My Favorite Games of All Time Part 1 (176-161)

I've always been a fan of game lists, so I've been slowly working on this one over time. These games are not ranked objectively, they are simply the ones I enjoyed the most and could have a bit of fun talking about. There are a few things I'll put out upfront about the list.

I am not a fan of most FPS games, so there will only be a couple on this list. Same goes for your 4X and Real Time Strategy games, as well as horror and Puzzle games.

Any game I liked but don't remember well enough, or didn't play enough of to really have a strong opinion on, I cut from the list. It's why games like Toe Jam and Earl won't appear, because as much fun as I remember having with those games all I remember is trapping Tourists in Jars in the second game.

And finally, the cut off date for games on this list are 2017, so no games that came out this year will make the list. 

176) Quest 64 (N64)

And to start off my list I give you a game that, by any reasonable measure, should not be on a list of games a person considers fun. Quest 64 is a game that doesn't really do a whole lot right. The combat is slow, the visuals are repetitive and boring, and the story is bare bones at best. So why did this even make my list, to begin with, if it's a game that really doesn't have anything to offer?

Well, you see, I am both an RPG fan and a Nintendo fan. It kind of broke my heart that Sony was getting all the RPG's, even though I had both systems of the time. Finally seeing an RPG on the N64 was huge to me, and it wasn't until years later I even knew there was an Ogre Battle game on the system, so I kind of just wanted the game to be good and told myself over and over it was... playable. So here it is.

I realize this is not a good way to give you any hope for this list...

175) Paladins Quest (SNES)

So, of course, to follow up Quest 64 I give you another game that is, by all rights, laughably bad. In the case of Paladins Quest I can't even pull Nostalgia on this one, I didn't own this game until around the PS2 era when I found a copy while in a Mall in Las Vegas on a family trip to see my grandparents. I just saw this game used and really cheap, my bought it, and enjoyed it.

Though unlike Quest 64, there were some interesting things about the game. I liked how your spells all cost HP instead of MP, a way to make you think more carefully about how to use your spells. It was pretty poorly implemented though, as there was rarely an instance in which using magic was more beneficial then punching things in the face.

I did like how many great characters you could recruit to form your party, so there was a fair amount of customization you could do, and only a few characters were obviously bad choices.

The game also had this charm to it with how stupid and goofy the dialogue could be. It's not that the game was trying to be funny, but it had a sort of Ed Wood style charm too it, that it was trying to be so sincere and just failed spectacularly. Mind you the investment an RPG requires compared to a movie is much higher, so that can only carry your game so far. I enjoyed playing it, but not something I would ever do a second time.

174) Final Fantasy Mystic Quest (SNES)

Okay, I swear I am going to be through terrible games soon. It's early in my list, give me a break. I can't help but get a bit of a kick out of Mystic Quest. Yes, it is easy to the point of feeling insulting. Despite that I have a soft spot for it, Final Fantasy was my first ever RPG series, and I was hooked after playing them on the SNES. So when I saw Mystic Quest, of course, I played it. It was one of my earliest video games, and I just didn't know any better.

...Okay, I played the other Final Fantasy's on the system first, so I kind of did. But the game did do a few things right. Something no other game at the time did was enemies whose sprite would change as you inflicted damage to them. This gave you a feeling your attacks actually did something, as well as create a cool visual effect.

I also dig any RPG that has tools you use in the overworld to solve puzzles. They were all overly simple, but I hadn't played the other games of the era that allowed for that yet, so it was pretty cool.

Yeah, it's another pretty terrible game, but a lot of that was forgiven due to seeing the above aspects for the first time in a video game. And it still had a pretty good soundtrack.

And a random aside, I did not know about FF 1 on the NES at the time, so when I saw Mystic Quest I had actually assumed it was the first Final Fantasy game until I found out my friend owned a copy of the NES one.

173) Final Fantasy XII (PS4)

I want to like FF XII more then I do. It was a series I loved that had a couple horrid outings with FF VIII and FF X (Yeah, two games that aren't going to be making my list), and not being an MMO guy XI didn't really appeal to me. So FF XII finally came out, and by and large, I was let down by it.

