Great games of recent history

[Surf314]

I thought this would be a good discussion topic and I put it in general because it's all inclusive: console, PC, whatever.  What games released in 2008 in the past few years can be classified as truly great games. 

I consider great games to have strict criteria, here are some factors to consider:
-You can pick up and play it years from now and still enjoy it.
-If you trade it you will hate yourself every time someone talks about it.
-People will be talking about it in the future.  You know the far future.  Like years after it came out.
-It's considered an example of what future games should be like.
-It sets a new trend or idea that many other games will try to copy.
-It made you feel more immersed than you are used to and that feeling throws you off at first.
-When you are older you will tell the young kids how disadvantaged they are not to play it and how they should play it now (and they actually like it if they do).
-It expands what is considered possible to do with the videogame medium: in storytelling, interactivity, immersion, emotion, etc.

Edit: I'm expanding this so we can talk about HL2 and the original Prince of Persia among others

[[fr31ns]Karrde]

Half Life (buy it, you nubs...)
On a more serious note, though, I've got one.  Actually, I think I'll post a topic in big boys about it later.

"Sins of a Solar Empire" for PC.  It calls itself and RTS but it's more like a Real Time Sim in my opinion.  There's no story mode, which I find kinda sad, but the single player campaign is basically different numbers of planets to colonize in different star systems, with certain routes from system to system out of the gravity wells where the game is played.  Ultimately, this is like a space based real time version of the Civilization games.  And it's really hard.  This game isn't gonna hold your hand.  I still haven't been able to beat the easiest scenario.  Hell, I haven't even managed to colonize another planet yet for more than a few minutes.  But it's a ton of fun, the graphics are decent but not punishing.  My 256mb 8600m GT runs it fine at max settings with the exception of 4x AA.  Def something for any brbu ppl who enjoy civ to pick up.  Also has multiplayer, though I'm not sure how that works in terms of matching vs play with friends.

[Vongore]

Well, for my personal expierence, i'm going with StarFox 64 and Earthbound

Why:

in times before all games came in a trendy spanish for all those stupid looking, lazy ratholes things called Kids, we only had games on English, since the NES era to the N64, all games were on English. As many of you know, my english isn't bad, in fact, i think that English among with other languages is the best thing i do in my entire life (not counting hobbies).  So what do i have to thank? School? Teachers? Classes? No, i only had English on school and it was a pretty lame one. It was all due to Starfox 64 and Earthbound.
Let's start with Earthbound. The game came while i was 8, with no knowledge of english, there was barely a thing i could understand. I beated never beated Giygas because i never had the Pray hint, so i cleared the game with the kid with the bat, the "ninja" (Poo, shut up, it was my imagination, i had to create an entire story), Ness's girlfriend (Paula) and Ness's cousin (Jeff). Yes, it was a lame story, i even wrote it down on my school notebooks to try and not forget it, along with some comics. After that, my dad started to play the game, he told me about the Story, who was each character, but he reached Fourside and got bored. So i was already hooked with the game, i was 9 and decided to get the whole Story, from start to end, with nothing but me, the SNES and an English-Spanish dictionary. It took me almost a year to get the whole plot, plus complete the game without being able to beat Giygas. But i was happy, i did it all by myself.

Then the N64 came, my whole family was surprised when on 1996 i translated the first letter that appears on Mario 64, "Mario i baked a cake, come get some, bla bla bla", so after i year, my Aunt gifted me StarFox 64. Jesus what an awesome game, it was so much on the same screen, along with some furries shouting stuff to me, it gave me so many emotions, that i was even scared of going to Titania, because the boss gave me the creeps (the one that had slippy on his hand). It was so exciting for the time, now you play it and it's still awesome, but the graphics aren't as cool as they used to be and Andross's brain isn't scary :<. But oh well, by that time, my brother was 6, so everytime he watched me play, he just sat on the sofa, without knowing wtf was going on the screen. So i decided i would be kind. It took me a while, but again, Dictionary on hand, i translated and memorized each one of the dialogues, so while i played, i could repeat them to my brother in Spanish. I still remember him oh so happy because he could finally understand what was going on.
 fter that, i started English on my school. because i started Middle. I already knew all the things that my classmates were learning, so after a talk with the English department they told me i would skip English classes for 3 years. 3 YEARS! In that time, i played more games, my mom kept on buying me books in english (The bear that wasn't FTW). After those 3 years, i was so above my classmates that i didn't studied for any class, and still have the greatest grades on my level. Now i'm on college, again, i was able to skip English, and it was all due to Earthbound and Starfox.

