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Author Topic: What are you playing? 2018 SPECIAL EDITION (4 Seasonal DLC Packs Included)  (Read 32148 times)

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: What are you playing? 2018 SPECIAL EDITION (4 Seasonal DLC Packs Included)
« Reply #330 on: November 13, 2018, 03:23:42 PM »
Top 50 video games continues with 11-20:

11. Planescape: Torment

What can change the nature of a man? It’s the question that drives forward this classic RPG in what many consider to be the best story told in all of gaming. And this is a game you’ll want to play for the story. The combat isn’t terrible, but it’s the wisdom/charisma builds that unlock all the fascinating conversations that keep Planescape: Torment the high bar by which many still judge any video game story.

12. Fez

The joy of discovery and exploration taps into some primal part of me that simply loves enjoying beauty and nature for its own sake. Fez bottles up that feeling into game form. A world in which you discover the 2D plain you live on is actually layered with 3D spaces could have become some sort of platforming challenge, but the game focuses on keeping most of the game inclined to simple area traversal and some devilish puzzle-solving. It also boasts what I’d call the best soundtrack in the medium.

13. Metal Gear Solid

Back in the days when most video game stories were bad, Metal Gear Solid is a mix of genius and stupid. Playing into real-world ideas of nuclear warfare, private military, expansion of military battle, the futility of war, and other socio-political thoughts, it’s also filled with hammy dialogue and over-the-top voice performances. But there’s one thing that can’t be denied: the gameplay and level design is top notch here and results in one of the best realized video game spaces of all time: Shadow Moses.

14. Sonic & Knuckles

Much of my youth was spent playing the old Sonic the Hedgehog games on Sega Genesis. As an adult, Sonic & Knuckles feels like it has the most consistent series of stages. The game is filled interesting mechanics and it allows you to play Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 with Knuckles, which I can assure you blew my mind as a kid. It seemed like magic and to this day, sometimes playing these games still feels the same way.

15. Obduction

Myst was such a formative part of my childhood but it has not aged well. Cyan’s spiritual success to the series, Obduction, evokes many of those feelings and experiences but with a much more cohesive set of worlds and far more logical puzzles. Plus, it’s one of the few games that has made my jaw drop from the shere awe and scale of certain moments. Beautiful, thoughtful and otherworldly, Cyan captures lightning in a bottle once again.

16. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords

It’s rare that a video game makes you rethink your view of morality, but The Sith Lords did just that as it challenged my rather simplistic teenager outlook of a world with easily categorized good and evil people. A heavy critique of a lot of Star Wars fiction as well as just a damn good story in its own right, The Sith Lords delves into the murky world of the ethics of a world in which our actions can be judged not simply by their own merit, but by the impact they have on other people.

17. Far Cry 2

This game depicts an indifferent, harsh world that you have to endure instead of subdue. Weapons constantly degrade, enemy patrols drop on you at the worst times, and you’re plagued with malaria. Lots of moments in Far Cry 2 are not traditionally fun, but they are tense and nerve-wracking, resulting in all kinds of improvisational moments where a situation goes from bad to worse. Few firefights in gaming have felt as high-stakes or as thrilling as the ones I’ve had in Far Cry 2.

18. Thief 2

There’s something immensely satisfying about sneaking through spaces and taking everything that isn’t nailed to the floor. Thief 2 is the game that got it the best with a strong emphasis on verticality, a scaling difficulty system that forced you to explore more of the map to steal even more things, and some of the best map design of the era.

19. Thirty Flights of Loving

Ever since playing Gravity Bone, I knew Blendo Games was something special. There was something about the way the game conveyed so much wordlessly that entranced me. Thirty Flights of Loving refined this even further into the tale of a heist gone wrong told with the kind of skill and precision that found a way to play with time in such a way to condense and linger on just the right moments.

20. Hitman

Hitman is the realization of such a specific fantasy: the idea of being an untraceable assassin. As the series has progressed, the simulations and interactions have gotten better and better to the point that this version is filled full of creative and absurd ways to kill your targets. It’s a game where failure is getting into an all-out gunfight and success is a quick and silent murder surrounded by a lengthy setup and a sly exit.

FLYmeatwad

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Re: What are you playing? 2018 SPECIAL EDITION (4 Seasonal DLC Packs Included)
« Reply #331 on: November 13, 2018, 07:32:27 PM »
Fez is most def the Top 3 of last console generation.

Solid Blake

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Re: What are you playing? 2018 SPECIAL EDITION (4 Seasonal DLC Packs Included)
« Reply #332 on: November 13, 2018, 08:47:26 PM »
13. Metal Gear Solid

wHy So LoW?!1?

