People apply the term Roguelike way too broadly IMHO. I see very few similarities between Rogue and FTL.
While I haven't played Rogue itself, the following gameplay mechanics are what define a roguelike for me: 1) Randomly generated maps, structured into "floors" 2) inability to return to previous floors 3) (semi-)random distribution of upgrades 4) progressive enemy difficulty 5) permanent death
All of them are true for FTL.
And yes, Halo: Combat Evolved was a launch title for the original XBox. It came out in 2001.
Just going by the games that made the most impact on me per say, I have had many experiences with both the console offerings and the PC offerings if I were to look at this last generation as a whole.
Though my top 5 overall would have to be
Okami- for its beautiful style, mechanics, and overall aesthetic
Dragon Age Origins- Combat was probably the most fun I've had this generation
Heroes of Might and Magic V/VI-Sank in way too much time into this game then was healthy
The Book of Unwritten Tales-Great charm, great charisma and dialogue, one of the best Adventure games for me in awhile since Monkey Island
Shadow Hearts Covenant-my first JRPG experience, and something I would press on to anyone. Fell in love with the mechanics and the world, and while it aint objectively the best JRPG experinece out there, it's a personal favourite.
Didnt make the cut: Amnesia the Dark Descent (couldn't finish it, the atmosphere and sound literally paralyzed me at times with fear. I didnt enjoy it, but boy, great experience)
Shadow of the Colossus (wonderful concept, the experience of fighting a colossus the first time is forever etched in memory)
Deus Ex Human Revolution (Cyberpunk is something I wish to see more really. The boss battles seriously ruined the experience for me, not to mention the overpowered Typhoon Explosive System)
Command and Conquer Tiberium Wars (was a huge fan of the original CnC universe, and 3 was a great culmination of its evolution into the modern era. Just for the gods, remove CnC4 from existence please..)
@Forte I was struggling with deciding whether I preferred Portal 1 or 2. Portal 2 while expanding the concept, sometimes felt a bit too slow in terms of its narrative, and getting through the long string of puzzles, especially in the 1960s Aperture, was a chore.
Portal 1 I felt was more concise, compact, while fully delivering the unique charm and aesthetic of the game.
I can think of recent games that I'd put on my top ten of all time list, but like hell I want the hassle of having Scott(or anyone else) argue the toss about the contents of the list. It's not worth the fucking hassle of giving an opinion.
FTL is the best ummmmm... Whatever kind of game that is.
It's a Roguelike. It's very good, but I think The Binding of Isaac is a better Roguelike though and it came out just a year before it.
Binding of Isaac would be in my runner-ups category. As much I love it and it is one of the rare games to have an open-interpretative ending that actually works, I did find it to be quite buggy at times. (Not dying, bosses not dying, trapped in certain rooms, etc) But it comes down to which Rougelike is more your style between management or twin-stick shooter.
3.) Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii: Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 It took everything that the original Ouendan and EBA was and perfected the formula.
Separating Ouendan 2 from EBA is really like splitting hairs, since EBA really enhanced on the original. I think what leans the decision in the Ouendan 2's favor is song choice and there's little to no bias from listening to a cover song in a foreign language. With the exception of the anime opening songs in the games, that was the first time I listened to any of those songs and most of them were fantastic. So you can be more judgmental to EBA in the regard. (And a bad cover can kill your interest in playing a song. I don't think EBA has any bad covers, but you could tell the group had limited resources.)
Well I'm going to post my top 10 of all time, because, FUCK.
1. Metroid Prime 2. The World ends with You 3. Super Mario Galaxy 4. Advance Wars 5. 1000 Year Door 6. ALTTP 7. Okami 8. Yoshi's Island 9. Borderlands 10. Super Smash Brothers Brawl
Honorable Mentions: Portal, Uncharted 2, Beyond Good and Evil, Wind Waker, Mario Kart 64, Ouendan 1, OOT.
Well I'm going to post my top 10 of all time, because, FUCK.
1. Metroid Prime 2. The World ends with You 3. Super Mario Galaxy 4. Advance Wars 5. 1000 Year Door 6. ALTTP 7. Okami 8. Yoshi's Island 9. Borderlands 10. Super Smash Brothers Brawl
Honorable Mentions: Portal, Uncharted 2, Beyond Good and Evil, Wind Waker, Mario Kart 64, Ouendan 1, OOT.
