Your personal top ten

[Lord Azlan]

I think the Faldurs Gate Scape lot have perished under the new incline.

Nah. Like I said in the OP, I banned those games because they're so obviously great that there's really no point in including them. I mean all those games easily crack my top ten and most of them my top five, and I imagine a large chunk of the Codex are going to be similar. And reading the same list over and over again is boring. Plus I'm guessing that including them is mostly just going to draw iconoclasts who take other peoples' lists as an opportunity to wank on about how one or another of them is shit, because that's a totally edgy and unheard of opinion on the Codex.

You and the other guy misunderstood my post. Dramaticpopcorn said this would be a good snap shot of the Codex in 2016. Said it was horrifying. My point was only that a lot of the earlier Codex guys, in my understanding were of those holy trinity of games and then a little joke that they might have perished under the new incline.

Wasn't comment about the Codex top 5 as I read your OP.

They are an interesting list of games but I find myself struggling to agree with even half a list so far. Just goes to show there is quite a mixed bunch on the Codex.

Oh, and I am not sure they are that great. Not played BG or Arcanum and only now playing PST

Only Morrowind from the Codex top 10 would get onto my Desert Island list.

 

[cvv]

That's funny I wanted to post a top 3 thread yesterday, then thought it'd be retarded.

First off, fuck OP's bans. My list, my rules. Second,

to everyone who mentioned Wizardry 7.

***

1. Wizardry 7 - just one word: AWORKOFPUREGENIUS. Proof? Only real geniuses go completely mad.

2. Best of 4X - yes, I place an entire genre as second. Couldn't really decide for a single desert island game so I'd take a whole bunch of them - Civilization V, Warlock 2 Rennaissance, MoO2, Alpha Centauri, Colonization 1, Master of Magic, Endless Legend.

3. Dark Souls - a dilemma but ultimately you just can't deny this game oozes so much brilliance, creativity and innovativeness Bethesda could knock up 10 games out of it. Can't have a serious Top 3 without Darku Souru, that's just an objective fact.

4. System Shock - a revelation in its time. A game that ended AND started an era. Many of the successors are great games but only a shadow of the Father.

5. Best of Homam-likes - original King's Bounty founded the genre and King's Bounty Crossworlds became it's tzar. Fitting. Other honorables - Homam 2 and 3, King's Bounty Legend, Disciples 2, Eador MotBW, Legends of Eisenwald, Expeditions: Conquistador.

6. Planescape Torment - the best written and most mature RPG for 15 long years, until dethroned by Witcher 3. A place in the Top Five fully deserved.

7. Don't Starve - a brilliant, creative survival game, one of the first of the genre and still the best. Pure delight.

8. Witchers - all of them, really. W3 doesn't deserve a solitary spot. While it's currently the best written and acted videogame out there, with the best characters, quests, art, music and world design, the mechanical innards are less than stellar. The combat is barely serviceable, the chardev second-rate, the crafting a joke and the itemization abysmal. W1 and W2 deserve the spot too, great and very memorable games in their own right.

9. Blue Byte shit - a spot devoted to a single company shit. Shit like Settlers, Anno, History Line, Battle Isle and Albion. Too much good shit for a single dev. Unfortunately a lot of shit too, especially recently. Oh well.

10. Xcom (Ufo, whatever) - played millions of hours of the original Ufo and Ufo 2: Underwater (whatever). Long War nuXcom is great, can't deny that. Xcom 2 is shaping to be great too.

11. Adventures - a dead genre deserves a place in the Top Eleven. Absolutely does. I don't play adventures anymore but they were THE games of my youth. All the classics by LucasArts and Sierra (too many to list), the Tex Murphy series, Discworld Noir, The Longest Journey, Kyrandia 1/2, Syberia and many others. Goodnight sweet princes, it was a good run.

***

I thought of adding a "Other honorable mentions" sections but when my list swelled to about 30 games I threw it out. I'm old and remember much.

