Games Are Just Fun

[CrimsonBlaze]

Going by the OP's criteria, I would definitely have to say Sonic & Knuckles for the good ol' Sega Genesis.

Yes, it's only half of a complete game (Sonic 3 & Knuckles); yes, it's missing features from the previous installment (sound test, 2-player mode, save function, etc.); and yes, Tails is nowhere to be found. Aside from all this, Sonic & Knuckles is extremely fun and a great game to boot.

You get to choose between two distinctive characters, Sonic or Knuckles, with distinctive abilities, you have the freedom to explore the Zones any way you please, uncover lots of secrets, including the Special Stages, collect Chaos Emeralds to go Super, have a boss at the end of ever Act, and has probably one of the best and most memorable secret final bosses in the entire franchise.

If that weren't enough, you can connect the previous 3 installments to Sonic & Knuckles to get and infinite Blue Spheres special stage, play as Knuckles in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and you can play through both Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Sonic & Knuckles while saving your progress.

 

[Elberik]

I don't play games for fun so I can't answer this question.

I am so sorry to hear that. Incidentally, what are you doing here?

 

[Elberik]

Speaking generally now: "Games are just fun" is an opinion that is wrooooooooong. The stubborn refusal of people to perceive games as anything else but vessels for instant gratification is the cancer that is keeping us from having nice things.

I did not mean that games are just fun. What I meant was that games are just fun. Did you not read the OP? you're thinking about it too much.

 

[Artaneius]

Really tough to say... Either Ultima Online, Unreal Tournament, or OoT.

 

[Alarien]

Mass Effect Trilogy, with emphasis on 3, because it was the most compelling and emotionally engaging IP of games I've played. Sometimes, that trumps fun for me. It was still fun though.

If you're talking pure silly fun, then possibly one of the guitar/rhythm games, roaming the Caribbean in Assassin's Creed IV, or one of the early Namco PS1 fighters (Tekken 2, Soul Blade/Edge).

However, fun doesn't make a good game on its own. I rate Demon's/Dark Souls as some of the best gaming I've had the joy to play, but it certainly wasn't always fun.

 

[Zeraki]

Mega Man X

Oh right... Escapist.

-ahem-

It's just pure fun, the dashing/wall climbing mechanics are insanely enjoyable(I've broken the right shoulder button of many controllers by abusing the dash mechanic). The music is fantastic, level design is great and has a ton of replay value. It's a game I can turn on whenever I want and still enjoy it as much as when I was a kid.

Runner up would be the Mass Effect trilogy. The only other series I've probably put more hours into than the Mega Man X games.

 

[Elberik]

Mega Man X

that's hypnotic. & very distracting

 

[Elberik]

Speaking generally now: "Games are just fun" is an opinion that is wrooooooooong. The stubborn refusal of people to perceive games as anything else but vessels for instant gratification is the cancer that is keeping us from having nice things.

I did not mean that games are just fun. What I meant was that games are just fun. Did you not read the OP? you're thinking about it too much.

Sorry if I detracted from the casual conversation. I like to think about it.

edit: slight change in tone to not sound so antagonistic

If people talked on forums as if they were Elcor there'd be a lot less heat over playful-jabs being mistaken for personal insults. & if all the trolls left but that's a different issue.

 

[Julius Terrell]

I don't know if they're "just" for fun but they should at least be fun.

That's a narrow way of looking at it. How do you define fun? Do you mean that a game should be fun, or that you should have fun playing it? What about satisfaction, emotion, excitement, horror, empathy, sadness, enlightenment, and all those feelings that can be positive in the right light? Like guilt, despair, and the build-up brought on by difficulty. What about the release experienced through the contrast of one negative feeling designed to emphasize the later positive one? What about relaxation? Melancholy? Nostalgia? Curiosity, experimentation, discovery?

Speaking generally now: "Games are just fun" is an opinion that is wrooooooooong. The stubborn refusal of people to perceive games as anything else but vessels for instant gratification is the cancer that is keeping us from having nice things.

Game I had the most fun playing - can't rightly say. There's a whole lot of'em. And how do you define fun? Maybe it's the feeling of discovery and experimentation, like Baldur's Gate 2. Maybe it's the moment-to-moment gratification, like Red Alert 2. Or maybe it's just the satisfaction of beating a challenge, like Dark Souls. Or perhaps the joy of choice and immersion, like Deus Ex. The fun of working towards a goal, like Diablo 2?

Yeah, I can go on. But you get the idea. "fun" is a narrow-ass term.

I completely agree with this post. Fun isn't all there is to video gaming. There are plenty of other emotions in the process that we experience when we play them.

 

[Julius Terrell]

I don't play games for fun so I can't answer this question.

I am so sorry to hear that. Incidentally, what are you doing here?

read the post above this one.

 

[WhyWasThat]

The most fun I ever had with a game was probably Grand Theft Auto III, though I never actually owned it myself. I played it all the time at a friend's house around the time it came out.

"I know a place on the edge of the Red Light district where we can lay low, but my hands are all messed up so you better drive, brother."

Must have heard that line 100 times. We never actually played missions or even saved the game you see. We'd just activate cheats as soon as we got control of Claude, and go on rampages. We'd take turns, see who could survive the longest. That cut-scene played at the start of every turn.
Good times.

 

[krazykidd]

Ultimate marvel vs capcom 3. It is the most fun game i played last gen. Even when i was raging it was fun. It just so wacky and random and flashy to boot. I even went to a couple tournaments. Iv'e clocked more hours on that game than any game before it.

 

[Zen Bard]

I guess for me the two qualities that typify a "fun" game are immersion and replayability.

And no game draws you in with an amazing world like the Elder Scrolls games. However, after spending 200+ hours, I usually don't go back and replay them.

Actually, I do. I get a huge twinge of nostalgia and go back to them a few years later only to find they weren't quite as good as I remembered the second time around.

However, two games I play almost annually are "Prince of Persia: Sands of Time" and "Assassin's Creed II". I just love their stories, the wonderful atmosphere and fun game mechanics.

 

[hermes]

More fun it would have to go to Burnout Paradise.

 

[Elberik]

I don't play games for fun so I can't answer this question.

I am so sorry to hear that. Incidentally, what are you doing here?

read the post above this one.

You seem to be under the impression that I said games should not be anything other than fun. The OP asked people to talk about games that, for them, were just fun to play.

And again, if you honestly find not joy in games, I truly pity you.