The Discussion Thread | The 12th Annual Greatest Games Event

[Runa216]

10 – Rock Band – 9.7/10 – PS3, PS4, PSP

Ah yes, Rock Band. The one entry on this list that transcends the video game medium by crossing it over with music. The game responsible for more of my music tastes than any other one piece of media or artist or even genre of music. The game that, like Smash, I can pick up any time with a group of friends over and have a party! Rock Band. The game series that inspires as volatile a war as the console wars of 2005-2009. Not only is this a huge influence on me beyond just my gaming habits, but it's also the ultimate 'cumulative' entry on this list, because Rock Band did something few games had ever done before or since. If I HAD to pick a single Rock Band entry, it would be Rock Band 4, because it is the most recent and almost all the content from Rock Band 1, 2, 3, Lego, Green Day, and AC/DC are in it.

So, story time. I didn't originally like rhythm games. Are you noticing a trend? So many of the entries on this list have some sort of 'I didn't like it at first, but then I fell in love' story, but this entry covers not just a single game or even game franchise, but a whole genre. Way back in 2003-2005, when DDR was huge, I thought it was all quite silly. I went to anime conventions and saw it all over the place, all my friends were super into it and all the J-pop that was in those games, and it overall was just overwhelming. I didn't care for it. Back then, I thought that if I wanted to exercise, I'd go outside. I'd climb a tree or something. Oh how far I've come since then.

But then Guitar Hero came along. And while my initial apprehension remained, the first game allowed you to use the PS2 controller to hit the buttons instead. So, since my biggest problem was getting up and being physical, I opted to play with the controller! And, lo and behold, I liked it! The soundtrack was bangin', the art direction was silly fun, and I thought the gameplay mechanics were pretty cool! Most notably, however, was that I ended up falling in love with some of the songs in the game that were by bands I'd never heard of in genres I don't usually listen to. So, the longer I played it, the more invested I became until Guitar Hero 2 came out and I chose to finally dig in and get a guitar controller.

It clearly wasn't the same as playing a real guitar, but it still felt awesome. And then I got good by moving up to hard and eventually expert. And the more I played, the more I loved the songs; the more I loved the songs, the more I played. And you know what? This loop led to me getting obsessed, and to this day the first two Guitar Hero games (the ones made by Harmonix) Are on my top 50 but just outside of my top 25. Then Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock came out and, honestly, I hated it. The track list was amazing but something felt 'off'. The notes didn't feel like they matched up with the song. The art direction went too far off onto the toony side, the boss battle gimmicks were annoying, and for some reason even simple songs had a billion chords all over the place. Where Guitar Hero 1 and 2 had a mix of mainstream stuff and indie stuff or B-sides that were fun to play but not that popular, Guitar Hero 3 seemed to go for the popular stuff while altering the note tracks to force them to be fun while also ruining the integrity of it. I thought the time of fake plastic guitars had come and gone. I loved what I played but it was time to move on.

Then I played Rock Band at my friend's house. Now, the game had drums and singing as well as Guitar and Bass. It was a rockin', rollin', karaoke machine where folks got to make fools of themselves and enjoy all the entire genre had to offer. Then, after I fell back in love with the genre, I did a bit of research and found out that Harmonix – the developers that made Guitar Hero 1 and 2 but not 3 – were the ones who made Rock Band. It was a team that was comprised of musicians who were also game programmers, as many of the devs were actually in the indie bands that were featured in the game. All of a sudden, it clicked. The reason I liked Harmonix was because their passion was put into the game, making it a work of art just as much as it was media.

What followed was a lengthy run of Guitar Hero vs Rock Band wars. People on the forums talking about what they liked better and why, often leading to me being baffled that people actually preferred the janky, over-charted mess of Guitar Hero 3 over the crisp and clean representation in Rock Band. How people cared more about the popularity of the songs than how the guitar or drum parts were. They cared about being able to sing along to songs, not play them. Of course, this is just elitism speaking, but it's really the only head-to-head game franchise war I've ever been a part of and to this day I'll argue with anyone about the authenticity of Rock band over Guitar Hero (or at least anything that wasn't made by Harmonix.) Ironic since I usually prefer the more arcadey style to the simulation style in any other video game genre.

