8. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (14)

This was a surprising and wonderful title for a series I had never heard of considering how late in the console's life cycle it was released, this RPG mixed with a visual novel provided plenty of different gameplay.  The addition of RPG elements such as leveling, magic, and dungeon crawling turn the choose your own adventure characteristics of visual novels into more complete gameplay.  The game's periodic switching between the two genres leads to an interesting back and forth that staves off the boredom of the quickly repetitive rpg stages.  Mixing personas in the velvet room can consume as much or little time as you desire, doing so will make battles easier but isn't necessary.  Trying to figure out the right way to progress social links in the real world provides an extra challenge rarely seen in RPGs.  While trying to solve the mystery world, there is plenty of amusing, intriguing, and confusing story which actually means failure to find the murder is possible.  The battle systems weakness mechanics are good but the lack of variety in enemies means you pretty much end up using the same strategy for the majority of the game's battles. I really enjoyed being given the feeling that there was a concrete way to determine the good ending of the game, rather than some sequence of arbitrary flags you may or may not have encountered.

7. Final Fantasy VI (6)

The end of the two dimensional numeric entries in the Final Fantasy series went out with a bang.  Ultimately the transition to the third dimension meant a short lived setback, both graphically and otherwise.  The game breaks itself up into two sections, at the start trying to prevent the world from being destroyed and later dealing with the results of your actions.  The second section means regrouping your party through a series of events based around the individual characters.  Largely the characters you bring back into your fold may be done at your leisure and you get the option of who you want.  Blitzes were a more involved version of the limit type attacks seen in later games and varied amongst the different characters.  The customization level in equips led to a bunch of flexibility up to the point where you can attack 8 times or quadruple cast ultima and allows the enemies to throw more potent attacks at you.  The story in the game remains one of the more epic entries in the series as well.

6. Shadow of the Colossus (9)

If I had to pick the most prominent reason I liked this game, it would be because it took everything except the boss fights out of the equation and got straight to the reason you were playing the game in the first place.  The sixteen bosses display a surprising amount of variety and each requires some exploration to discover how to approach finding its weak spots.  The limited grip strength means that your first attempt won't be successful in many cases.  I remember thinking after the first couple battles that it would always be finding a weak spot to climb onto the colossus, but many of the colossi surprised me as they would send you underwater, into the air, and onto your horse in order to meet your end goal.  Finding your way to the next colossi by watching the sun glint off your sword and then riding through the beautiful expanse until you reached a new area you didn't know existed was the rewarding alternative to fighting against smaller, ultimately unchallenging, foes.  Ultimately the simplistic storytelling forced you to look around to and discover what is happening to the characters.  After beating the game there is still plenty left to do as well, a harder set of fights, gathering new items, and completing speed runs against any of the colossi.  This is a game that really deserves to be played on a big screen because of the sheer impressive size of the colossi, and the hd/3d remake makes it all the better.

5. Puzzle Pirates (8)

The time I spent playing this game vastly outclocked every other other entry on this list, combined. The premise for this game is great, an MMO based on puzzles.  Not all of the puzzles are original (bejeweled clones included) but throwing a persistant rating system on top of them really adds to the experience and makes it less of a one game takes all deal.  This rating is based largely upon what the community was like in the past as it has gone downhill over the years as less unique content was added to the game.  One of the major bonuses to this game compared to most MMO games is that it largely rewards skill rather than playtime.  I wish more MMOs would take this approach but realize that it isn't in their interest financially.

My roommate was OBSESSED with this game. Especially the one where you load the cannons.

4. Radiant Historia (2)

This is one of the most pleasant surprises I've had in years.  The time travel concept in this game is wonderful and uses your decisions as the method of crafting where in the timeline may be accessed.  In order to reach a new area you will often need to get a new skill which can only be obtained in a different part of the timeline.  Some of the decisions lead to false paths in which your quest is lost or abandoned, similar in a sense to some visual novels.  The ending of the game is also altered nicely depending on which of the non-story quests have been completed.  As good as the story mechanics are, the real reason this game is so high on the list is its battle system.  The design of the different abilities and when you obtain them, coupled with the increase in enemy difficulty is nearly perfect at teaching you/forcing you to develop new strategies.  Using attacks to push enemies around a grid provides numerous options, especially when combined with the ability to rearrange when the turns of your group and enemies occur in order to create larger combos at a risk.  To see the time travel mechanic incorporated into the battle system like that was a real treat.  This is the single game I would most recommend other people play (despite it not being #1 on my list).

and some more

9 & 10 are wrong (I hated FFXIII for one thing)

8 is correct! I actually thought this was one of the harder clues so well done!

Someone's on a role... all correct... almost

Number 2 was Half-Life 2, but I'll give you it.

Metal Gear Solid?