wheel etc.

The gameplay had a few faults here and there but I had a blast with it. Four play throughs and the platinum trophy.

Same, love it. Have you seen this post about cut content from one of the devs?

Oh, we're the same age. Gonna be interesting which games you'll have on your list. Will you have any Commodore 64 or Super Famicom games on your list? My list have some of those old games on it.

No C64, as it was kind of before me, unavailable when I was growing up, and hard to go back to, but yes to SFC. I actually have a decent collection of Japanese SFC classics that I'll probably get around to talking about when it comes to it.

 

[FallenGrace]

Same, love it. Have you seen this post about cut content from one of the devs?

That is all news to me, thanks for that, I always like reading about how games change through development.

Real shame AP will never get a sequel

 

[Possumowner]

That's a great list and a greater read, kudos to you 👌👍

 

[nynt9]

That is all news to me, thanks for that, I always like reading about how games change through development.

Real shame AP will never get a sequel

Yeah Obsidian's output since has been pretty good (though I have some issues with them as well), but "espionage RPG" is such a niche that nothing else can really fill.

 

[nynt9]

Time for top 100: 95-91.

95. God Hand

In other words, 3/10. Heh. I missed this game at the time, because I didn't have a PS2, so I kind of side-stepped the whole controversy. Years later, when it had achieved cult status, I decided to go back to it. What a weird piece of entertainment. Despite being directed by Shinji Mikami, it feels closer to producer Atsushi Inaba's style. A character action game with tank controls. The setting and plot is appropriately absurd, like a Japanese parody of Westerns. Reminds me of one of my favorite movies actually, Sukiyaki Western Django, directed by Takashi Miike.

Maybe it's because I missed it when I came out, but I always felt like I was never able to appreciate the game as much as I should. I don't mind the difficulty (I love the idea of progressive difficulty), but the controls always felt awkward. I really love the overall premise and style, but it feels like the game could use a little bit more polish. I'd love to see a remaster, but probably never going to happen because of the split between Capcom and Clover.

94. Enslaved: Odyssey to the West

It feels like a crime to put this above God Hand because the combat is nowhere near as good, but the setting and story and characters really sell the game to me. I love if when games take me into their world. The post-post-apocalyptic setting of this game was very intriguing, and I loved the dynamic between Trip and Monkey. I also love modern takes on classic tales, and this is very loosely based on the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West.

Every turn was a new vista, a new breath-taking setpiece, and I constantly wanted to see more of the world, know more about it, and explore every nook and cranny. I slowly realized that as I did this, I started to really care about the characters as well. Some of the later setpieces and one particular "boss battle" (the airship) were very clever in how they utilized environmental design and your skill set. Very neat little game that came our of nowhere.

93. Prince of Persia (2008)

Actually, I feel very similarly about this game as I do about Enslaved. This game is very dear to me. Not received very well due to its easiness at the time, but I always felt like that kind of missed the point. Rebooting the beloved Prince of Persia series, this game set it in slightly more open feeling post-apocalyptic world with a Prince that basically couldn't die. It was a very relaxing game with an amazing art style. I loved the design of the prince, Elika, and the world. The enemies were really neat looking as well.

Later entries in my list will show that I'm not averse to challenging games at all, it's just that I love the vibe of this game. I really wish we got a sequel. This was also the first DLC I ever bought because I really wanted more of the game and to see the conclusion of the story. I 100%d this game just because how much I loved being part of the serene, beautiful world.

92. Golden Sun

This game is the second JRPG I went super deep on, the first being FFIX. This is probably the pure classic JRPG I enjoy the most. The plot and setting are as JRPG as they come, but the game had a surprisingly ahead of its time design I think. it felt very convenient to play, and I didn't feel like it was bogged down by tedious design decisions that wasted your time like a lot of the genre does. I cared about the characters, the setting, and I really liked the world.

I really like the visual style of the game and the graphics. It looks really gorgeous in motion, and it feels like they kind of cheated and made the game look better than a GBA game has any right to. I also enjoyed that it almost felt like a Zelda game, with adventuring and exploring and how you could use your powers outside of combat to solve puzzles. For some reason, I never got into the sequels. Being in a country that didn't have access to GBA games legally, I had gotten this game as an import, and I was unable to obtain the sequel when it came out, and I never felt the impulse to go back to it later as I lost my original cartridge and the game featured a savegame transfer to the sequel (very ahead of its time!). I got it on the WiiU eshop and played through it again, but I want the game and the sequels on the Switch eshop now.

91. Sleeping Dogs

What a game! This is hands down my favorite open-world crime simulator. Combining GTA with Hong Kong cop movies was a brilliant idea. Wei Shen is a really likeable character, and the way you are torn between the criminal life and the life of an undercover cop is played well. And of course, the melee combat system is really fun and puts the game above any of its peers.

The game being gorgeous doesn't hurt, either. I keep harping on about the sense of being in a place and wanting to explore, and this is the first GTA-like that actually made me care about the setting. That you have to drive on the opposite side of the road (well, at least opposite to my experience) really helps sell the feeling. The city is so bustling with life, and the emphasis on melee combat forces the developers to focus a lot on pedestrian sections. The game hits all the story beats of classic HK cop thrillers, and is overall a blast to play. Wei Shen motherfucker!

 

[NoFaceNico]

Agree 100% with Sleeping Dogs.

Disagree 100% with Enslaved. It's such a consistently overhyped game that embodies everything that went wrong in the last generation in gaming. Quick time combat, motion cap animation creating laggy controls, disgusting bloom effects, and a story that pretentiously tries to connect itself to Chinese folklore but only borrows character names from it instead.

 

[nynt9]

Agree 100% with Sleeping Dogs.

Disagree 100% with Enslaved. It's such a consistently overhyped game that embodies everything that went wrong in the last generation in gaming. Quick time combat, motion cap animation creating laggy controls, disgusting bloom effects, and a story that pretentiously tries to connect itself to Chinese folklore but only borrows character names from it instead.

I felt like it was underappreciated really (Enslaved). I also think the combat is bad and the game feels sluggish, but I enjoyed the setting and visual spectacle. I fully realize its flaws, but I was engrossed by it regardless.

 

[NipplesAndToes23]

Did you score God Hand as a 3/10?

 

[pantsattack]

Did you score God Hand as a 3/10?

No, they gave it a 6... out of 100.

 

[nynt9]

No, they gave it a 6... out of 100.

Hey, it's not the 6th-from-worst game of all time, it's one of my favorite games! Just not as favorite as some others.

 

[Mimosa97]

I really like your writing man. Do you work in a related field ?

Also I've played every game from your 95 to 91 (first time this happens to me lol) and loved them all especially Prince of Persia and Sleeping dogs.

Prince of Persia is criminally underrated. It doesn't help that the game is really easy. if it wasn't called Prince of Persia and if it was a stand alone or a new IP people would say it's a great game. The art is incredibly beautiful and the game plays very well. Also it's a very unique setting and it gave me those " One thousand and one nights " vibes that you don't get often in videogames.

 

[StarPhlox]

Agree 100% on Prince of Persia (2009). I really liked where they were taking the series with that one and though it was so beautiful, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. That series has had such an identity crisis from 2002 with flashes of brilliance until they stopped making them in like 2010? Doubt it's a priority at Ubisoft and I assume it's buried for a long time to come.

Heard great things about Sleeping Dogs and God Hand and Enslaved and Golden Sun but...don't know if I'll get to those.