And, despite me making the switch to Rock Band in 2007, I never got bored of it. Rock Band 1 got a bunch of DLC, so the track list went from the paltry 50+ songs on the disc to like 250 over the course of the next year or so. And I got it all. Then, Rock Band 2 came out and you could 'export' 55/58 of the Rock Band tracks to play on Rock Band 2, so for only 5 bucks your Rock Band 2 setlist which was 80+ strong suddenly became 130+ songs, in addition to any DLC that you purchased (which was playable on Rock Band 1 and 2). Then, between Rock band 2 and 3, something like 1,000 more songs came out, and just like Rock Band 1, the track list for Rock Band 2 was exportable save a handful of exceptions so now Rock Band 3 could play almost all the songs from Rock Band 1 and 2 and all the DLC purchased prior to getting Rock Band 3. so, theoretically, you could buy Rock Band 3 and have a track list of something like 1,500 songs before even opening the package.

To make things even better, they added a new instrument – the keyboard – and during this period also allowed anyone to officially put their music in the game via Rock Band Network. You had to buy a license for it, but if you owned the rights to a song or were able to convince your favourite indie band (or mainstream band, in the case of Creed and The Tragically Hip, among many others), you could create the song tracks yourself, putting virtually anything in the game. And, then when Rock Band 4 came out, they did it all over again, except without the Keyboard (which wasn't as popular as they hoped) or Rock Band Network (which wasn't viable long-term due to copyright laws or something); that was fine for me, as RBN wasn't really that well represented on PS3 anyway and while I loved the Keyboard part, I understood.

Today, I have a Rock Band 4 set with over 2,000 songs (I think 2, 300 songs or so once you factor in the exports) and they keep putting out songs to this day, theoretically expanding your set list nearly infinitely. Hell, Rock Band is the reason I got into Greta Van Fleet, so they are still showing me through interactivity how awesome music can be. I've put thousands of hours into this game series, and much like Smash it's a game I can pick up any time and with basically any group of friends and have a blast stompin' the floor to Black Betty or mixing up lyrics to songs in the game that were covered by Weird Al. I don't think I'll ever truly get bored of this game even if I do take hiatuses. To this day, the Drum Set is still set up in my living room next to the good TV.

09 – The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – 9.7/10 – PS3, PS4, PS5, Switch, PC

Nowadays this game gets a lot of flack for being on every console and being a bit outdated due to the fact that other open-world RPGs like The Witcher III are better. And those are valid criticisms. And it does kinda suck that we don't have The Elder Scrolls VI yet. And it is a shame that Bethesda are owned by Microsoft now so the next entry won't be on PS5! But you know what? I keep buying it, and I keep playing it and I keep falling in love with it every time a new version of the game comes out. Hell, I played over 500 hours on the PS3 version, back when 10% of that time was just spent in loading screens due to the PS3 version not being well optimized at all. I played it, and I got the platinum trophy on it, and then I bought it again on PC. My PC couldn't handle it, so I didn't get far there.

Then, during my game review period, I also borrowed my sister's copy of the game on Xbox 360 (the DLC came out on Xbox first) and did official reviews of all three DLC packs, getting a handful of achievements on there, too. Then, 5 years later when it came out on PS4, I purchased the Special Edition with all the DLC, and got the platinum on that version of the game, too! Not only did I do that, but I also slowly purchased every creation club DLC I could, then played a few times with survival mode on while getting all the DLC trophies, too. Then, finally, this year when the anniversary collection came out, I got the free PS4 to PS5 upgrade and got a chance to get all the trophies all over again! And so that's what I'm doing right now, going for my third platinum trophy of Skyrim.

And despite all that, despite the thousands of hours I've put into it, I'm still not bored of it. I'm still discovering little things I didn't notice before or trying out different builds and perks and magic. The DLC adds a tonne of content and quality, and now that I'm playing with the over 500 Creation Club items, it's not QUITE like playing a whole new game but it IS putting a fresh spin on a game I already love with new weapons and new homes and new quests and new areas and dungeons to explore. And, once I get all the trophies again on the PS5 version, I can turn on a handful of mods to improve the graphics or add even more content to the game!