Now i was really sad to see my little brother (8 ) playing Super Mario Galaxy on Spanish, all text was in spanish and it was so simple, that even if he didn't knew was said, they put a drawing on it, or the words were in a different color. I changed the Wii bios into English, but my brother kept on turning it back to Spanish so he could understand.
I know, my children won't have the same opportunity that i had. Being able to learn playing Video games. I really wish they could. If i ever have children, i will have all my console bios on English, so they can learn as much as i did playing some awesome games. I will still make them play Starfox and all those games that made me happy when i was their age. That's why i'm saving all my consoles and trying to buy all the things i used to use. But in the end i know they will not want to play. After all is when our dads talks us about the old Star Trek series (At least in my case), i know they are awesome, but they just don't give me the same feelings that gave my dad.

That's it Gentleman. I hope you read this

*Vongore turns his 360 Bios to english and starts painting his Enterprise model*

[fyre]

Define "past few years."

Deus Ex (might be too old for this)

Portal

TF2

Civ4 (Not sure if this fits all the criteria)

[Surf314]

I think earthbound invalidated the limit, I just didn't want it to turn into an old man game rent.  How about we start in the last decade and move back from there.  Also the criteria wasn't an all or nothing it was just to curb people posting stuff that was just released that seems good now but won't later.

Like I enjoyed Fable 1 & 2 but know they do not belong on this list because you have to make excuses for them to be considered great.  They were just good poorly executed ideas.

[Vongore]

I think earthbound invalidated the limit, I just didn't want it to turn into an old man game rent.  How about we start in the last decade and move back from there.

:< shut up, it took me a while to write all that

[Surf314]

[quote author=Surf314 link=topic=1844.msg51286#msg51286 date=1227629810]
I think earthbound invalidated the limit, I just didn't want it to turn into an old man game rent.  How about we start in the last decade and move back from there.

:< shut up, it took me a while to write all that
[/quote]

LOL, I read it if that helps.

[Eschatos]

Half Life 2
Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines
Psychonauts
Bioshock

[x]

That's it Gentleman. I hope you read this

I'm so glad I skipped to the end just to read that.

[Benito Mussolini]

Portal

TF2

Civ4 (Not sure if this fits all the criteria)

Same here for those games.

Vongore... All you said there, I could almost have said it with other games. Video games helped me learning english a lot when I was a kid, although instead of a dictionnary, I actually had parents who can speak proper english.

Also, Surf, I don't think I can say that some games I played recently are worth saying in this thread. You can't really know how much you enjoy a game until you look back in time and feel nostalgic (or not) about it.
Of course, I can say I think TF2 or Civ4 are awesome games, but I can't be sure I will think those are as much of chefs d'oeuvres (works of art) as Zelda:OOT, Mario64, Pokeman,et caetera.

Anyways... I'd still say I'll remember TF2 for a long time and that group...uh... AFK Reinstalling

[CaffeinePowered]

Past Few Years - Keeping a roughly 2 year limitation

Mother 3 (Id say the English version is a 2008 release despite it being 2 years old)
Orange Box (All contents)
Phoenix Wright
FFIV Re-Release
Smash Brothers Brawl
Metroid Prime 3
Super Mario Galaxy
Megaman 9

Alright, but not omfg splooge-my-pants amazing
Fallout 3
Mass Effect
Portal Prelude
Gears 1/2
Twilight Princess
Various Source Mods
Sins of a Solar Empire
The Witcher
STALKER
Lost Odyssey
Bioshock


Look Promising
Deus Ex 3
Black Mesa Source
Natural Selection Source (New Engine(?) Standalone)
Mechwarrior Living Legends (Crysis Mod)


Fell Flat on their Face
Too Human
Any Shovelware Licensed Games
Banjo-Kazooie (and anything else Rare has made)
Unreal 3

[Surf314]

I'd add Bioshock to the great games list because of the story-telling and immersion.  From a strict gameplay perspective it was alright but not amazing, but if you are into stories and storytelling Bioshock really took it to another level.  Sure it's a level other games have reached but not very often.  Honestly it had been so long since I've seen a really narrative influenced immersive game I was beginning to think that the corporate model no longer had room for such games and I may never see them again outside of every couple of years from Valve.

