35 through 31 incoming
35. Dragon Warrior II (GBC) Dragon Warrior was good, but adding more characters to your party makes Dragon Warrior II great. It keeps the hard to find items from the first game, not falling prey to the "I'm going to tell you exactly where to go" nature of more modern games. I miss games like this, which give such a great sense of discovery to your endeavours. The world is a well crafted fantasy land which for the first time really captured the feelings of wonder I'd experienced while reading books as child. I also fondly remember having to pay attention to every area I went through in the event I needed to come back to open a door to find the treasure within. Finding the appropriate key was both agonizing and exhilarating. 34. Pokemon Blue (GBC) Unlike some of the games from later in the series this one isn't judged with the sense that I've been there, played that. The creation of 150 new monsters for you to collect, train and battle with opened up a new world of wonder (and obsession). On top of that, you were never quite sure what to expect would lie between you and your next gym encounter. Everything in this one was new and the pace of the game was right on target for its audience. To this day, the original pokemon are the ones I like most (its hard to even remember some after that). 33. Final Fantasy VII (PS) The beginning of Final Fantasy in with 3D graphics and the first Final Fantasy game I ever played was a great introduction. I have vivid memories of the reactor at the beginning of the game which launched you into your adventure. The characters and story are good, even though I was never driven to really care about what happened, and there is a lot to do in this game. The minigames included were also a fun respite from the toils of tracking down Sephiroth. I enjoyed the limits and materia customization as it allowed you to really build upon the characters skills. There was a certain level of satisfaction gained from leveling up your materia until you'd mastered just about everything and watching knights of the round go on seemingly forever. The graphics weren't as nice as previous games but you have to take the first step somewhere and I've never let graphics get in the way of my enjoyment of a game. 32. 3D Dot Game Heroes (PS3) This was more than just a 2D Zelda experience for the PS3. I absolutely loved the stylized 3D pixel graphics which ended up being a thing of beauty. A lot of the story is blatantly ripped away from Zelda games but is nicely intermixed with a complete and blatant destruction of the fourth wall. The gameplay is exactly what you'd expect but done well and with the addition of trophies to give you something to show for the challenges you'd always give yourself when playing a Zelda game. There were so many moments in this game that made me break into laughter for their sheer ridiculousness. I also welcome the difficulty of later parts of the game, something that I felt has been missing in recent Zelda games. On top of all that there was the wonderful loading art and prerelease vignettes which are full of references. 31. Katamari Damacy (PS2) At first glance I didn't think this game could be any good, naturally I was wrong. Part of it is the glee of picking up a building, another part is the subtle puzzle of how to find the next object that isn't too small that it does you no good but not too large that you bounce harmlessly aside. Altogether it's a simple concept with nearly infinitely adjustable difficulty and the addiction level of tetris. The preposterous items you pick up, the catchy music, and the incomprehensible story add to the experience without diminishing the fun of the gameplay. Exploring the levels without trying to reach the goal can be about as much fun as playing the game as intended and the buildup to the final level entirely meets your expectations.
Primarily an RPG player but have interest in any game that will make me think.