I don't even know where to start. Metroid Prime is great, but number ONE? It's not even the best game in it's own franchise. You put TWEWY, a standard JRPG only differentiated by it's weird ass combat system at number TWO? Above ALTTP? You put Okami on the list? It's super long and drawn out with tons of busywork, and only it's fancy art give it any lift. Meanwhile you left Ocarina of Time off the list which is really quite similar to Okami, only actually fucking perfect. And Borderlands? Any game with lazy ass design like Skag Gulch does not deserve to be on any top games list.
So using the consoles mentioned, and the past 10 years as a timeframe, here are Metacritic's Top 10:
1. GTA IV 2. Super Mario Galaxy 3. Super Mario Galaxy 2 4. Half-Life 2 5. Bioshock 6. Out of the Part Baseball 2007 (???) 7. Mass Effect 2 8. Uncharted 3 9. Batman: Arkham City 10: Skyrim
Orange Box compilation was also in there but I left it out. You could take that as a nod to Portal though and assume that would be in the Top 10. Portal 2 was #14 I believe.
Saying whether any of these should be in top 10 "all time" is impossibly subjective, as games have simply changed so much over time. Length, difficulty, play styles, etc. have all changed, as well as who we are and why we play.
By time GTA IV came out, I was already pressed to squeeze in gaming time when I could, so while I did beat it and was impressed by it, I didn't soak up everything it had to offer. Instead, I'll always look back more fondly to the summer I lost on GTA: Vice City, putting that game up on an untouchable pedestal.
Same thing with Mario Galaxy. Yeah it was cool. Playing it as an adult, it didn't grab me enough to make me want to hunt down every single star. Just beat it and moved on. It didn't unseat the original few Mario games in my mind, but that's an impossible challenge.
Out of the Park Baseball 2007, the eighth iteration of the game, was released on March 23, 2007, to much better reviews than its predecessor.[3] Out of the Park Baseball 2007 is Metacritic's second highest rated game on the PC platform,[4] scoring higher than The Orange Box, second to Half Life 2, regarded as some of the greatest PC games by critics and users alike.[5] Some feel that OOTP has received biased attention from critics, with many angered by the games' ranking.[6] Its high score is attributed to Metacritic's ranking system, where games with at least 5 reviews can appear in the top 20 list. The game has, in fact, only received 5 reviews globally, all generally positive.[7]
Like I said before I'm not good at making ordered lists so I just picked five games from this generation that might fit for my top 5 list. I tried to pick the best games of different genres and styles. Even then just picking five was really restrictive, my list doesn't have any fpses for example.
Just Cause 2 My favorite third person, shooter, sandbox game of this generation and ever. Saints Row 2/3 and Red Dead Redemption get close and Red Dead might even be better game, but Just Cause 2 is the most fun one.
Metal Gear Rising Revengeance This was a fight between Rising and Bayonetta and while I think that Bayonetta has better hitting dudes mechanics, Rising has better bosses, story, characters and music, and less annoying quick time evens, thus being overall better in my opinion.
Dark Souls This wasn't even a fight because I don't think I've played any other game this generation that would go to same slot with Dark Souls. Not a perfect game obviously, but pretty great and I'm totally in love with it.
Mass Effect 2 My favorite of Mass Effect series and great rpg. Witcher 2 got also close to getting this spot, but I ended up preferring ME2 here.
Bastion I wanted some game from live arcade to this list for I think that's the risen popularity of smaller indie games has been one of the best things about this generation and Bastion is a great, excellent game.
Well I'm going to post my top 10 of all time, because, FUCK.
1. Metroid Prime 2. The World ends with You 3. Super Mario Galaxy 4. Advance Wars 5. 1000 Year Door 6. ALTTP 7. Okami 8. Yoshi's Island 9. Borderlands 10. Super Smash Brothers Brawl
Honorable Mentions: Portal, Uncharted 2, Beyond Good and Evil, Wind Waker, Mario Kart 64, Ouendan 1, OOT.
I don't even know where to start. Metroid Prime is great, but number ONE? It's not even the best game in it's own franchise. You put TWEWY, a standard JRPG only differentiated by it's weird ass combat system at number TWO? Above ALTTP? You put Okami on the list? It's super long and drawn out with tons of busywork, and only it's fancy art give it any lift. Meanwhile you left Ocarina of Time off the list which is really quite similar to Okami, only actually fucking perfect. And Borderlands? Any game with lazy ass design like Skag Gulch does not deserve to be on any top games list.