 

[anvi]

1) EverQuest - it is the best RPG ever made, even if it is an MMORPG.

2) System Shock 1 - it was like 30 years ahead of its time. Ammo types, multiple grenades, an inventory, lots of weapons etc, it is as accessible as any FPS but it has depth, something very few games today have, especially FPS. Great immersion too. Spooky without being camp.

3) Baldur's Gate 2 - it is just so solid. I hate the characters and most of the dialogue, but it is really good at everything else.

4) Eye of the Beholder 2 - Nothing special by modern standards, although still probably better than Legend of Grimrock. I mostly like it for nostalgia reasons, and because it is the perfect entry point for new RPG gamers. And because it reminds me that you don't need a big budget or tons of complexity or content to make a good RPG. Also the level where you can't rest was terrifying.

5) Midwinter - like System Shock of its day, it thought bigger than anyone else and pulled it off.

6) Arma2 or Arma3 - like Midwinter. It thinks bigger than any other game and pulls it off, more or less.

7) Age of Wonders - If you added up all the hours I spent on it, you would see where I spent most of my 20s.

8) QuakeWorld Team Fortress - it is a mod but I am including it. However good modern dudebros think Valve's Team Fortress is, there was a better version 20 ago for grown ups.

9) Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun - it is the best RTS.

10) Some kind of MOBA, or maybe NOX which is kind of the grandfather of MOBAs.

I am not including some of the best games ever made in this list, because as perfect as Tetris, Lemmings, Dune, etc. are, I wouldn't want to play them for the 1000th time.

Ok here are some more that I've loved and lost and may never play again but they moved me for some reason: Xwing vs Tie Fighter, Moonstone, Prince of Persia, Gunship 2000, Police Quest, Space Quest, Betrayal At Krondor, Syndicate,Space Rangers 2, Maniac Mansion, Monkey Island, Indiana Jones Fate of Atlantis, Mario Kart, Mario 2, Panza Kickboxing, Dune, Lemmings, Tetris, Castles, Alone in the Dark, Gods, Stunt Island, Alley Cat, Civ 2, Duke Nukem 3d, Sam & Max (hit the road I think it was called), Vanguard Saga of Heroes, STALKER - not sure which, maybe pripyat, the games in my head.

 

[anvi]

maybe one of these days I just install this Skyrim and see for myself.

Don't bother, it is retarded. Unless you like walking virtually.

 

[Severian Silk]

People, this poll is rigged. And it's the Liberal Media's fault!

#MakeGeneralGamingDiscussionGreatAgain

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

no order because they're all number 1 to me.

x-com: it's been the first game i've been truly in love with, and it's still unbeaten.
jagged alliance 2 + 1.13: never seen so much stuff, this is what mods should do in my opinion. awesome game and best mod ever.
system shock 2: the atmosphere, the logs, "resist... humanity demands it...", even the gorram monkeys.
deus ex: i still sing the main theme sometimes.
freespace 2: arcade, but incredibly deep. awesome missions to boot.
elite 2 - frontier: we'll probably never see again such a technological feat, so much fitting in such a small space, a little marvel.
vtm bloodlines: the kind of game i demanded fallout 3 had to be.
morrowind: it hasn't aged very well, actually it has aged horribly, but somehow still manages to be a better rpg and have a better world than its opponents. skyrim with no less than 150 mods comes close but still lacks on the world side.
warhammer 40k dawn of war 1.0: something new, something fun, something awesome. the one and only rts i've enjoyed after starcraft. why no starcraft then? because it was just an evolution of warcraft which barely improved on dune 2.
dune: because i just love when genres mix. it made me read books.

 

[Neki]

Do i try to look or i just put the games i like?

