As the old year ends and the new year begins, let me start by saying that it's been a blast to be a part of this event with you all. It's funny, as reading all of your top games has actually helped me know you guys a little better. After all, these games have helped to shape us through the years as a gamer, and some of these games have had the capacity to shape us as people as well. And to know you guys a little bit better, all while sharing our favorite games out there and how they make us tick as a gamer... well that's just a great thing all around.

I've been here for almost six years now, and to be quite honest, there's a lot on this site that I don't like. The petty arguments, the transparent agendas, the soulless cheer-leading, the mean spirited trolling... to say that it hasn't taken its toll on me and my enjoyment of this site would be a lie. As this year came to a close, the thought of leaving was an idea I had to seriously consider. Some of you already knew this, some of you didn't. But I decided to do the Top 50 Event one more time, finish the way I wanted to finish, and see where the new year would send me.

Obviously one event isn't going to have the final say in whether I would stay or not, but I can honestly say that this event reminded me that there's still a lot of folks out there who are here to share their love of video games with others. Not to push a multi-billion faceless company down other people's throats, but to celebrate why we're all here in the first place: because this amazing medium of ours has impacted us in some way, shape, or form.

So here's to you all. All of you that took your time to participate in some way or another. Thank you for reminding me of why I'm here in the first place. Thank you for the great conversations, the big laughs, and the camaraderie that can exist between us gamers, regardless of which console we own. I tip my hat to you all, and I'll always appreciate those who understand that in the end, it's all about the games.

Happy New Year. *raises goblet*

-Smeags

Dammit, after reading Smeags' deep ass post, I feel bad for putting this after it. Oh well, procrastination and sleepiness won out yesterday.

#3 (Good job to Shogia for getting this one)

#2

#1 The Greatest RPG in the hisotry of RPGS!!!!!!

I am not sure how much you can blame Nintendo on your technical score.  Early 3D games have aged pretty poorly, so that gen as a whole now looks worse than both the gen after it and the gen before it.  That and it was Nintendo's first foray into 3D, so I would give them some slack.

It is too bad about the visuals, because it is a damn good game.

Perhaps SM64's handful of notable glitches are worth noting. That's not a product of aging.

Hence the three-point system. "First Impression" rewards companies for doing something bold and impressive, while "technical" sits back and takes an objective look at how much they achieved.

#1...........

The game I can pick up and play over and over and over for 20 years and it is still completely as fun as the first day I played it.  The game that truly made everyone realize gaming would never be the same again.  The most prolific, efficient, and ahead of its time code from one of the best programmers in history on any medium.  Likely, the most modded game ever.  One of the best soundtracks of all time.  Best shooter level design in history...The game that likely cost many people relationships, jobs, and sleep...The game that everyone who is into gaming even slightly knows where the secrets in the first level are...The one and only often imitated but never duplicated greatest of all time:

I guess that is true.  I don't remember running into any myself when I played it on the N64 or DS, but I just looked and damn the internet found a lot!

Looking forward to see the results, I wonder if Ocarina of Time will win again, it would deserve it but if any other game wins it would also deserve it.

Number Two

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Nintendo 64 (1998)
Nintendo
Action-Adventure

Many call this the greatest game of all time.  Clearly, I don't disagree by much.

Nintendo seemed to take everything they learned from making Super Mario 64 and applied it to making this game.  And then one-upped themselves.  The addition of Z-targeting pretty much defined how third person games should operate, and many still do to this day.  It doesn't really happen anymore, but years ago I would see references to Z-targeting on consoles that didn't even have a Z button.  That simple addition made combat a thing of beauty.  Suddenly, Link is in the ready position, he strafs, he dodges, he does all kinds of amazing attacks.

Then there is the world.  A big, beautiful, 3D Hyrule to explore.  Just about everything you could want in a translation from the 2D games.  I probably spent an hour or more just exploring Kokiri Forest before making it to the Deku Tree.  Jumping, climbing, cutting grass, finding rubies...

The game is epic in scope.  The first time you step out on Hyrule Field?  Amazing.  The first time you become Adult Link and step out of the Temple of Time?  Holy shit.  The world is a disaster, and you need to go fix that shit, like, now.  The first time you get Epona, jump out of Lon Lon Ranch, and ride across Hyrule Field?  Glorious.

The bosses in this game are epic too.  From Queen Gohma to Volvagia to Ganon, this game does not disappoint.

Damn this game is good.  I need to play it again.

Brigandine Legend of Forsena is my favorite. Either that or Brigandine Grand Edition. Similar to Castlevania 64 and Castlevania Legacy of Darkness, they're both the same game, but one is a remake or enhanced version released on the exact same console. A few differences are is how Legend of Forsena goes to a different screen for attacks and counterattacks, similar to Fire Emblem/Shining Force does and opposite elements take off more. On Grand Edition, it uses the rps style where red > green > blue > red and only white and black take off more against each other, Grand Edition also having one character that's not a lord with his own unique class, the lizard guard class now has two upgrades like other monsters instead of one, to the lizard king, and there's an actual final boss, which there is none on Brigandine. Grand Edition also allows for Esgares to be played without the input of a code and multiplayer with up to six players, one per country. Both games are the greatest games ever created in my opinion.

I decided I'll write a review on it so I'm going to give the basic gameplay.

If anyone has played Romance of the Three Kingdoms it's similar to that. You have six countries that are in control of a certain amount of cities. On Brigandine each city gives you a certain amount of mana to summon monsters, so there's no farming, setting up defenses, purchasing weapons, building economy, etc. You basically want to cover your borders with knights to protect it and do with the others as you see fit. If you want to take over a lot of territory quickly, then you'll eventually need all available knights because you'll have too many areas to cover. If you want to send a knight on a quest, could be a month or more, a month signifying one move and attack phase, you can find equipment, stat increases, and items(some of which are required for class changes for certain monsters.)

There are 30 or 31 cities in the game and your end goal is take them all over. You can start as any of the countries, gain mana per city, etc. The AI characters start with exactly what you start with if you were to play as their country. They gain the same mana you gain would gain if you were to own their cities, etc. The AI is good, but the only problem with the AI is that they're not human. There are times that you can take advantage of a situation that they're not programmed to do the same. However if they bordering and defending an area with water, they'll more than likely have recruited and use the monsters in that area that will benefit them most if they have the space. They'll also always recruit the more useful monsters to go with the rest of the party, so you'll rarely see them without healers like unicorns and angels , but you also won't see them with only that type of monster.

So you'll fight with humans, knights, and monsters, humans and monsters all can level up. Every 10 levels can increase their class, humans and a few different monsters can level up and branch off into different types, while the rest of the monsters can only level up a single path.

Here's a video as my final battle using Norgard. There's no story to ruin or anything like that, as the game is mostly gameplay, bits of story and such will be scattered throughout the game, and there's no final boss so every battle is with different units on different maps. Just a lot of strategy behind it. The type of game that has an endless amount of replay value. I show off my units and monsters and take one of my most used, although not most powerful, groups into the final battle.

I play with animations off or the length of a single battle would be much longer.  I do turn animations on when only one enemy is remaining to show off the attack and counterattack animations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1MiDVvX4Lg

*edit*

#2 was Tactics Ogre Let Us Cling Together.  Not the PSP version.  With the changes they made to the PSP version they ruined the game.  #3 is Arc the Lad 2.