Oh, it wasn't in exact order. ALTTP coud be higher than Prime, depending on my mood.
Borderlands gave me and my distant friends one of the best multi player experiences we have had in years. Borderlands is the BEST version of Skype ever created
Without arguing over definitions, it's more about "expectations" in a game. TWEWY feels more like the Paper Mario series to me. Where you equip badges to get powers. Leveling up really just serves to give the ability to wear more badges.
Thats TWEWY as well. Leveling up doesn't make you any more powerful, it just lets you do more stuff. Mostly, adjusting the difficulty of the enemies. ie. Slide down your level bar to make enemies harder = better drops.
The combat is weird, but really fun if you can master it.
I'd say if you have a DS and a piracy card it's worth a try. I admit it's weird, but that's what made it memorable.
Edit: Wikipedia lists TWEWY as a Action Role Paying Game. That seems correct.
Edit2: I always like these two posts from Penny Arcade about TWEWY:
This quote in particular always seems apt when even attempting to describe TWEWY to someone...
"There isn’t time here to talk about the game’s bizarre yet deeply groovy approach to two screen combat, or its sparkling, gloom-banishing soundtrack, or its omnipresent supernatural art. it’s a game you can attempt to contain linguistically, but in the end you just sort of gesture toward the closest games retailer. "
#1 game that qualifies is Tetris DS. No contest. The greatest version of one of the few perfect games.
This would be on my all time favorite games list too, probably #3 after Dark Souls and Castlevania:SoTN. Such an awesome version of Tetris, and the Push Mode multiplayer was ridiculously good and has never been resurrected for some reason, as far as I know at least.
Comments
1) Randomly generated maps, structured into "floors"
2) inability to return to previous floors
3) (semi-)random distribution of upgrades
4) progressive enemy difficulty
5) permanent death
All of them are true for FTL.
And yes, Halo: Combat Evolved was a launch title for the original XBox. It came out in 2001.
Though my top 5 overall would have to be
Okami- for its beautiful style, mechanics, and overall aesthetic
Dragon Age Origins- Combat was probably the most fun I've had this generation
Heroes of Might and Magic V/VI-Sank in way too much time into this game then was healthy
The Book of Unwritten Tales-Great charm, great charisma and dialogue, one of the best Adventure games for me in awhile since Monkey Island
Shadow Hearts Covenant-my first JRPG experience, and something I would press on to anyone. Fell in love with the mechanics and the world, and while it aint objectively the best JRPG experinece out there, it's a personal favourite.
Didnt make the cut:
Amnesia the Dark Descent (couldn't finish it, the atmosphere and sound literally paralyzed me at times with fear. I didnt enjoy it, but boy, great experience)
Shadow of the Colossus (wonderful concept, the experience of fighting a colossus the first time is forever etched in memory)
Deus Ex Human Revolution (Cyberpunk is something I wish to see more really. The boss battles seriously ruined the experience for me, not to mention the overpowered Typhoon Explosive System)
Command and Conquer Tiberium Wars (was a huge fan of the original CnC universe, and 3 was a great culmination of its evolution into the modern era. Just for the gods, remove CnC4 from existence please..)
Portal 1 and 2 (yeah, no surprises here)
Portal 1 I felt was more concise, compact, while fully delivering the unique charm and aesthetic of the game.
Separating Ouendan 2 from EBA is really like splitting hairs, since EBA really enhanced on the original. I think what leans the decision in the Ouendan 2's favor is song choice and there's little to no bias from listening to a cover song in a foreign language. With the exception of the anime opening songs in the games, that was the first time I listened to any of those songs and most of them were fantastic. So you can be more judgmental to EBA in the regard. (And a bad cover can kill your interest in playing a song. I don't think EBA has any bad covers, but you could tell the group had limited resources.)
1. Metroid Prime
2. The World ends with You
3. Super Mario Galaxy
4. Advance Wars
5. 1000 Year Door
6. ALTTP
7. Okami
8. Yoshi's Island
9. Borderlands
10. Super Smash Brothers Brawl
Honorable Mentions: Portal, Uncharted 2, Beyond Good and Evil, Wind Waker,
Mario Kart 64, Ouendan 1, OOT.