The way I feel is like this.  Whenever there is a new medium for storytelling there always seems to be a lot of false starts and inconsistent quality.  There also seems to be a lot of people with this idea that this new medium is no place for serious storytelling.  We saw it in comics.  I'm sure it was in movies (it would have been before my time).  Now with games.  There have been fantastic storytelling in games since the beginning but I'm sure if you were to try and make a collection of the major works you'd barely come up with a dozen.  Also many times when they get something right they condense it to a formula and do it over and over again (see final fantasy).  So when a new game comes out that offers something worth adding to the "classics" of video game storytelling it definitely deserves to be added to the great games list.

Although I have to admit the 3rd act was weak.

[Surf314]

As a subtopic since I'm into this I'm putting together a list of all-time best storytelling in videogames.  Feel free to quote this and add or strike-out (with explanation if striking out).

HL1&2 and episodes
Bioshock (or SS2 if you are old school)
Final Fantasy (pick your favorites)
Mother series (I haven't played much but I know it should be here)
Psychonauts (not a deep story but very well told)
Portal (I think this game shows the potential of the medium as much was conveyed with very little)
Ace Attorney series.
LucasArts adventure games.
Fallout 1/2 (For the way you could make your own story and it still making sense)
Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath (I just loved the presentation and the character development of the main character)

updated

[CaffeinePowered]

FF VII
FFVI

- Fixed that for you  :-*

As for Bioshock, if you play SS2 prior to Bioshock, its the exact same story, the twist, the players, the mood, everything. I knock it down a peg for not being original and deviating from SS2's story. However, I do have good hopes for Bioshock 2 since they will hopefully be working with an original story, I just hope they don't pull some reverse carbon copy crap and make Bioshock 2 a carbon copy of System Shock 1  >

[ainmosni]

As a subtopic since I'm into this I'm putting together a list of all-time best storytelling in videogames.  Feel free to quote this and add or strike-out (with explanation if striking out).

HL1&2 and episodes
Bioshock
FF VII
Mother series (I haven't played much but I know it should be here)
Psychonauts (not a deep story but very well told)
Portal (I think this game shows the potential of the medium as much was conveyed with very little)

HL series, agreed
Bioshock, agreed
FFVII.... You can just say the FF series even though I liked FFVI a lot more story-wise...
Mother series, haven't played (Still on my to-play list)
Psychonauts, never played.
Portal, agreed.

I'll add:

Ace Attorney series.
LucasArts adventure games.
Fallout 1/2 (For the way you could make your own story and it still making sense)


As for great games of the last years:

Civ IV
Orange Box (everything)
Ace Attorney series
Super Mario Galaxy
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Audiosurf (only music game I like)


That's all I can think of for now...

[Sponson]

Starcraft

[JoKeRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR]

Ico
Shadow of the Colossus
Mother 3
Half-life 2
Metal Gear Solid series
Resident Evil 4
Braid
Killer 7
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee
Portal

[Master Shake]

BROODWAR

[Sponson]

Ico
Shadow of the Colossus
Mother 3
Half-life 2
Metal Gear Solid series
Resident Evil 4
Braid
Killer 7
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee
Portal

Resident Evil 4 was pretty good gameplay wise. But the story and dialog was just so bad - I wanted to die.
Also if you shoot ashley with a rocket launcher, Leon still does that stupid "oh....... no...." thing - which is pretty funny.

the MGS series is however one of the greatest philosophical games in existance. I mean, what challenges existentialism and war with psycological and controversial topics?

[Dave]

I mean, what challenges existentialism and war with psycological and controversial topics?

left4dead.