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[The Infectious Paradox]

What is the 1 definitive game that is your favorite, and why?

Like most of you, I have played hundreds of games throughout my lifetime. I've had many great experiences in gaming, but for me there is 1 that I call my absolute favorite:

Max Payne 2 has a special place in my heart. Some of it I think bc I got it for Christmas one year and when I opened it and my mom realized it was rated M she took it away (That bitch lol). Eventually some months later she gave in and let me have it.

The wait was worth it. I'll never forget the thing that drew me in was the eerie cello theme I heard in the trailers. All of the voice actors do a phenomenal job and the story is shrouded in the dark noir and pain. On top of that, the gameplay was sharp, and especially with the addition of stylized slow mo. I must have played this game 10 times, and I'm ready to jump in again if I can on my Series X if I can.

So this thread is mostly a nostalgic old man wanting to revisit an old game, but I'm curious if you guys have a similar game experience. The peak game for you.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

Early years in World of Warcraft are some of my best memories.

40 man raids just trying to get to the entrance of places like Molten Core on a PVP server having a Rogue as a main just pure chaos

 

[ManaByte]

Doom
Strider
Halo: CE
Super Mario 64
God of War

And the amazing thing, with the three consoles currently on the market; you can play all of those in 2021.

 

[The Infectious Paradox]

Early years in World of Warcraft are some of my best memories.

40 man raids just trying to get to the entrance of places like Molten Core on a PVP server having a Rogue as a main just pure chaos

I wish I'd have been a PC gamer as a kid when I had the time lol. I bet that was awesome

 

[ÆMNE22A!C]

My initial thought.

 

[Dav-Kripler]

Used to be space quest 2, then MegaMan 2, then ff9, then okami, then dark souls, then Bloodborne and at last Apex Legends

 

[Hunnybun]

I'm not sure I could narrow it down to a single game, or how exactly to define 'favourite'.

The ones that I enjoyed the most while playing them at the time are probably:

Zelda OOT
Halo
Uncharted 2
Zelda Wind Waker
Mario Galaxy
Uncharted 4
Doom 2016

I'd probably say Halo overall.

 

[Deerock71]

Goldeneye's the first thing that jumps in my head.

 

[Dusktildawn48]

I love literally every thing about this game. Probably beaten the campaign 15+ times throughout the years and put 1000s of hours into the MP

 

[Aion002]

On consoles... Today I dare say: Dark Souls 3 with all dlcs.

Tons of content, multiple builds and great coop/pvp with the gameplay that I love.

It's hard to choose between Bloodborne, Dark Souls 3 and Nioh 2... Tomorrow my answer might be different.

On pc: Civilization 5 with all dlcs.

I can't get bored with it.

 

[Dusktildawn48]

Accidently quoted myself instead of editing my post.

 

[highrider]

My initial thought.

.

 

[obie]

Eve online
Star citizen

 

[kiryani]

My initial reaction was MGS:2 , then I thought maybe The Witcher 3

 

[kanjobazooie]

My namesake.

It's hard to articulate my thoughts, but I loved every single millisecond of it (literally). The intro sequence, the menus, the game itself, the levels, characters, voices, music, the animation.. Banjo-Kazooie was perfection, and I equally loved all the three sequels that came after it.

 

[stn]

Its either Morrowind (plus expansions), Ninja Gaiden Black, or Deus-Ex. The Street Fighter 2 series (counting all of them) is also quite special to me.

 

[The Infectious Paradox]

On consoles... Today I dare say: Dark Souls 3 with all dlcs.

Tons of content, multiple builds and great coop/pvp with the gameplay that I love.

It's hard to choose between Bloodborne, Dark Souls 3 and Nioh 2... Tomorrow my answer might be different.

On pc: Civilization 5 with all dlcs.

I can't get bored with it.

I just bought it for the third time. I wanted to play in 60 fps on my Series X. Time to finally get gud

 

[The Infectious Paradox]

I'm not sure I could narrow it down to a single game, or how exactly to define 'favourite'.

Yeah I kinda wanted to leave that open to interpretation. Mine had a story behind it and I loved the story in MP2. But everyone may have a different experience

 

[Topher]

 

[RPSleon]

If i had to work this out id probably decide based on how many times ive gone back to a game.