1. GTA IV
2. Super Mario Galaxy
3. Super Mario Galaxy 2
4. Half-Life 2
5. Bioshock
6. Out of the Part Baseball 2007 (???)
7. Mass Effect 2
8. Uncharted 3
9. Batman: Arkham City
10: Skyrim
Orange Box compilation was also in there but I left it out. You could take that as a nod to Portal though and assume that would be in the Top 10. Portal 2 was #14 I believe.
Saying whether any of these should be in top 10 "all time" is impossibly subjective, as games have simply changed so much over time. Length, difficulty, play styles, etc. have all changed, as well as who we are and why we play.
By time GTA IV came out, I was already pressed to squeeze in gaming time when I could, so while I did beat it and was impressed by it, I didn't soak up everything it had to offer. Instead, I'll always look back more fondly to the summer I lost on GTA: Vice City, putting that game up on an untouchable pedestal.
Same thing with Mario Galaxy. Yeah it was cool. Playing it as an adult, it didn't grab me enough to make me want to hunt down every single star. Just beat it and moved on. It didn't unseat the original few Mario games in my mind, but that's an impossible challenge.
Out of the Park Baseball 2007, the eighth iteration of the game, was released on March 23, 2007, to much better reviews than its predecessor.[3] Out of the Park Baseball 2007 is Metacritic's second highest rated game on the PC platform,[4] scoring higher than The Orange Box, second to Half Life 2, regarded as some of the greatest PC games by critics and users alike.[5] Some feel that OOTP has received biased attention from critics, with many angered by the games' ranking.[6] Its high score is attributed to Metacritic's ranking system, where games with at least 5 reviews can appear in the top 20 list. The game has, in fact, only received 5 reviews globally, all generally positive.[7]
#1 game that qualifies is Tetris DS. No contest. The greatest version of one of the few perfect games.
Just Cause 2
My favorite third person, shooter, sandbox game of this generation and ever. Saints Row 2/3 and Red Dead Redemption get close and Red Dead might even be better game, but Just Cause 2 is the most fun one.
Metal Gear Rising Revengeance
This was a fight between Rising and Bayonetta and while I think that Bayonetta has better hitting dudes mechanics, Rising has better bosses, story, characters and music, and less annoying quick time evens, thus being overall better in my opinion.
Dark Souls
This wasn't even a fight because I don't think I've played any other game this generation that would go to same slot with Dark Souls. Not a perfect game obviously, but pretty great and I'm totally in love with it.
Mass Effect 2
My favorite of Mass Effect series and great rpg. Witcher 2 got also close to getting this spot, but I ended up preferring ME2 here.
Bastion
I wanted some game from live arcade to this list for I think that's the risen popularity of smaller indie games has been one of the best things about this generation and Bastion is a great, excellent game.
1. Dead Space (Franchise)
2. Rock Band (any/all)
3. Pokemon White
4. Gotham city Impostors
5. Borderlands 2
Honorable mentions go to:
TF2
The Trouble with robots
Bio-shock Infinite
Fable 2
Saints Row: The third
Borderlands gave me and my distant friends one of the best multi player experiences we have had in years. Borderlands is the BEST version of Skype ever created
And TWEWY is awesome, so shut up.
Thats TWEWY as well. Leveling up doesn't make you any more powerful, it just lets you do more stuff. Mostly, adjusting the difficulty of the enemies. ie. Slide down your level bar to make enemies harder = better drops.
The combat is weird, but really fun if you can master it.
I'd say if you have a DS and a piracy card it's worth a try. I admit it's weird, but that's what made it memorable.
Edit: Wikipedia lists TWEWY as a Action Role Paying Game. That seems correct.
Edit2: I always like these two posts from Penny Arcade about TWEWY:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/2008/5/2/ and http://www.penny-arcade.com/2008/05/08
This quote in particular always seems apt when even attempting to describe TWEWY to someone...
"There isn’t time here to talk about the game’s bizarre yet deeply groovy approach to two screen combat, or its sparkling, gloom-banishing soundtrack, or its omnipresent supernatural art. it’s a game you can attempt to contain linguistically, but in the end you just sort of gesture toward the closest games retailer. "
It is a JRPG with an interesting story, unique non-grindy mechanics, and a great style.
I didn't like GTA IV for the same reasons this guy didn't like it:
P.S. GTA 2 was the best GTA game of all time. *mike drop*
1. Mega Man 9
2. Portal
3. Demon's Souls
4. Retro Game Challenge
5. Bionic Commando Rearmed
Honorable mentions to Contra 4 and Crysis, the first half of which is actually in the top 5.
League of Legends.
Literally.