C&C Bitches

1-Thief
2-PS:T
3-Ultima IV
4-Gothic 2
5-Ultima Underworld
6-Jet set radio
7-Dark souls
8-Jagged Alliance 2
9-Metal gear solid 3
10-Gta:San Andreas

 

[felipepepe]

Fully based on nostalgia, fun times with friends and how it impacted me:

• Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura - Showed me a glimpse of just how great CRPGs might one day be.
• Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn - I replayed this game SO MANY TIMES... still amazing, best game to play solo and try weird things.
• Civilization II: Nostalgia speaking here, but the cheesy advisers, the wonder videos, the throne room... it all felt more like replying history than "playing a 4X".
• Dark Souls 1 - The perfect Action-RPG. The combat, the level design, the NPCs, the lore, the difficulty... perfect.
• Donkey Kong Country 2 - Best platformer ever.
• Dynasty Warriors 8 - Cool "real" story + charismatic characters + satisfying gameplay with tons of optional objectives. Been playing since DW3 and love all (expect 6, fuck you DW6!)
• Fallout 2 - Objectively speaking, Fallout 1 might be better, but F2 has SO MUCH STUFF TO DO! My most played game, ever.
• Final Fantasy Tactics - Fantastic system, complex story and the most badass recruitable NPC ever: Thunder God Cid
• Perfect Dark - I've beaten every single objective on Perfect Dark difficulty. It was amazing, why games don't do this anymore?
• Star Fox 64 - It's so simple, yet so much fun. I keep Project64 always installed just to play this whenever I want.
• StarCraft: Brood War - Gonna be honest, I played Warcraft 2, 3 & Starcraft 1 for the story & lore, and Brood War was just the coolest shit for a 13-old kid.
• System Shock 2 - Oh, the tension of roaming a dark hall, your weapon half-broken, your resources depleted, and then you hear an enemy...
• The Day of the Tentacle - I love Monkey Island, but IMHO DotT is the best LucasArts game.
• The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind - No other game has this sense of adventure, of exploring a living world full of secrets.
• Thief: The Dark Project - You get a campaign with memorable levels like The Sword, and then the real challenge later - "can I ghost this level?"
• Warhammer 40K: Space Marine - Single player is popamole, but conquering Chaos Unleashed was the best non-MMO multiplayer experience I ever had.
• Warhammer: Dark Omen - Introduced me to Warhammer, to challenging games and the glory of hard earned victories.
• Way of the Samurai 4 - The best CYOA video-game ever made (sorry VD).
• Wizardry 8 - The character creation & first dungeon are simply perfect.
• World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King - I'll never forget those days raiding with my guild.

 

[baturinsky]

Fall From Heaven
Feed the Beast
A Dance with Rogues
Long War

 

[racofer]

felipepepe cannot into counting to 10.

 

[felipepepe]

felipepepe cannot into counting to 10.

2. Top ten is a guideline. You can do top 5, top 20, hell, top 50 if you've got a lot of time on your hands. Whatever.

 

[racofer]

racofer cannot into following guidelines.

 

[Lady_Error]

Wizardry 8 - The character creation & first dungeon are simply perfect.

First dungeon was a snooze. Wizardry 7 > Wizardry 6 > Wizardry 8

 

[felipepepe]

It's not about the difficulty, but the exploration, the secrets, the pacing.... never say anything like it in a 3D RPG.

2D is another business, a lot of blobbers have better initial dungeons, incluiding GRIMWAHHH

 

[sullynathan]

I'm sorry op, I have no top 10 at the moment. Just a huge list of games I really enjoy.

 

[cvv]

It's not about the difficulty, but the exploration, the secrets, the pacing.... never say anything like it in a 3D RPG.

Wizardy 8 is just a shadow of Wiz 7. But a shadow of a demigod is still pretty fucking impressive.

 

[Jick Magger]

1. Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence
2. Fallout: New Vegas
3. Silent Hill 3
4. Fallout
5. Dark Souls
6. DOOM II
7. System Shock 2
8. Nier
9. Resident Evil 4
10. STALKER: Call of Pripyat.

In no particular order, because I feel the list is too diverse for me to make any real decision over which is the best.