At this point, Skyrim is one of the best-selling games of all time. You all know whether you like it or not, and you all know what your opinions are of Bethesda. I can be critical of that company all day, but for the life of me I just love exploring Skyrim! I love trying out new things, I love the survival mode (though I don't recommend it if you're doing a trophy run), I love all the new content, and I love just how large the world is and how fun it is to just exist within it. You know, to build things or erect homes or go kill bandits or become a merchant! It's an RPG in the truest sense. You could spend hundreds of hours on the game and never even make progress on the main story. I bet there are dozens – nay, hundreds – of quests and tidbits of lore in this game I've never even seen or heard of. There's one youtuber that's up to like 50 episodes of '10 things you didn't know about Skyrim', and going strong.

There's a pretty good pattern in this region of my personal faves, and you'll notice I'm quite fond of games where I just like existing in the world, or doing my own thing, or having excuses to return and just dick around. Make my own quests. I love Minecraft and Terraria (Both in my top 50 but not top 25), stuff like Breath of the Wild and Skyrim and Red Dead Redemption and Ghost of Tsushima and Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag are all inspiration for my novel series and short story compilations. I love this sort of thing, and Skyrim is probably the best and most enduring of these kinds of games.

Does it have problems? Of course it does! This is one broken game! But, like any good form of balance, the good far outweighs the bad and once you can get over its performance (at least on PS3) and glitches and poor programming, that all just becomes part of the charm. I'm over 100 hours on the PS5 version of the game and only at 39% of the trophies. Furthermore, I don't see myself not playing this throughout the entire duration of this console generation. Once a year or so I'll create a new character and try playing the game in a whole new way. Maybe I'll be a pure mage or a heavy-armor warrior. Maybe I'll be a sneak thief? Naw, let's be honest, I'll always end up some sort of balanced, 'jack-of-all-trades' type. But still, the option is there and that's what's awesome: Potential. I may never go outside my comfort zone, but if I ever wanna do a two-handed version or a pure mage, I can. And I'm sure the entire experience will be fresh, once again.

08 – Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World – 9.7/10 – NES, SNES, Wii, WiiU, Switch

Let's calm down for a bit and try something else. We had a streak there of open-world games or games with massive amounts of content that keep me happy forever. We talked about Pokemon and Skyrim and Red Dead Redemption and Rock Band and Smash Bros. Now for something completely different. Now for something a bit more personal and nostalgia-driven. Let's talk about Mario Bros. Or, more specifically, the two best 2D Mario Bros games of all time. Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World. I'm not as into the first or second games, but like other games on this list I had a hard time choosing between Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World. At least, that's how it used to be. I definitely prefer Super Mario World now, but the more I thought about it the more I preferred this solution. I'd give Super Mario World a 9.7 and Super Mario Bros. 3 a 9.5 or maybe a 9.6 if we're talking about the All-Stars version or the GBA version.

However, on the Super Nintendo there exists a game cart that includes both Super Mario All-Stars (enhanced versions of Mario Bros 1, Mario Bros 2, Mario Bros 3, and The Lost levels, AKA the original Mario Bros 2 before Doki-Doki Panic was adapted for the west) + Super Mario World. Once upon a time I couldn't decide between 3 and World, so I lumped them together. Now that I do have a definite fave, I'm still committed to bundling them in together due to them officially having a 2-in-1 cart that has both of those games and why not the three other games I like but don't love! Everyone wins!

Oh, and both of these games are just so, so much fun. They both existed before Nintendo's swap over to their more advanced form of Level design where every level has its own theme that's explored and discarded, but in a weird way that's actually kinda more interesting to me because it means that each world seems to blend in with each other. All of the Forest of Illusion levels have the theme of secret exits and non-conventional level designs. Vanilla Dome has a lot of underground stuff. Each of the Mario 3 worlds has its own element, etc. And don't get me wrong, I LOVE their new style of level design, where each level has its own unique gimmick, but this works, too.

More importantly, these two games also have world maps, which lead to secrets not only in the levels but also in the overworld map. In Mario 3 you can use hammers to unlock areas and whistles to warp to new worlds and music boxes to bypass the mini-bosses. In Super Mario World, many levels have multiple exits that lead to different paths that could unlock hidden areas or shortcuts. You can literally beat the game in something like 10 levels if you know what you're doing thanks to Star Road. Heck, the game is so well-made with its secrets that there are still hidden areas I don't know how to access and mysterious, never-explained mechanics that I've yet to master.

