The Discussion Thread - The 14th Annual Greatest Games Event

[Runa216]

Also, I just went through my favourites list of all 50 entries as well as all of my runners-up and I have to say...there's a reason I've been so active in the whole 'console war' nonsense and why exclusives seem to matter so much to me.

Almost every entry on my list is either an exclusive or heavily associated with one brand in my mind/backlog/history. I have so many pokemon, Mario, Zelda, and other Nintendo exclusives on my list. In fact, of my top 50, 17 of the slots are Nintendo exclusives with a handful more that are heavily associated with Nintendo for me. Like all the Mega Man games (4 more entries), My favourite game of all time Final Fantasy 6, and a handful of others. when it comes to PlayStation, 7 of the entries are PS exclusives with a tonne more I associate with PS because they were exclusive at one point (Final Fantasy VII, VIII, IX, X, XII, and Guitar Hero II). And I also know based on how my current backlog is looking that Final Fantasy VII Remake/Rebirth, God of War Ragnarok, and Horizon Zero Dawn/Forbidden West will also likely end up on this list. Plus Demon's Souls Remastered is like, my #1 honourable mention and I literally only omitted it because I had to chose between it and Sekiro and I think Sekiro is the slightly better game.

The closest thing to an Xbox game on my list is Cuphead, which I played on PS4/5 and Switch.

so it's less 'boo hoo I hate Xbox and therefore they suck at exclusives', it's 'I have always found exclusive games to be more interesting and stand out better and Xbox's output has never really catered to me'.

Even today, I find I mostly only LOVE exclusive games with a sprinkling of Fromsoft, indies, and Red Dead Redemption. Most of the games I'm excited for, the games with the strongest and most appealing identity, are almost always exclusives. I don't find most multiplatform games too engaging because they always feel like mass market products instead of artistic endeavours. Usually. Not all the time but most of the time.

I just feel that games like God of War 2018 and Breath of the Wild are doing more to advance the medium of games than the latest Call of Duty or EA Football or Far Cry. I don't think multiplatform games are inherently bad I just personally never get too attached to them because they feel less like art and more like a product to me. with some exceptions, of course. Not all exclusives are good and not all multiplatform games are bad, I just find the most interesting games to be the one meant to sell consoles, not sell copies?

So yeah, that's really why I am so obsessed with exclusives and why I always bring it up when arguing quality. for most of my life, my gaming experience has been defined by exclusive titles, mascots, franchises, and the like. It's why people think Halo when they think Xbox. IT's why people think Mario or Link or a dozen other characters when they think Nintendo. IT's why people think about Kratos or Ratchet or a dozen other characters when they think of Sony. Exclusives give a platform an identity and that identity will define your tastes.

it's not just me, either. I notice a LOT of other lists have a lot of exclusives. When I look at 'best games of all time' lists the top is almost always dominated by exclusives (And Rockstar games like Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption.) IT's why exclusives matter.

Like, two of my all time favourite games were Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy VII. One was at the time a Nintendo exclusive, then the franchise migrated over to Playstation and I followed. Final Fantasy VII was the main reason I allowed myself to get into Playstation when I was solely in the Nintendo camp in 1997. Halo is also why a lot of people went to Xbox in 2001. Exclusives sell consoles, they give a platform its identity, and are more likely to be driven by artistic merit, therefore creating a better connection with their audience.