 

[Hell March]

Keeping in mind the guidelines:

1. Bloodborne
2. Deus Ex
3. DOOM
4. Fallout: New Vegas
5. F-Zero GX
6. Heroes of Might and Magic III
7. Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer
8. Rocket Knight Adventures
9. Expeditions: Conquistador
10. Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines

 

[soulburner]

1. Quake 1
2. Half-Life 1/2
3. Duke Nukem 3D
4. Fallout: New Vegas
5. Doom 1/2
6. Fallout 1/2
7. Baldur's Gate 1/2
8. Twin Tornado (C64)
9. F/A-18 Hornet 3.0
10. Combat (Atari 2600)

 

[Soulcucker]

1. Deus Ex
2. Homeworld
3. Jagged Alliance 2
4. Half Life + various mods (TFC/CS/DoD/FLF/TL)
5. Myth
6. Commandos 2
7. Decent Freespace 2
8. Dark Forces 2 Jedi Knight + MOTS
9. Operation Flashpoint
10. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat

 

[Machocruz]

The champ: Deus Ex - Probably best realized cyberpunk theme in games, despite technological limitations. I've tried out as many builds in this game as I have in any "pure/true" RPG. Brilliant open endedness, still finding things I hadn't seen before. Love how much equipment and items you can get and use in various ways. The game that everyone has been trying to emulate, but no one has matched.

X-Com: UFO Defense - The amount of hilarious and entertaining situations that can arise make it the most fun and memorable game of its kind. Geoscape is brilliant. One of the best, most memorable rogue's gallery. Could write a page on every little thing I love, including the gear, the economy, how fun blowing shit up is, the theme, the "unfairness," night missions, terror missions, terror missions at night, but that's all for now.

System Shock 2 - Played this for the first time around when Bioshock came out. I felt sorry for Bioshock. Another game that everyone in the West has emulated, and for good reason. Terrifying, immersive, dangerous, with some of the trademark killer level design of that era. Scratches the itches for sci-fi, horror, RPG progression, FPS. If more mainstream gamers played this game (and several of the others on this list), they'd see how much the AAA emperor has no clothes. Or they'd keep being stupid and defend their popamole to the death with absurd arguments...

Thief 2 - Along with 1, hands down best realization of stealth in games. Level design has never been better, truly impressive. The most immersive games ever made, probably. Nowadays people think "games are so immersive now"...with icons all over the screen telling you where to go and how to open doors and whether guards are suspicious/what direction they're coming from.

Baldur's Gate 2 - The jack of all trades CRPG. Not the strongest in any one area, but a balanced package of dungeon crawling, story, characters, combat, art direction, etc. The trade off between accessibility and complexity that big budget RPGs should be pursuing, at least. It was all down hill for Bioware after this, with a brief reprieve in the form of Hordes of the Underdark.

Doom (1 to Final. Can't make up my mind) - most people don't understand the design. "Muh speed" "Muh hordes of monsters". The first game was Super Mario tight and balanced. THE classic FPS for that reason. Never equaled in what it did, despite all its "clones". My litmus test to see if people understand what they are playing.

Alpha Centauri - Started with Civ 5. Liked it at first, but eventually saw how shallow it was. I needed moar. Then Civ 4. Better, but eventually I wanted even more complexity. AC hit the spot. Also as atmospheric as any 3D game. First played it no more than 5 years ago, but I ranked it as one of the best games I ever played within hours. Had me completely engrossed.

Super Metroid - Along with Super Mario 3, the pinnacle of 2D action games. I prefer the dark space/Alien motif to Mushroom Kingdom. A badass, fun to control character with a cool suite of powers, mind boggling amount of secrets, labyrinthine level design that has never been equaled by its followers, top tier music that tells a narrative. Reminds me of silent film

Dwarf Fortress - Fuck I've made so many mountain-homes since I started playing in 2010. Mind blowing simulation and attention to detail. Hilarious when bad luck or poor planning rear their ugly heads.