And in many ways, this is why Super Mario Bros 3 and Super Mario World are special to me but Mario Maker is not. Sure, we have virtually infinite options on Mario Maker, but without the glue that is the world map, the sense of mystery and discovery just isn't there. The sense of exploration and accomplishment doesn't exist in the same way. Mario Maker is just troll levels and gimmicks without any of the parts of the game that make it more than just a series of levels. There's a reason I love Mario World and Mario Bros 3 but don't love the original or 2. There's a reason that New Super Mario Bros U/Deluxe is my favourite new Mario game whereas I only liked New Super Mario Bros and New Super Mario Bros Wii. U/Deluxe had hidden exits and secrets to explore and alternate routes, all while also having unique level gimmicks. Honestly, I could rant about how underrated New Super Mario Bros U/Deluxe is, but for now I'll just move on.

Anyway, In addition to these games having secrets and things to explore, they've also got the nostalgia hooks deep inside me. I have memories of first uncovering Bowser's Castle after beating Chocolate Island in Super Mario World at my aunt's place and it still gives me chills. I still remember the first time I heard that ballin' boss theme at the end of Super Mario Bros 3. my ears still perk up any time I hear either of these game's main themes or really any of their world or level themes. The graphics are about as basic as they get but the games are iconic, I have so much nostalgia for them, and unlike some games of their respective era, they both held up remarkably well, becoming games I love more and more as time goes on.

I like Super Mario Bros 3 more now than I did in the late 80s/early 90s. Same with Super Mario World. That's the sign of a good game. I also think it's worth noting that all of my top 5 (Which actually comprises 9 games due to how I rank things) are all SNES games. I have a favourite, historically. That said, PS4/5 and Switch are both amazing, too. These are both games I go back to at least once a year, given that they're both games that are pretty short and easy to get 100% on. A recurring theme of mane of the shorter games on this list.

07 – Final Fantasy VII/X/XII – 9.7/10 – PS1, PS2, PS3, PS4, Switch, PC

We have here another three way tie, because Final Fantasy VII, X, and XII are always right next to each other on my list and I can never decide which of the three I like the most. Depending on the day, I could be inspired by nostalgia and prefer VII, or I could go for the more emotional story with X, or I might like the subtle depth and mystery of XII. Maybe I like fantasy, maybe I like steampunk, maybe I like tropical caribbean, depending on my mood. All I know is that all three of these are games I've bought, re-bought, played again, got the platinum trophy on, then bought on Nintendo as well, and I'll continue to get them on every console as time goes on because much like the rest of my list, the combination of nostalgia and the fact that these games have all aged shockingly well in terms of writing and story (VII) and gameplay (X/XII) make me confident that they have earned their place this high on my list. They used to be higher until a more recent game came along and became only the 6^th entry to get a 9.8/10, but we're getting ahead of ourselves.

Final Fantasy VII was a subversive masterpiece in its time and aside from the graphics, it has aged like a fine wine. The writing is clever and hilarious while balancing on a fine line between edgy and mature, its characters were all far more developed than my teenage mind could handle, and while the turn based gameplay is pretty rudimentary compared to later entries in the series, it was still a load of fun and was always giving you many little rewards to keep you playing. New materia, new weapons, new limit breaks, and levelling up all felt good. The bosses were hard without being absurd, the optional super-bosses were a true challenge, and there was plenty to do on the side. Of all the Final Fantasy games I think this one has the most in terms of mini-games thanks to the golden Saucer while also having the longest and most involved side quest in terms of Chocobo Breeding for the Gold Chocobo.

Back when my parents got me the PS1 and Final Fantasy VII, I didn't want a playstation. I was a Nintendo kid through and through. I wanted Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time more than Final Fantasy. But Dad wanted Gran Turismo so we got a PS1. Before I even left Midgar (Act 1 of the I think 5-act structure) I was hooked, and when the world opened up into its overworld map, I got lost. I then beat the game like five times in a row, then got it again on PS3, then PS4, then Switch. And I got 100% every time. This game was so popular, it spawned movies and prequels and side games and even got a remake that divided some fans but I absolutely loved. (I haven't finished it or it might also be on this list in the 9.5 range). I didn't care for most of the side material, but the original is a bonafide classic, one I am happy to return to whenever I feel like reliving my childhood.

