What game is your gold standard?
- Thread starter Not G. Ivingname
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It depends on genre and features like:
RPG: Mass Effect 2 (still my favourite game of all time)
FPS: Halo for Sci-Fi and Black Ops for realistic. NOT THE MULTIPLAYER BECAUSE I DON'T PLAY THE MULTIPLAYER THAT OFTEN.
RTS: Halo Wars and Age of Empires II.
3rd Person Shooter: Gears of War.
Horror: Left 4 Dead.
SURVIVAL Horror: Amnesia: The Dark Descent.
And for features:
Story: Mass Effect 2.
Fleshed out universe and characters: Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins.
Travelling that takes me in: Fallout: New Vegas.
General fun: Prototype.
RPG: Mass Effect 2 (still my favourite game of all time)
FPS: Halo for Sci-Fi and Black Ops for realistic. NOT THE MULTIPLAYER BECAUSE I DON'T PLAY THE MULTIPLAYER THAT OFTEN.
RTS: Halo Wars and Age of Empires II.
3rd Person Shooter: Gears of War.
Horror: Left 4 Dead.
SURVIVAL Horror: Amnesia: The Dark Descent.
And for features:
Story: Mass Effect 2.
Fleshed out universe and characters: Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins.
Travelling that takes me in: Fallout: New Vegas.
General fun: Prototype.
All multiplayer FPS to Battlefield 2. Battlefield 2 was, and is still, the best multiplayer first person shooter ever made.
I'm not entirely sure I understand what the thread asks for. I can't really say I have a game that I hold every other game up against, even in a specific genre. Sure, I have a few games that I consider near flawless (in concept as well as execution), but they have done their thing and succeeded at that, I wouldn't want any other game to do the same.
I guess there is a level of perfection that a game can reach regardless of shape or form, but it's almost easier to tell if a game has reached that 10/10 without holding it up against anything else.
But regardless, just because I love to do it, here are a couple of games that I think hit the jackpot.
Time Splitters 2
SSX3
Half Life 2
Baldur's Gate 2
Pokémon Silver/Gold
Super Smash Bros. Melee/Brawl
And the ones that came really close
Audiosurf
Mass Effect
Jedi Academy
I guess there is a level of perfection that a game can reach regardless of shape or form, but it's almost easier to tell if a game has reached that 10/10 without holding it up against anything else.
But regardless, just because I love to do it, here are a couple of games that I think hit the jackpot.
Time Splitters 2
SSX3
Half Life 2
Baldur's Gate 2
Pokémon Silver/Gold
Super Smash Bros. Melee/Brawl
And the ones that came really close
Audiosurf
Mass Effect
Jedi Academy
Resident Evil 4. No matter what the genre, I always nitpick the similarities other games have to it. Where do you think Left 4 Dead got the idea to include a button that let you do a 180 turn?
Although I will say that Uncharted 2 could teach this generation a thing or two about story.
Although I will say that Uncharted 2 could teach this generation a thing or two about story.
Always Half-Life 2. I dunno, I think it's because that's the game that really brought me back to gaming and I was really excited about. I still replay it now and then. When I play a new game I always compare it to the feeling I had first playing Half-Life 2, even though it isn't my most favorite game anymore.
There are just too many games for too many different instances and genres to list, but as far as both story quality and an ideal female lead for a game goes The Longest Journey set my standard.
Quality-wise Red Dead Redemption. The missions are just so well done, pitch-perfect voice acting and stellar combat scenes. Also, the believability of the world is phenomenal.
Plot/Plot twist Bioshock/Black Ops. The plot twists and general immersion and storytelling in both are stunning.
RPG-ness (For me, anyway: Customisability, exploration opportunities, amount of stuff to do, and Roleplaying opportunities) Fallout 3/WoW. While playing them they sucked my life away, and I fucking loved it too much to care. Just so much to do..... So many options and RP options..
Plot/Plot twist Bioshock/Black Ops. The plot twists and general immersion and storytelling in both are stunning.
RPG-ness (For me, anyway: Customisability, exploration opportunities, amount of stuff to do, and Roleplaying opportunities) Fallout 3/WoW. While playing them they sucked my life away, and I fucking loved it too much to care. Just so much to do..... So many options and RP options..
For me it's.
for PS3; Ether Dead Space or Castlevania Lords of Shadow.
for xbox 360; Enslaved Odyssey To The West or Assassin's Creed Brotherhood.
for Ds;Kingdom Hearts
and for wii; Trauma Team. :3
for PS3; Ether Dead Space or Castlevania Lords of Shadow.
for xbox 360; Enslaved Odyssey To The West or Assassin's Creed Brotherhood.
for Ds;Kingdom Hearts
and for wii; Trauma Team. :3
Oddly, my gold standard has more to do with setting than anything else. My approval for a given game goes up substantially if it's set in ancient (BC) times; bonus points if it isn't set in ancient Rome. Likewise, my approval of a game goes down substantially if it's set in the modern era, or in a "dystopian ruined future Earth," but up again if it's a classic sci-fi setting. This pretty much dictates my approval of any given game.
I'd say this is partially based on my "sample and forget" approach to gaming, whereby I have a gigantic (300+) library of titles I've maybe played an hour or slightly more of, at most. (Incidentally, this buying approach ties in well with the habit of buying several years down the road from release dates - I get cheap games, which I enjoy for short periods. Everybody's happy.)
Within specific genres, I have several standards to compare things to: Age of Empires for RTS; Titan Quest for looting-adventure; Risen for RPGs; lots of stuff for action-adventure; and Half-life 2 for FPS.
I'd say this is partially based on my "sample and forget" approach to gaming, whereby I have a gigantic (300+) library of titles I've maybe played an hour or slightly more of, at most. (Incidentally, this buying approach ties in well with the habit of buying several years down the road from release dates - I get cheap games, which I enjoy for short periods. Everybody's happy.)
Within specific genres, I have several standards to compare things to: Age of Empires for RTS; Titan Quest for looting-adventure; Risen for RPGs; lots of stuff for action-adventure; and Half-life 2 for FPS.
I mainly play RPG so
Chrono Trigger and FFVII (had that unique mix of story and grindingyou love to find in MMOs) are jrpg standard
Morrowind is standard for Western RPG. Open exploration where for weeks of play you can just wonder and never do the story quest. Oblivion was a lot bigger but the fast travel made the game feel smaller in comparison...
Hand Call of Duty 4 for shooters.
Chrono Trigger and FFVII (had that unique mix of story and grindingyou love to find in MMOs) are jrpg standard
Morrowind is standard for Western RPG. Open exploration where for weeks of play you can just wonder and never do the story quest. Oblivion was a lot bigger but the fast travel made the game feel smaller in comparison...
Hand Call of Duty 4 for shooters.
There are a few greats that are my benchmarks. The ones that rise to the forefront, however, are Fallout, Baldur's Gate 2, Planescape: Torment, Half Life, and System Shock 2. If I had to pick one as that amazing unreachable game, I would pick Planescape: Torment. While some games surpass it (Baldur's Gate 2 is a better true-blue RPG), the dialogue, characters, creativeness and world just skyrocket it to a work of genius.