Demon's Souls - Dark Souls has better combat and equipment implementation, but DeS is tenfold more atmospheric and tonally consistent. The tone is desolation, and no game I can think of has done it in a more tactile fashion (edit: Shadow of the Colossus, maybe). The standout game on PS3, afaic.

The honorables:

Cataclysm: DDA - my favorite roguelike, survival simulation, and zombie related game. Insane crafting and character building options. Making runs into town at night is as tense and dangerous as it gets in games. Randomly generated open world works really well. You can build a vehicle from scratch and be Max Rockatansky. Makes me lament that we'll never see AAA games with this game's attention to detail, deep systems, and challenge.

Resident Evil 1/REmake/2 - Hits the cheesy zombie movie pleasure centers of the brain. Actually cinematic, with camera angles that instill dread and mystery. Capcom effortlessly came up with memorable characters and ideas game after game. What happened to them?

Super Mario 3 - Masterpiece game design. I prefer Super Metroid for thematic reasons, but this game is as good as it has ever gotten for platforming and console games in general. Embraces gaminess to ensure player has fun at all times. 99% of game developers lack the fundamental craft and imagination to make a game like this.

Jagged Alliance 2 - Brilliant execution and structure. Like X-Com, it's the details that add up to something so satisfying Customizing your party from a diverse cast of mercs, air lifting around map, NPC interactions, weapon progression, training troops to defend map squares. Always some matter that needs to be tended to, this game is not for slackards. The combat layer has never been surpassed in the genre.

Metroid Prime - Felt like a Nintendo classic almost immediately. That sense of design they have (or used to have), even in first person. Was the best console game of that generation, imo.

 

[Jacob]

Mount & Blade Warband - Open world that is really dynamic + satisfying melee combat.
Age of Mythology - They perfected AoE gameplay here. The myth units are awesome too.
Space Rangers 2 - The one game I could only knew because of the Codex, and it's really good.
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory - I prefer it to Thief even though I agree with people's criticism of it.
Way of the Samurai 4 - Weird stuff happening, CYOA, really high replay value.
Freedom Planet - Best Sanic game.
Valkyria Chronicles - Turn based tactics with 3rd person view plus action game controls, and it works.
Devil May Cry 4 - Yeah the stage is repetitive, but I prefer the mechanics over 3.
Cities: Skylines - After playing it I don't wanna go back to Simcity.
Final Fantasy VI - My first and favorite FF, if only because of the character cast that I can choose freely for WoR part.

 

[Ludo Lense]

Below the Root: This is the most recent game I've played on this list and the oldest. A 1984 C64 adventure game that was way ahead of its time in terms of systems and sadly mostly forgotten by history.

Microprose's Magic The Gathering: It is a crime against humanity this an almost unique example of blending card games and roleplaying elements together. It sounds perfect on paper and it is even better in practice. The whole deck building concept fits like glove as the center of a progress system.

Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask: I loved this game from start to finish. One of best designed games with "mystery" as its core element and proof that a well done town can make the world feel bigger than a game that features an entire continent.

Gothic 2: On a personal level I consider this the western Majora's Mask. This is probably my favorite game. All of the immersion is done with its systems rather than amazing lore or superior writing and that's so rare it is sad.

Freedom Force: Played it again recently and I forgot this has the best RTWP combat system ever made. Then I played it a few more time. It is a perfect game in what it wants to achieve. Everything just fits. It is THE traditional Saturday morning cartoon superhero game.

Sacrifice: Back from when real-time strategy could be fun and easy going rather than 1000000000+ hours mechanical time sinks. It is hilariously broken but highly endearing because of it. Summoning all those giant minions and stomping around with them is quite cathartic. Also one of the best examples of replayability in terms of single player due to how you can shape your path by choosing a different faction. Helped by being a mythical fantasy rather then your usual Tolkien affair (the main cast of characters are mostly Gods) and a decent plot.