Hitman 2 is confusing me. I thought this was a standalone game, but you have to download individual maps/episodes like the first game? I suppose that would make sense for an episodic game, but this convulated download system blows. The pre-load of the game only included the prologue, which was fun... but BAM, I tried to move on to Miami to be redirected to the Microsoft Store. So weird. Then, there’s trying to get the 2016 missions into this game...  :o

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: What are you playing? 2018 SPECIAL EDITION (4 Seasonal DLC Packs Included)
« Reply #333 on: November 15, 2018, 09:13:58 AM »
Okay, it's here. My top 10 video games:

1. Spelunky

Spelunky is the game I play when I’m feeling down. Spelunky is the game I think about when I think about great game design.  Spelunky is the game I want to see ported to the Switch the most. It checks so many boxes for me: endlessly playable, difficulty but fair, a game I can play to decompress, it lets me rescue dogs to gain health, and a game that continues to surprise me even after 100+ hours of play. Few things in this world exist mean as much to me as this game does. It’s the greatest.

2. Dwarf Fortress

This game is not much of a looker. It’s ASCII art unless you download some fan patches. But under the hood the game is running an absurd amount of calculations about a bunch of dwarves running a fortress. It’s the ultimate survival management simulation where losing is fun and each fortress is a new learning opportunity. It’s a game I could play endlessly--and actually have at certain points in my life.

3. Dark Souls

Simultaneously drawing me back into gaming while also ruining gaming for me, Dark Souls asked more from its players while presenting less information to them. Something about that design philosophy resonated with a lot of people and I’m one of them. Heck, I took this already notoriously hard game and played it again without leveling up because somehow the idea of making the game even harder to beat was appealing to me.

4. Fallout

Old RPGs can be hard to love. Clunky combat systems, rough user interfaces, and overlong campaigns. But Fallout has none of that. It’s just the right scale, just the right length, and has one of the best combat systems in gaming. And the ending finds a way to incorporate all kinds of player decisions and actions making it one of the most reactive RPGs ever made.

5. X-COM: UFO Defense

There’s nothing quite like the feeling of encountering your first Chryssalid, or stumbling across a squad of Ethereals. It’s the sense of mystery and horror of slowly unearthing the fog of war of the map and just hoping that you don’t stumble into something your fragile humans can’t handle. It’s a brutal, horrifying game and one where turning the tides of battle has never felt as good.

6. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

I already wrote a lot about why I think this game is such a great game because of how it positions itself as a sequel to the original Metal Gear Solid. I’m not sure I have much more to add to what I’ve already said beyond saying that it’s one of the few games I have no problem calling a masterpiece.

7. Deus Ex

Wonky and archaic by today’s standards, Deus Ex still stands as a game I find endlessly fascinating to play. The intricate map design, the ability to approach the game from so many different playstyles, and the augmented abilities results in a game where you can constantly find creative and unintended solutions to problems. It’s the first game I played where I found myself pushing back against the game and finding instead of hitting walls the game adapted to the way I wanted to play it.

8. Beyond Good and Evil

I love the idea of a game where your most effective weapon is your camera. Sure, lots of the game is spent fighting with more traditional weapons, but it’s your camera that documents the conspiracy and exposes the truth to the world. Add in the great cast of characters, magnificent world design, and consistently evolving gameplay makes it a magnificent game.

9. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl

There’s such a mysterious nature to Shadow of Chernobyl, a feeling that anything might be possible in this world but that most of it will probably end up being a nightmare. A mix of survival, shooter, horror, and RPG, Shadow of Chernobyl is a grab bag of mechanics and ideals that somehow all meld together into this magnificent and haunting experience.

10. Riven

Look, Obduction is great, it might even be better than Riven, but Riven holds a special place in my heart. The Myst series is my first real gaming obsession where I joined forums and read up on all the lore, including the novels. I would throw away my extensive notes for the game so I could play it all over again and write down new notes. Riven is the most consistent of the series and one of my most formative gaming experiences.



This was a lot of fun to make and I'm somewhat surprised how it shook out in the end, especially my top 5. I'd be interested in seeing other people's lists if they are so inclined. Also, I already realized a game that would probably have made the list if I hadn't forgot about it: Cave Story.

Bondo

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Re: What are you playing? 2018 SPECIAL EDITION (4 Seasonal DLC Packs Included)
« Reply #334 on: November 15, 2018, 01:37:48 PM »
I was thinking of putting something together. Problem is it mostly will be old games and I have poor record keeping.