Final Fantasy X was a game that did things differently and changed a few major elements of Final Fantasy up, but what it changed or what it did of its own, it did better than any game before it. Yeah, some of the writing and voice acting is not that great, but it was 2001, the fact that it looked and sounded as good as it did at the time was outstanding. And while it was a little unfortunate that the game was a bit more linear than I wanted at the time (Final Fantasy up to that point had thrived in a world with an explorable over-world map), it made up for it with a great story, fun puzzles, strategic combat, and the best damn mini-game ever.

Seriously, I'm not even kidding or exaggerating when I say I likely have put more time and effort just into Blitzball than some games on this list. Like, I wouldn't be surprised if I tallied up my history in Final Fantasy X and I put more than 100 hours just into blitzball. It's not even that deep of a game and outside of Wakka's ultimate weapon the rewards aren't even that good, but it's so well-integrated into the story and such a nice distraction from the heavy themes of the main plot that I can't not play a few games every time I reach a new save point. Beyond that, the sphere grid levelling system was structured well enough to feel rewarding and linear while also giving you plenty of freedom to explore and try new things, the limit break system was revamped from the prior games, and all of this was expanded upon with the HD remaster, which included extra content like bosses from the International version of the game as well as a whole new Sphere Grid to explore.

I loved this game on PS2, but the HD remaster of it was even better, and it came with X-2, which I didn't love but still thought was good. And while we're at it, it's worth noting that this was quite possibly the best streak for any franchise, starting with Final Fantasy VI and ending with XII. Final Fantasy XII was another example of Square-Enix trying something completely new with the series and knocking it out of the park. Seriously, every Final Fantasy from VI to XII tried something new and original, making each one completely unique to the rest of the games. VI migrated from the traditional fantasy of the first five games and tried steampunk (Spoiler alert, I'll be expanding upon this a bit more later), VII went modern environmental, VIII went anime sci-fi, IX went traditional fantasy again, X did polynesian religion, XI did an MMO, and XII tried the MMO idea back in a fantasy/steampunk hybrid. And each and every one of these games had completely unique combat styles and game mechanics. How anyone could do this in 12 years (1994-2006) is beyond me.

Which leads us into Final Fantasy XII, which got a lot of hate way back when it came out but like so many games on my list proved to be so far ahead of the curve that people just didn't appreciate it in its time. I remember people complaining about the game playing itself and ... you know what? That was really the only real complaint, and it's not a criticism that has much in terms of weight since most of that is just you programming the game to act like you, thus eliminating redundancy. You're welcome to take over at any time, but the 'gambit' system simply makes it so that, instead of mashing the X button to get through every random encounter, the game learns from what you would do, and thus reacts on your behalf. The other complaint is the license board, which people hated because it was 'so dumb to have to get a license to use a hat'. And, sure, in reality that's dumb, but in the context of a video game it makes perfect sense. People just like to bitch.

That said, holy shit this game blew me away. Once I learned the gambit system, I got to play a semi-open-world JRPG with plenty of room for exploration, tonnes of side content, plenty of quests and hunts, tonnes of hidden areas I didn't even know about my first couple times through the game, and dozens of optional bosses and super bosses. Few games grab me with the mysteries of their world like Final Fantasy XII does, and The Zodiac Age added to that with extra content and game modes and alternate ways of learning items and specializing your characters. It's a game that's heavily inspired by MMOs without any of the monthly grind or forced social interaction that I don't want to deal with. You don't even get money for killing enemies, you get 'loot' that can be sold! I know it's a small thing, but it makes grinding feel more like you're accomplishing something than most other games in the series.

All three of these games have features I love, and they all have subtle flaws. That said, between these games, Final Fantasy VIII/IX, and Final Fantasy VI, Square was on a hot streak I don't think any company has ever emulated or ever will again. 6 games basically in a row (Sans XI, which an MMO and impressive in its own right but not my thing), each with unique worlds and gameplay mechanics and characters and tones, each one a masterpiece in its own right. There's a reason Final Fantasy is probably my overall favourite game franchise of all time despite not Loving a game after XII. I hated XIII and its sequels, didn't play XIV because it was an MMO but am considering A Realm Reborn, and while I enjoyed XV it lacked the same sort of wow factor or staying power of the rest. I'm going to play through VII Remake (which I've loved so far) And eagerly await XVI, but I sincerely doubt they'll ever reach the quality and consistency they showed between 1994 and 2006.