No One Lives Forever: I remember games that make me laugh a bit. This game is in a category of its own for making me laugh a lot. Comedy games have never been popular and how this exists is a mystery to me. I like this more than any James Bond movie or book by the way.

HOMM 3: My most played game. No description needed. It is the Apex of a genre.

Jedi Knight Outcast: Hey! Lightsaber combat done right. Actually melee combat in general done right. Now let us forget this game exists so we can copy God of War for the 10th million time! It is sad we will probably never see game like this again. I've spent an ungodly amount of time dicking around in multiplayer with friends. It never gets old.

Rollcage: By far the most kinetically pleasing experience I've ever had. It strikes that perfect balance between too fast or too slow, plus everything feels like it has weight. There is a spiritual success called grip in development. Support it.

Ignition: This game is purely here for personal reasons. It is by no means a mind blowing racing game but it has a special place in my heart since I like the top down view. Played it a bunch in multiplayer.

The Incredible Machine 1+2: My favorite puzzle games. They appeal to me on a very base and personal level. That being said I do also think they are incredibly well designed.

Deus Ex: One of the few RPGs that I actually liked going down each possible build. Still unmatched.

Thief 1: I remember playing this and going "Woah" as if possessed by Keanu Reeves. It wasn't just the good stealth but rather how the stealth mechanics showcased the world and made you feel a part of it. Sadly between Thief 1/2 and Chaos Theory the genre is pretty much dead on the action side of things. I say action because Invisible Inc. showed you can do proper turn based stealth.

Alpha Centauri: Maybe not the best 4x systems-wise but the theme and atmosphere are unmatched in this genre. It just oozes with personality. Something which Beyond Earth completely forgot.

Katamari Damacy: Suprising amount of depth combined with pure joyful fun. You can't not like this game. It is like digital cocaine. This game legitimately cheered me up at times.

PS: Dark Souls, Doom, Morrowind, Jagged Alliance 2, X-com etc. should be here too but I tried not to repeat other people's lists too much.

 

[Lord Azlan]

Interesting that this thread the Codex has a wide range gamers.

Of those listed so far I would like to mention three:

Dune 2 - certainly close to my list and I considered sticking it in but could not justify taking out any of my top 10. I am a huge Dune series fan and this game was fantastic. I still have my original CD and about six months ago got it installed and played it again for a while. I like they included the House Ordos. The graphics and sound were just perfect. Considered but rejected.

Monkey Island - that and other Lucas Arts games considered but rejected. Definitely did not want to play Monkey Island on an actual island. Reckon I would go nuts. Coupled with the Indian Jones games and Day of the Tentacle - a great series of adventure games but rejected from my top 10 as the circular nature of the games would make me jump into the ocean or something. If I could take the whole collection then maybe...

Elite 2 Frontier - real close. Would have included that or even the original BBC B version both were mind blowing. Went with Freelancer instead though due to the story line which was pretty good but short, and online community stuff that created some rare memories about teamwork which surpass my single memories of any Elite.

 

[:Flash:]

Stone Age
My favourite puzzle game.

Ultima IV
Ultima V is probably the better game overall, but Ultima IV managed to enthrall me in a special way. Considering that I only discovered it in ca. 2000, that is a great feat.

Settlers 2
The best builder, period.

The Lost Vikings
A mix between platforming and puzzle game and fun in both aspects. Still replay it.

Powerslide
Still the best arcade racing game.

Outcast
Great blending of storytelling and open-world exploration, great environment.

Tachyon: The Fringe
A great mission-based space game that is often overlooked. Huge and interesting space structures (bases, etc).

Rebel Assault
This Star Wars rail shooter really burned itself into my synapses, I can probably recite the entire script by heart.

Raptor: Call of the Shadows
My favourite top-down shooter.

The Last Express
Best atmosphere in any game ever.

Honorary Multiplayer mention:
I had two circles of friends, and for some reason we played different games together. Most played were:
Worms
The most fun artillery game.

Wacky Wheels
The PC super mario kart game.