Best, game-changing and one of a kind

[SymbolicFrank]

So, there's a lot of games. And most of them are like game X. I have a list of unsurpassed games (alphabetically). The game-defining ones:

- Arcanum
- Crusader Kings 2
- Dark Souls
- Darklands
- Deus Ex / System Shock 2
- Dominions 3
- Dune 2
- Dungeon Keeper
- Fallout Tactics
- Final Fantasy Tactics
- Jagged Alliance 2
- Master of Magic
- Master of Orion 2
- Might and Magic Xeen/6
- Morrowind
- Mount & Blade
- Nethack
- Planescape: Torment
- Silent Storm
- The longest journey
- X-COM: UFO defense


The thing is, while they all generated many sequels or alikes, they've never been surpassed. I play them all every few years.

If I would begin my own game studio, I would start with my employees playing (at least most of) those games. So they understand.


I would LOVE successors, but it never happened.

 

[DramaticPopcorn]

- Dark Souls

Yeah, this game never had a sequel, so sad!

 

[Athelas]

The thing is, while they all generated many sequels or alikes, they've never been surpassed.

That might have something to with the fact that half the game you listed were sequels themselves, or spiritual succesors.

 

[sullynathan]

Surpassed in what? Gameplay, story, level design? Could have sworn that dark souls sequels had far better multiplayer than it and some levels in its sequels were of equal quality with bosses as good as dark souls too.

 

[nomask7]

Total Annihilation / Supreme Commander. Did away with the rather retarded rock-paper-scissors gameplay of many RTS titles of the time. Complex, difficult, freedom and many approaches. Want to rape your enemies with an army focusing purely on aircraft? Wacky but doable. Or want to speed your way to producing an experimental mega unit that is almost indestructible and will unleash unbelievable hell upon your foes? If you can pull it off. Want to wear the enemy down with a steady stream of fast ground units before crushing the commander with a fleet of bombers? Might work. At any rate, game is still unequalled in its genre in my experience (though I haven't played a few of the more obscure cult classics).

Gothic 2 Gold. Piranha Bytes have continued making action RPGs in a similar vein, but while these are all decent, they have regressed in some ways and also failed to capture the perfection of the earlier classic. I've played Risen 3 recently, and I miss: Gothic 2 monster behaviour, combat system (if you avoid using the broken weapon swinging move), how avoiding and/or running away from monsters was made interesting and often desirable, and of course the world building that relied greatly on cramped spaces and monster placement & difficulty... The Valley in Gothic 2 is probably my single favorite location in a video game, just for the mood alone.

Ultimate Doom / Doom 2. Obvious choice is obvious. There are some similar games from twenty years ago, but that there are no recent games of that type by big studios should be counted as one of idiocracy's crimes against humanity. I don't know if Doom was ever really all that good, but there was a lot of potential in that type of game.

TES: Arena. Another game that should have spawned worthy imitators for decades - nay - centuries to come, but so far nothing at all exists. Even Daggerfall was a decline in terms of dungeon quality at least, even though it added the z-axis.

 

[SymbolicFrank]

Total Annihilation / Supreme Commander.
Gothic 2 Gold.
Ultimate Doom / Doom 2.
TES: Arena.

Yes, I agree it depends on what you are looking for. I could totally add those to my list.

 

[SymbolicFrank]

Surpassed:

You play this game, many times, and you totally love it. and, because it's an ancient game, you want a successor: more and better.

If you can actually find one, it got surpassed. If all those newer variants fail to capture the great gameplay, it is still the best of the best.

Unfortunately. I would really want games to surpass the above ones!

 

[Neanderthal]

- Dark Souls

I'd add Ultima 7 to your list for the simulated world.

 

[SymbolicFrank]

Yes, I loathe HP bloat. Anything should die with at most a few good hits. You as well as your enemies! The shock alone would most probably do you in.

But then again, 99% of all games give everything an amount of HP and every attack a smallish reduction of said HP. Because battles should be cinematic and last a long time!

Shooting someone in the head should take them out, for swordplay I encourage you to look for HEMA videos on youtube.

 

[nomask7]

Yes, I loathe HP bloat. Anything should die with at most a few good hits. You as well as your enemies! The shock alone would most probably do you in.

But then again, 99% of all games give everything an amount of HP and every attack a smallish reduction of said HP. Because battles should be cinematic and last a long time!

Shooting someone in the head should take them out, for swordplay I encourage you to look for HEMA videos on youtube.

Realism isn't necessarily good for gameplay though, so if you are arguing your case from the perspective of gameplay, bringing in the realism argument seems needless if not counter-productive.

Completely agree that games should focus less on looking cool (often the same as looking realistic, see popamole shooters), and more on having good gameplay.

 

[sullynathan]

DS is better than Severance and that is final.

 

[Siel]

 

[sullynathan]

Yes, I loathe HP bloat. Anything should die with at most a few good hits. You as well as your enemies! The shock alone would most probably do you in.

