#14

Change YoY: =   My Rating: 9.4 / 10

Final Fantasy VIII is probably the most divisive main entry in the whole series. While every game in the franchise has both its fans and detractors, there's usually at least some level of consensus when it comes to the general opinion the fanbase has on any given game. You can usually expect to see certain games at or near the top of any list of the best FF games, if not necessarily in the same order, regardless of who makes it, just with one common exception. Opinions regarding Final Fantasy VIII vary wildly from person to person, some considering it the best in the whole series, while others put it at the bottom of the list. I don't belong to either group, though obviously going by this ranking you can probably guess that I see it as an excellent game, though not quite the best in the series. I'd say it's roughly on par with VI and VII, and a little behind two others I'll be talking about later.

Final Fantasy VIII was the first game in the series I ever played, though I had seen someone else play VII before that, so I wasn't really sure what to expect from it. I was very new to JRPGs in general at the time, having only played a few of them on the SNES at one of my friend's, and none to completion. As a result, Final Fantasy VIII was very much like stepping into an entirely new world for me when it came to video games. From the moment the first notes of 'Liberi Fatali' hit and that opening cinematic started, I was hooked. I had simply never seen anything quite like it before, and to this day it remains one of my favourite intros to any video game. 

In general, the music was something that immediately stood out to me from the game. Each new track was just perfect for the moment and location it played in, hitting an early game crescendo with The Landing-cutscene, and only really improving from there all the way to the very end. The rest of the elements, from the story to the characters and gameplay slowly fell into place over time, and by the end it had become my then-favourite game of all time. Obviously, other titles have since overtaken it, but this is one of the games that I can still go back and replay without any problems whenever I feel like it, which is something I did just a few years back with the Remastered version. The game still holds up remarkably well, and with the improved graphics the remaster is a great way to experience the game, though it does have some minor issues that were not present in the original that bothered me slightly.

#13

Change YoY: =   My Rating: 9.5 / 10

Naughty Dog's greatest masterpiece remains just as effective an experience today as it was when it was first released over a decade ago now. From one of the most harrowing and heartbreaking opening scenes in video game history, all the way to its final bittersweet moments, this was the developer at its best, especially in terms of storytelling and writing. The world Naughty Dog created here was darker than anything it had done before, eschewing its past adventurous or even comedic titles for a full-on tragedy, with just enough small moments of levity and joy sprinkled throughout to keep the game from becoming too depressing.

The Last of Us also features a truly intense and often genuinely terrifying gameplay experience, an excellent soundtrack by Gustavo Santaolalla, and absolutely gorgeus visuals regardless of which version of the game you play. In addition, the game also received one of my all-time favourite DLC expansions in Left Behind, which gave us a wonderful glimpse into Ellie's backstory before the events of the main game. It's great to see her simply being a happy kid for a brief moment, even if that obviously couldn't last for very long. Not only is The Last of Us Naughty Dog's best work to date, but it is also one of the very best games of its generation, and easily among the most emotionally impactful games I've ever played. Being willing to end a game on something other than an unambiguously happy note is still all too rare in video games, and it was done to near-perfection here.

#12

Change YoY: =   My Rating: 9.5 / 10

To put into perspective just how much I enjoy the Soulsborne games from FromSoftware, this is the third lowest of six of their games on my list. Dark Souls III serves as the perfect send-off to the series, bringing the story that had always existed in the background of the series full circle to a fitting conclusion, while also making some wonderful improvements to the gameplay the series had become known for. There are elements that don't quite reach the heights of the first game, but others were also the best in the whole series. In addition, Dark Souls III features some of the most memorable locations in the entire series, and it also contains the absolute best boss fights in the whole franchise. The music composed by Yuka Kitamura and Motoi Sakuraba is excellent, the visual design and art direction were FromSoftware at their finest, and the gameplay was the most fluid and varied in the series, taking some lessons from Bloodborne's faster-paced combat while still retaining the feel of the previous Dark Souls titles. With some of the most intriguing lore in the whole series as well, Dark Souls III is a worthy final chapter for the series.

There was a clear sense of finality present here, with the world spiraling further and further into decay. You'd suddenly find yourself in a place familiar from the first Dark Souls, and see just how far they had fallen in the countless eons since the events of that game. Some characters from previous titles would also make appearances, often either long-since deceased or barely shadows of their former powerful selves. This was made more and more obvious the further you got in the game, until it was practically spelled out to you in the final expansion. Yet, at the very end, by visiting a certain character after everything else was done, you were left with a sense of hope that perhaps something beautiful would yet be born of these dying embers of the age of fire that was about to finally wither away.

This is kind of a weird late addition but I just remembered I didn't even mention that I went to Paris just before playing Clair Obscur which probably added a lot to my enjoyment for the first many, many hours. It arguably was the highlight of my year for that reason (since FF7 Remake was late 2024).