06 – Bloodborne – 9.8/10 - PS4

We're in the home stretch, now! And I can tell you a bit of story about this, elaborating on a bit of a story that I started telling with the Dark Souls and Dark Souls III entries. I didn't much care for this game when it first came out and even so far as when I first beat it. Back in 2015, when Bloodborne was released, I was still in the tail end of my 'console war fangirl' stage when I just wanted to stick it to Xbox and buy everything PS4 exclusive. The war had already been won by Sony, but the scars of the PS3/360 wars were still fresh. Alas, at this point I'd only played about half of Demon's Souls and no other Souls game, so I have no idea what I was thinking randomly getting the limited collector's edition of this game with the steelbook and art book. But I did, and here's how it went.

My first time through Bloodborne, I thought it was okay and I enjoyed bits of it, but I didn't love it. Playing this game I actually broke two of my PS4 controllers (the last PS controllers I'll ever break, I've matured since then). But, since I was at that stage where I was coming into my own and my pride was getting the better of me, I couldn't let the game beat me. I didn't want to give up, even though I was frequently frustrated. The PS2 and PS3 eras were ones where I was sort of a young adult, moving away from most videogames and thus losing a lot of my edge. So I didn't WANT to beat Bloodborne, I NEEDED to beat Bloodborne. You know, to prove that I could still hang with my 80s kid version who legit beat Mega Man 1-4 before emulators made it easy!

So I beat it. I finished the game, and rather than be happy about what I accomplished I was just glad it was over. I won. This game didn't defeat me. Upon defeating Gehrman, I put the game down and moved on. But then my buddy, who was also quite good at video games, came over. And I had to see what he thought of this game I was proud to have beaten but didn't want to play myself. So, I got him to play it. And, as I guided him through the opening area, giving him hints and tips and tricks as to what to do and where to go and how to avoid getting hurt, I found myself compelled to see if I could apply any of that advice to myself. Once he was done with the game, I booted it back up myself to see what I could do, to see if I'd actually learned anything.

Now, it's important to note that at this point in my gaming life, I had a pretty strict 5-10 hour rule. I acquired this rule after playing Final Fantasy XIII. I heard from so many people that it got good after the tutorial, but most people said the tutorial was like 20+ hours long, stretching through most of the game. And honestly, I hated it. Final Fantasy XIII is my single most hated game, because I kept playing for like 50+ hours waiting for it to get good like so many people said, then I got to chapter 11 (the only chapter with any semblance of freedom), kinda liked it for a few hours, then it was over. I forced myself through 50+ hours of a game I hated on the hopes and promises that it got better. And, after reading my prior entries on other Final Fantasy games, you can understand why I tried SO hard to like that game. So, after playing Final Fantasy XIII, I told myself that if a game hasn't intrigued me by 5 hours and hooked me by 10 hours, I would drop it. No hard feelings.

It took me like 40 hours to beat Bloodborne my first time, and I only liked about half of it. This was my first 'souls' game, so it wasn't like I had a history of disliking the games at first and loving them later, not yet. Still, I was compelled to keep going, then upon guiding my friend through Central Yharnam, I decided to play again with the knowledge I gained beating the game for the first time. And that's when something clicked. I knew where things were, I knew what enemies to engage and which ones to avoid. I knew what tactics worked and which ones didn't. I knew where the items were and how to use them to upgrade my weapon before the first boss. I knew how to play the game, and all of a sudden it wasn't as intimidating as it once was. There was little to no frustration, but plenty of drive.

Sure, I still died a lot. Like, a whole mess of a lot. But knowing I could do it because I had done it before reassured me that it wasn't the game's fault I failed, I did something wrong. A lesson that these games (Bloodborne, Demon's Souls, Dark Souls 1-3, and Sekiro) all teach you. Yes, the game is harsh as hell and you're going to die a lot, but you need to see it as a learning experience as opposed to a punishment. It's not 'haha, you shouldn't have done that', it's 'what did you do wrong here? How can you learn from this and do better next time.' And that's a huge crux of what makes these games (not Dark souls II) so good.