But then again, 99% of all games give everything an amount of HP and every attack a smallish reduction of said HP. Because battles should be cinematic and last a long time!

Shooting someone in the head should take them out, for swordplay I encourage you to look for HEMA videos on youtube.

Realism isn't necessarily good for gameplay though, so if you are arguing your case from the perspective of gameplay, bringing in the realism argument seems needless if not counter-productive.

Completely agree that games should focus less on looking cool (often the same as looking realistic, see popamole shooters), and more on having good gameplay.

Gears of war is pure popamole yet has very responsive and "good" gameplay.

 

[nomask7]

Gears of war is pure popamole yet has very responsive and "good" gameplay.

By good I don't mean responsive, I mean intelligent and interesting...

For example, hovering your mouse on someone's head and pressing fire, then doing that over and over again, for all its realism isn't interesting after a while. Just shooting people in the head all the time doesn't make for a good shooter. You'd at the very least need to combine that with stealth elements as in Metal Gear Solid or Far Cry.

 

[octavius]

Elite
Lords of Midnight
Chaos Strikes Back
Ultima Underworld
Heroes of Might&Magic 3
Thief: The Dark Project

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Elite
Lords of Midnight
Chaos Strikes Back
Ultima Underworld
Heroes of Might&Magic 3
Thief: The Dark Project

NOW we're talking.

Star Control 2, Lemmings! and the original X-Com can also be added to the list.

 

[sullynathan]

Gears of war is pure popamole yet has very responsive and "good" gameplay.

By good I don't mean responsive, I mean intelligent and interesting...

For example, hovering your mouse on someone's head and pressing fire, then doing that over and over again, for all its realism isn't interesting after a while. Just shooting people in the head all the time doesn't make for a good shooter. You'd at the very least need to combine that with stealth elements as in Metal Gear Solid or Far Cry.

I'd disagree, I believe having strong shooting mechanics makes for a good/great shooter. Metal Gear isn't a great shooter and neither is the recent Far Cry games. I'd take something like Max Payne 3, which is a linear tps but with very strong shooting mechanics and good AI over the former two.

 

[Ivan]

Mark of the Ninja is a great TP stealth game that's very fun to ghost.

Spelunky is one of the true "oh shit I've never played anything quite like this before' games

 

[Declinator]

So, there's a lot of games. And most of them are like game X. I have a list of unsurpassed games (alphabetically). The game-defining ones:

Gotta say I disagree with a lot of your choices.

First of all, Dune 2 is unsurpassed? It's true that I still miss some things about Dune 2 (though I cannot honestly say which parts are just nostalgia) but frankly it was already surpassed by C&C1 and afterwards surpassed many times over. You cannot even choose multiple units in the game.

JA2 and Silent Storm are both unsurpassed? That does not seem to make much sense seeing how similar they are at their core.

I also don't see what Fallout Tactics is doing on the list.

DS is better than Severance and that is final.

True, Severance is so far below Dark Souls that to claim that it is better is almost ludicrous.

 

[sullynathan]

played Severance for an hour now, unless the game does a complete 180, I don't see how it is better than Dark Souls in anyway. Still good for what it is.

Didn't gothic surpass Morrowind?

 

[Mustawd]

The other day, my dad and I were driving somewhere on a nice, sunny afternoon. My window was rolled down. The town we live in isn't known to be a destination for celebs of any kind. We pull up to a light, second car from the front. A polished limo pulls up next to us and the window rolls down. A man pops his head out and waves to get our attention.

Its William Shatner. All smiles he asks us for directions to a hotel located downtown. My dad, a Trekkie, plays it cool and gives him solid directions. Shatner thanks us, gives me a wink and sits back in his seat and says to the other people in the limo, "stay on this road for awhile."

Just as the light turns, I hear a "Wooohoo!" and look over to seen a different man giving a thumbs up to us as the limo pulls away, big grin on his face. "We're going downtown, baby!" That guy was Brent Spiner.






*in honor of Jick Magger

 

[Siveon]

Spelunky is one of the true "oh shit I've never played anything quite like this before' games

When it first came out. Roguelite platformers are a dime a dozen now.

 

[JudasIscariot]

So, there's a lot of games. And most of them are like game X. I have a list of unsurpassed games (alphabetically). The game-defining ones:

- Arcanum
- Crusader Kings 2
- Dark Souls
- Darklands
- Deus Ex / System Shock 2
- Dominions 3
- Dune 2
- Dungeon Keeper
- Fallout Tactics
- Final Fantasy Tactics
- Jagged Alliance 2
- Master of Magic
- Master of Orion 2
- Might and Magic Xeen/6
- Morrowind
- Mount & Blade
- Nethack
- Planescape: Torment
- Silent Storm
- The longest journey
- X-COM: UFO defense


The thing is, while they all generated many sequels or alikes, they've never been surpassed. I play them all every few years.

If I would begin my own game studio, I would start with my employees playing (at least most of) those games. So they understand.


I would LOVE successors, but it never happened.

I don't see the original Alpha Centauri in your list. Shame as people play SMAC to this day...