That would be either ff7 or ff9.

How i feel playing them is beyond anything else. And my memories of them that draw me in again and again are vivid enough, down to the music for each part of the world to make me feel an unmatched level of adoration for it.

9 probably takes it.

 

[Woggleman]

San Andreas

 

[Kupfer]

My initial thought.

Probably this. Played it over years, played through the campaign dozens of times. First game I beat on the hardest difficulty. Still know every corner. Countless hours in split screen blood gulch, playing around with warthog physics.

 

[Putonahappyface]

 

[Ev1L AuRoN]

It's rather difficult to choose one game to be your favorite since my favorite game keep changing. But I'll choose this one because it's a game that I always come back to.

• Gorgeous pixel art;
• OST;
• Story (I know, it has a lot of holes, who cares);
• Frog;
• Fun and simple gameplay.

 

[The Infectious Paradox]

Fuck yes to this

 

[Tschumi]

Witcher 3, can't go changing my stripes now.. deus ex HR...

But, I'll try to be creative here, games in which i remember having a really fun time

- Dungeon Siege - stayed up all night playing it with friends
- SSX3 - Endless hours, huge skill, world class glitch-free race records
- Halo - co-op never been so good
- GTA San Andreas - i loved the gang warfare/territory minigame
- Conker: Live and Reloaded - Insanely fun multiplayer
- Age of Mythology - Wonderful spin on flawless AoE2
- Dishonored - Thief but with much more depth and ambition
- BioShock Infinite - Just loved the visuals and gunplay, story too.
- Gran Turismo 6 - came to GT late, loved this game hugely, GT7 pre-ordered today.
- Persona 4 Golden - the single best attempt by any JRPG at getting into my pants
- Lumines - perfect riff on tetris
- FIFA 11 - online be a pro = perfect online fifa
- Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire - beautiful in myriad ways
- Cyberpunk 2077 - deus ex: hr on a giant map
- Kena: Bridge of Spirits - so far it's taking me way, way back

 

[Hunnybun]

Yeah I kinda wanted to leave that open to interpretation. Mine had a story behind it and I loved the story in MP2. But everyone may have a different experience

Yep it's surprisingly hard to define.

The game I've played through the most times is definitely Uncharted 2. I must've beat that at least 10 times, I just loved it. But a lot or the appeal was the spectacular visuals, so the game has aged quite badly. I wouldn't have much interest in playing it now.

I think the single most impressive game I've ever played is the original Half Life, but I was quite young and never got past halfway.

The game that fired my imagination the most was Mario 64 and its hype cycle, but I didn't get my hands on it until 1998, and it was a crappy PAL conversion with borders, so it was kind of too late really.

The most fun are the recent Doom games, although Eternal is maybe a bit too hard for my liking.

I guess Halo just seems the best combination of something that was amazing at the time and still just really enjoyable and thrilling. It had that feeling of being on an epic adventure that I love, but genuinely great gameplay too. A couple of years ago I was staying with my parents and they still had my old og Xbox there, so I fired Halo up and played a few levels. It still played just beautifully. It's just a really, really great game. It's too bad 343 have fumbled the franchise so badly.

 

[Dark Star]

Either Bloodborne or Resident Evil 4

It’s tough to nail it down to one, so these are my top favorite games that I not only think are good games, but I could play them any day any time:

Dark Souls 1, 3
Uncharted 2, 4
DOOM in general, but 2016 is still solid
COD in general but now I’m into Cold War
Skate 3 but SkaterXL is pretty fun too
Dishonored 1, 2
Hitman in general but the new games are slick

 

[Maximusz]

 

[Guilty_AI]

 

[CatLady]

Halo Reach Campaign - I love all Halo games but Reach is my favorite. You know going in that things are not going to go well for Noble Team. It's such a sad story told so beautifully without cloying, overly sentimentality so often found in other video games.