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: What are you playing? 2018 SPECIAL EDITION (4 Seasonal DLC Packs Included)
« Reply #335 on: November 15, 2018, 04:21:06 PM »
Old games are rad! I say do it.

smirnoff

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Re: What are you playing? 2018 SPECIAL EDITION (4 Seasonal DLC Packs Included)
« Reply #336 on: November 15, 2018, 06:37:22 PM »
That was a great list Sam. Really enjoyed it, and there are a few I'd love to try for myself. Generally I think our gaming tastes are a little different, but even so. :)


FLYmeatwad

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Re: What are you playing? 2018 SPECIAL EDITION (4 Seasonal DLC Packs Included)
« Reply #337 on: November 15, 2018, 10:57:00 PM »
13. Metal Gear Solid

wHy So LoW?!1?

Hitman 2 is confusing me. I thought this was a standalone game, but you have to download individual maps/episodes like the first game? I suppose that would make sense for an episodic game, but this convulated download system blows. The pre-load of the game only included the prologue, which was fun... but BAM, I tried to move on to Miami to be redirected to the Microsoft Store. So weird. Then, there’s trying to get the 2016 missions into this game...  :o

Will report back if the same happens on PS4. I'm running a disc version, just finished the opening thing, unsure if I'll do the prologue again since I think it's just the same as Hitman 1, and headed to bed before starting Miami. Do wish I bought it on One X since it's the stronger system and I'm still on a launch PS4 (and will continue to be until PS5, I guess, since there's no BF deals on a Pro), but I didn't want to spend another $20 on the legacy content when I already had the digital everything on PS4. TBH I would have went digital on this one if the Amazon 20% wasn't still going at the time. Oh well. Jealous of not having it on the One X. I'll buy the season pass for this too, but will wait until the first release, probably.

Spelunky is right up there, and maybe in there, with my Top 3 of last generation (RDR, Fez, and SMB in some order), but I'm likely played it more than all of those. It's definitely one of my favorites as well, so that's a great choice. Clash Royale, of course, will be very high on my list since it's the greatest game ever made.

Solid Blake

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Re: What are you playing? 2018 SPECIAL EDITION (4 Seasonal DLC Packs Included)
« Reply #338 on: November 16, 2018, 07:39:38 AM »
The prologue is definitely something new to Hitman 2, don't miss it. It's the beach house level. I'm hoping the Blu-ray version doesn't have you download everything piecemeal like the digital download version, but who knows? It's a strange thing.

The game is good, though. I bought the Xbox One X version and dropped $20 for the legacy content, because I too had the previous game on the PS4 Pro, but wanted the best running version. It's nice to have all those maps in one game, and really showcases how much they have evolved in level design from the first season. That being said, I do miss the Square-Enix backed production value of the first game, as the static cut scenes just wreak of a lower budget feel. The story is literally told via concept art and that's a bummer.

I'm playing through on 'Master' difficulty with all assists/story elements/HUD & UI turned off. It only allows one manual save per level and really ups the stakes on making sure you take out your targets in the right manner. I've completed all missions with 4/5 stars, mostly dinged for how long it's taking me to scope out and eliminate my targets. I'm on the last map now and I've enjoyed every one (with the Vermont suburbs being one of my favorite Hitman maps of all time). Actually, Mumbai might be the weakest of them all, but I'm digging it.
« Last Edit: November 16, 2018, 07:49:22 AM by Solid Blake »

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: What are you playing? 2018 SPECIAL EDITION (4 Seasonal DLC Packs Included)
« Reply #339 on: November 16, 2018, 08:56:47 AM »
Yea, I'm definitely looking to crank it up to Master and turn off the UI after playing the prologue. Hoping I get some time this weekend as I just don't have the energy to play it after getting off work.

Depending on how long it takes me to get through Hitman 2, I'm wondering if I should pick up anything for the Thanksgiving break. I'm hoping to do more stuff with family, but it's also quality gaming time. I'm tempted to just play more Rimworld as that game is really rocking my socks off right now.

Week after Thanksgiving I've got BattleTech and Artifact in the same week. I'm honestly wondering if I should hold off on BattleTech until a sale as that might not be one I get to until Christmas break. And then the week after that is Smash. Boy is this a good little pocket of gaming.

And man am I probably not going to catch up with many of the 2018 games I missed out on before the year ends. So it goes.

That was a great list Sam. Really enjoyed it, and there are a few I'd love to try for myself. Generally I think our gaming tastes are a little different, but even so. :)
Thanks! I do think we generally have different tastes in games but I'm sure some on my list you'd enjoy. I could see a world in which you would love Dwarf Fortress but the more user friendly Rimworld might be a better pick for you.


 

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