I know the event is over but I'm gonna try to post my top 9 in the coming days still.

#9 - Super Mario 64

Nintendo's first 3D outing and it's spectacular! They nailed Mario's moveset from the start and gave him varied playgrounds to explore. Yes the camera can be a pain sometimes but the game has a certain charm that keeps me coming back to it. While it doesn't have a final super mega hard level like the Mario games that have come after I feel like the difficulty curve is better integrated into the regular levels. Tick Tock Clock will break you (especially getting those 100 coins and falling to your death at 97).

Still working through these as well.

#11

Change YoY: =   My Rating: 9.5 / 10

The last game to miss my top ten, The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky was my introduction to a series that would very quickly become one of my all-time favourites. I remember browsing through Steam almost a decade ago now, just looking for something new to play, when I came across Trails in the Sky. It looked like a game that might be fun to spend some time on, so I bought it on sale and began playing. About 35 hours later I had finished and found one of the best games I'd ever played, almost entirely by accident. Now, about nine years later, I've played and finished 10 games in the series, and loved every single one of them. I mean, seven of them are on my top 50 games list, and I currently have one more waiting on my shelf to be played.

There isn't a single aspect of this game that I don't at the very least like. The graphics are perhaps its weakest element, owing to the game's origin as a PSP title released all the way back in 2004, so it's no surprise that they aren't quite up to modern standards. Even then, there's a definite charm to them that holds up to this day, and when everything else in the game is amazing, I can't really complain. Not that graphics have ever really been that important to me anyway. The characters and story are excellent, the fantastic English localization bringing the world alive in a way that few other games can compare, the music is the usual Nihon Falcom quality, that is to say great, and the battle system has more than enough depth to keep the player engaged throughout the running time. Trails in the Sky is an absolutely wonderful game. The story and characters hooked me and made me want to see more immediately upon finishing this game, the main character Estelle in particular is among the best protagonists in any game ever as far as I'm concerned. The gameplay never got dull or repetitive, and the world building here is amazing, showing the beginnings of what would eventually become one of the most impeccably designed fantasy worlds I've ever seen, regardless of medium. I need to replay this game soon, but I might just hold on until the remake comes out next year. And yet, even with all of this praise, this is still not the best game in the series. I'll get to that one soon. 

#8 - StarCraft: Broodwar

WarCraft II was my first RTS and while I enjoyed it, both factions felt too similar for my taste. StarCraft corrects that problem brillantly, the three races (Terran, Zerg and Protoss) are totally different from each other. It's not just the units but even stuff like building your structures, where your units comes from, how you scout differs from race to race and the genius of this game is that they managed to balance things out perfectly between all factions.

Who will come out on top is not decided by the races picked but by the efficiency of your base management, your ability to scout out what your opponent is preparing and how well you react to it. Playing with my brothers and my friends it was always a thrill to see how we adapted to each other's strategies. 

After my brother decimated my SCVs with an early Reaver drop, you can be sure the next game I had turrets near my minerals. His ground troops got annihilated by my Siege Tanks, he would drop Zealots right on top of them instead, then I'd counter by having range upgraded Goliaths ready to shoot down his Dropships, I'd litter the floor with Spider Mines to defend key positions. Playing against my friend who preferred the Zerg, my strategy would be totally different.

That back and forth of wins, defeats, adaptations is still to this day one of my favorite gaming memories.

#10

Change YoY: =   My Rating: 9.6 / 10

Breaking into the top ten and really getting into games that I consider truly unparalleled. Final Fantasy X was the game I originally bought a PS2 for back in 2002. It was also the first time I had ever bought a console with my own money, and got one specifically to play a single game. If it hadn't lived up to my expectations, I might have been just a tiny bit annoyed, but fortunately it turned out to be one of the best games I'd ever played. I've never been too bothered by graphical quality, but this game absolutely blew me away at the time. It was so far beyond anything I had played up to that point that I still remember that feeling of awe to this day. The music was then the second element that struck me, the To Zanarkand theme that plays in the intro instantly burying itself into my mind forever as those first few piano chords rang out.

I've since replayed the game several times, and I find myself enjoying it more and more every single time I do. While the visuals naturally aren't as mind-blowing as they once were, every other aspect of the game seems to grow on me over time. The battle system remains one of the best in the whole series, allowing for an impressive level of tactical depth as each character with you can be an active participant at all times, the music is among the best video scores ever, and the story and characters resonate with me even more strongly than they did back when I first played the game. There's this constant sense of underlying melancholy that permeates the game's world and story, a place constantly teetering on the edge of annihilation at the hands of a seemingly unstoppable monster, where even the brief periods of relative peace only ever come through great loss and suffering.