The gameplay is superb and so much fun in the campaign. Reach is the first Halo I completed on Legendary. I'd never completed a Halo on anything harder than normal, but I loved Reach so much that when I finished my first playthrough I immediately started again on Hardcore and after that went right to Legendary and managed to beat it. I finally got gud with Halo Reach

Tied with:

Fallout 3 - I'm addicted to this game, I have probably 1500+ hours in multiple playthroughs The exploration, quirky characters, random encounters, meaningful player choices and humor are outstanding. I know people love to hate on the graphics but I absolutely love the art and graphics they add so much to the immersion of the most immersive game I have ever played.

 

[Patrick S.]

Can't decide between the first Gran Turismo, GTA V or Cyberpunk 2077.

 

[Fahdis]

First Thought: Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
Second Thought: Ace Combat Zero

 

[Rob_27]

Half life 2
GTA 3
Super Mario 64
Golden Eye
Borderlands

 

[Hobbygaming]

Uncharted 4

 

[MrS]

Resident Evil 2 in 1998

 

[DaleinCalgary]

Hmm,

probably Dark age of Camelot

 

[DeepSpace5D]

It’s so tough to pick just one. The best I can do is probably narrow it down to two:

The Legend of Zelda
Shadow of the Colossus

 

[Lillie]

 

[Cutty Flam]

Two way tie

Ocarina of Time
Paper Mario

 

[Noboru Wataya]

Secret of Monkey Island
Shenmue

The first time playing these games… unforgettable.

 

[AJUMP23]

Link to the past.
mario 64
warcraft 2
wing commander

 

[Mr Hyde]

Can't just choose one but I'll list 6 games that left an everlasting impression and changed both me as a gamer and what I thought games could be all about.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Final Fantasy 7
Resident Evil 4
Nier
Demon's Souls
Bloodborne

Genre defining games that I always come back too, one way or another. Incredible experiences that stayed with me from start to finish. I can't even recall how many times I've beat these games but one thing is for sure. I will never get tired of them.

 

[The Infectious Paradox]

Can't decide between the first Gran Turismo, GTA V or Cyberpunk 2077.

Cyberpunk? In what capacity? I haven't played yet but I want to. Still trying to hold out for the next generation upgrade.

 

[Gone]

The Forza Horizon series gave me the most fun.

The dearest game to my heart is Prince of Persia Warrior Within.

 

[Alandring]

The most important game in my life is Fallout New Vegas.

I play video games since my childhood, but I never really enjoyed them. I was a casual, who played the new PES and a very few other games (Medal of Honor Airborne, Burnout Paradise, etc.). I really felt in love with video games when I played Fallout New Vegas, because I found what I was ever looking for: a story-based game when your choices affect the story. I have played a lot of RPG and narrative games after that and really enjoyed them.

 

[Patrick S.]

Cyberpunk? In what capacity? I haven't played yet but I want to. Still trying to hold out for the next generation upgrade.

I loved it. It's a flawed RPG, a deeply flawed game that manages to fuck up some of the basics other open world games have done well for twenty years, but I found the setting of the game super appealing, I loved the characters, the guns, the graphics, the music... and I really loved the world of this game. It was a lot of fun to just go out and explore, look at the vistas, look at the neon signs... And I loved the mixture of the sneaky sneaky and shooty gameplay, hacking into people, and the melee was fun as well.

I was totally immersed in the game, spent over a hundred hours in it, was upset when it ended, and continued playing straight away. This is coming from someone who puts down most games after less than an hour.

At the price of 20-23 Euro it's going for on key sites, I really recommend it.

 

[Orta]

Doom 93 for reasons I don't need to go in to and I've already posted several times.

Shout out to the OP, Max Payne 2 is my favourite third person action game of all time and apart from being a fantastic game in its own right that more than holds up or surpasses current gen fodder it is undoubtedly the coolest damn game I've ever played too.

 

[Guilty_AI]

More seriously now. There are plenty i pick but i'll go with Driver San Francisco, simply because driving games have a special place in my cold dead heart, and this one gets many things right.

Soundtrack being one of them:

 

[DZ_b_EZ]

The only game that comes close to this is maybe The Last of Us, but that's by a mile. It wasn't completely what I had been waiting for since GTA III, but it's the only cyberpunk style game that managed to make an attempt and it was a very good one....outside of the obvious tech bugs.