With this mentality in mind, I went through a whole new game on a whole new character from scratch. Then I played New Game plus and did it all over again even faster and even better. Then I did it New Game Plus 2 and did it again to get all three endings. Only then did I start looking into how to get all the trophies and learned that, to my utter surprise, there was an entire second part of the game I didn't even know existed! The Chalice Dungeons! Lots of people hate these things and I understand why – if the game was nothing but a mix-and-match of pre-made rooms put together in various ways, I wouldn't like it either – but I loved them. The base game on its own was already enough to get me to love it and put it in my top 10, but then I learned that in addition to the finely crafted, interwoven world design and exquisite bosses, there was a diablo-style dungeon crawler as a bonus with theoretically infinite content took this from a game I loved to a game that really meant something more.

Then, after I finished it and got all the trophies, I started delving into the lore thanks to VaatiVidya, who helped me realize that while the game could be enjoyed as a story-free old-school style game where the objective was just to get to the end and kill all the bad guys, the actual lore of the story was sinister and probably deeper than any other game on this list. I never bothered with any of that because the game was good enough without it. But in two separate instances, the game opened up and got so much better the more I knew and the more I played and the more I understood. It's not often a game can do that. It's not often a game is special and unique and awesome and rewarding even if you only play like half the game and understand less than 1% of its story.

That would be like playing Super Mario World and not even knowing about Star Road or the Special Zone. That'd be like playing Halo and not even realizing it had a multiplayer mode. That'd be like, well, like playing Bloodborne and not even realizing it had a story or that Chalice Dungeons exist. All of this led to me getting super eager to play more games like this. I bought Dark Souls II, Scholar of the first sin and didn't care for it. I assumed at the time it was because I was used to Bloodborne, and that was a far faster-paced and fluid game. I thought nothing of it but still gave Dark Souls 1 on the PS3 a chance. You all know from its entry I didn't like it much at first, but did when I played it again after the Remastered edition came out. Then I played Dark Souls III and Sekiro and loved them both before finally getting the guts to finish Dark Souls II.

This was when I delved deeper and found out that Dark Souls II was the only game in this spiritual franchise not directed by Hidetaki Miyazaki. Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Dark Souls III, and Sekiro were all directed by him. It was that revelation made me realize that he was really the heart and soul behind why I like these games, and that other teams and companies couldn't find the fine balance between frustratingly hard and rewarding like he could. Dark Souls II just felt like the devs trolling you because 'this is dark souls' and you are supposed to die. Nioh felt like it was leaning too hard on the complex mechanics and ruthlessness of the difficulty thanks to that game being made by the same folks who made the 3D Ninja Gaiden games.

And the more I play all of these games, the more I realize they have in common with all the rest of these games on my list. They're all games that are simple enough on the surface that you can just hack and slash your way through them, but they're also the sort of games that have oceanic depth if you're willing to look for them. They're games that offer enough versatility in gameplay styles that you could play through them 100 times and enjoy a different build every time. Or you could play through a dozen times or more and always be discovering new stuff even though you'd already fallen in love before you found any of that stuff. This is a game that caters both to my love for deep lore and world building while also appealing to the part of me that just wants to overcome obstacles and no game in the series does this as well as Bloodborne.

Oh, and on top of the gameplay and all that, there are stunningly few games that incorporate eldrich horror as well as Bloodborne, and not many who evoke a sense of victorian times, either. IT's a stunningly unique game that uses the design philosophy of a series of masterpieces and applys them to its own setting with its own tweaks. And all of this is before the DLC, which is responsible for some of the best areas and bosses in the entire spiritual franchise. Only Dark Souls III has better bosses and it's only by the slimmest of margins, and nothing is as perfect a total package as Bloodborne.

So why is it only #6 on my list and not #1? Nostalgia. All of my top five slots are SNES games that have had 25-30 years to settle in where they are. I have no doubt in my mind that bloodborne is going to climb these ranks in time, but to knock out any of the top five is going to take more time than it has had. That said, Bloodborne, devoid of nostalgia, may very well be the best game I've ever played and will likely end up my personal favourite once its all said and done. However, here are a handful of games that I personally like more. Not much more, but nostalgia is a hell of a drug. Oh, and they're all masterpieces that have weathered the flow of time, so there's that. That said, these entries I do feel are getting pretty long so I'm going to try and keep the last five entries a bit more brisk.