To this day, Final Fantasy X remains my second favourite PS2 game ever, as well as my second favourite Final Fantasy game in general. Though some of its elements were constrained by technological limitations and Squaresoft's inexperience with things like voice acting, it remains one of the most emotionally powerful entries in the whole series, the ending being commonly cited as particularly heartbreaking by many fans of the franchise. Over 20 years after its original release, Final Fantasy X is still just as great as it was back then, and it probably won't be too long until I once again go back to replay it.

#9

Change YoY: =   My Rating: 9.6 / 10

Elden Ring is not only the best game of this generation so far, but also the best open world game I've ever played by a decent margin. Initially upon hearing about the game, I wasn't entirely convinced that the soulsborne formula would translate well into an open world. The FromSoftware-developed titles were, among other things, known for their intricately designed, interconnected locations that wrapped around each other in various clever ways that made exploration a joy to undertake. Taking a game like that and placing it into an open world setting admittedly felt a little odd at first. However, as it turns out, they still created those same wonderfully designed locations and simply made them part of the larger world in Elden Ring. Best of both worlds, I suppose.

The thing that hit me first about the game, at least once I made my way through the introductory dungeon and opened that first door into the open world, was just how gorgeous it looked. There may be games with better graphics from a pure technological point of view, but no other game in a long time has looked this great in terms of art direction. The next thing that hit me was a lance from a miniboss riding a horse, followed by the first of many death screens. Like meeting an old friend. After a while I got into the right rhythm, taking my time exploring, finding intriguing places and enemies, and slowly mapping out the first area of the game. As the world began to open up more and I got used to the game's intricacies and differences from previous FromSoftware titles, I realized just how well it all worked together. Putting the developer's style into an open world setting had done nothing to hamper the experience, and in a lot of ways it only enhanced it. This was an open world done right.

There was a sense of wonder and mystery that remained with me throughout the over 130 hours I spent playing Elden Ring on my first playthrough. I never got tired of discovering new locations, dungeons, bosses, secrets, and details about the world. It felt like there was something new and exciting to be found no matter where I went and how long I played. Even now, after finishing the game and spending so much time with it, I've seen other players find entire dungeons and bosses I never encountered in the game. The game is so full of stuff, and unlike in so many other open world games, it's all engaging and interesting. No pointless fetch quests or worthless collectibles that mean nothing. While there are some minor faults to be found, such as certain bosses being repeated a few too many times, I have never enjoyed an open world as much as I did The Lands Between. Elden Ring was the first new game to enter my gaming top ten in five years, when another FromSoftware game entered into it, which I will be talking about very soon.

Then, came Shadow of the Erdtree, and my opinion on the game as a whole only improved. Not only was it another absolutely massive piece of content to add to an already huge title, but much of it is arguably even better than the base game. New enemies, weapons, skills, bosses, and locations, as well as lore and storylines that expand on elements from the main game and reveals new information about many characters you were already familiar with, first and foremost being Miquella. There's a chance that in the future, Elden Ring will rise even higher on my list upon repeat playthroughs, as that is what happened to many of the other FromSoftware games. Until then, it sits firmly in my all-time top 10, and is unlikely to fall out any time soon.

#8

Change YoY: =   My Rating: 9.6 / 10

If I'd be looking at all the games objectively, Bloodborne would likely be the best Soulsborne game I've ever played, or at least tied with Elden Ring. It's only due to more abstract elements like atmosphere and the feeling and emotions another soulsborne game gives me that makes it "only" the second-highest ranking out of them all on my list. Bloodborne is a masterpiece, plain and simple. Everything in the game is near perfect, from its fast-paced gameplay to the gorgeous visual design that perfectly evokes Gothic and cosmic horror. The bosses are almost universally excellent, and the soundtrack is amazing. I also love the game's story and lore. The eldritch horror theme of the game's world is perfectly realized, and the tragedy that befell it due to human error and hubris is quite disturbing the more you learn about it. Fear the old blood, indeed.

However, in a lot of ways the true star of Bloodborne is its world. It features unquestionably one of the most memorable settings in video game history. Yharnam, the beautifully decrepit Victorian Gothic city, is an awe-inspiring place to explore and be terrified in, one very much unlike any other that isn't just directly ripping of Bloodborne. In general, the look and style of the world of Bloodborne is impeccable. Whether it's the towering spires of Yharnam, the snow-covered rooftops of Castle Cainhurst, or the abandoned Byrgenwerth school, every location you discover is incredible and often very unnerving.

Bloodborne also received one of the all-time greatest DLC expansions in The Old Hunters. It gives the story and many of its characters more context, introduces quite a few new ones, and makes the events of the game even more tragic than they already were as you learn what the hunters had done in the past. It also features some of the best bosses in the entire FromSoftware catalogue. There's pretty much nothing about this game that I don't love. Now if only we could get a sequel at some point, perhaps set in some other part of this world outside Yharnam.