I liked the sweeping depth of the Gambit system, custom building an AI to the level of FF XII is something I had never even imagined doing in a game, and it really was an amazing system. The problem is once you know how it works the entire game begins to play itself once you set up your gambits, and there really isn't a need to involve yourself in the combat proper. I did have fun figuring out how to run the gambits, however.

As usual, the graphics were fantastic. Final Fantasy, even at its worse, looks fantastic. Throw in a great soundtrack, and Aesthetically the game thrives. It can only make up for so much though, with a terrible loot system that randomizes treasure gain to an absurd degree, and lackluster battle system.

The story is a bit of a mess too. Your two lead characters are even more dead weight then Tidus from FF X, but you do have some great characters and stories with Asche and Basch. The villains let you down too though, the more you think about Vayne and his plans the dumber the whole situation becomes.

The game gets a bit of a pass for me though because I do love Asche and Basch, and at least learning how to make use of the AI was fun, even if it made the rest of the game an uninvolved slog.

172) Anarchy Reigns (PS3)

Anarchy Reigns is a game that doesn't really have all that much to say about it outside of being competent and a bit of a let down from what I was hoping it was going to be at launch.

It carries itself mostly on having a decent cast of characters and some solid visuals, without doing anything all that wrong. Sadly outside of its lead character coming from an older game with a cult following, Mad World (And yes, I'm tipping my hand a bit here about a game that will be appearing later on in my list).

There are some satisfying kills you can do in the game, so you never really feel like you are wasting your time playing it. This game is on the good end of mediocre.

171) Mortal Kombat 3 + Street Fighter Alpha 2 + Killer Instinct (SNES)

Me and fighting games have an odd relationship. With a couple exceptions, my enjoyment of these games is rooted mostly in how much fun I had playing with my friends. On the SNES days, I was a lot more into co-op if I was to play a game with a friend, so while I can enjoy a good Cinder infinite combo in Killer Instinct, or trash talking a friend in Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter, I never really had any strong memories of these games.

These make this list solely because I did, in fact, enjoy the above, and the games all looked great while I did it.

170) Final Fantasy I (NES)

Final Fantasy 1 had a bit of a disadvantage with me because I had already gotten into the PS1 and N64 era of gaming before I had the chance to actually sit down and play it for more than a few minutes. This game was amazing for the time it released but hasn't really aged as well as others.

Picking character classes was fun, but wasn't as enjoyable as having full parties to cycle within later games, which also had a cast of characters with personalities and stories to discover. For the time it came out, Final Fantasy had an incredibly ambitious story, but quickly became outpaced by later games.

This is basically the story of Final Fantasy for me, I played it at a time where I had already had the chance to play so many things that did what Final Fantasy did better. That said, there is still something to be said about how I was still able to enjoy the game for what it was.

Another fun little story, I had the chance to see my nephew actually play the original NES version of this game. He had no knowledge of the series prior, and no experience with RPG's. Without an instruction booklet, it's amazing how unintuitive the game can be. There is no indication of what any of the classes actually do in the game, what kind of gear they can equip, or what you can even really expect out of the spells. It may sound obvious to most of us that a White Mage can't equip a sword, but with no real fantasy or gaming experience, what do you really have to go in in the game to figure this out? It's interesting to look back and see how important something like an instruction manual was back in the day compared to now, with in-game tutorials and all that. Good times.

169) Ys III: Wanders from Ys (SNES)

Ys was a series I could never quite get into for some reason, this title being the only one I ever really got into. While I enjoy it, it's a game I could never really quite get a grasp on why it just didn't click with me. Did it just not have the right mix of RPG elements and SideScroller? Something about the combat and hit detection never felt quite right. Not that it didn't function properly, but more that I never felt like my attacks had an actual impact.

The bosses were all pretty fun to fight, even if the rest of the enemies felt a bit underwhelming. The abilities of your magic rings were a neat idea, but never felt like they really changed up the gameplay at all, same went for being able to upgrade to stronger gear. It didn't handle the action elements as well as your more traditional Side Scrollers, and the RPG elements weren't prevalent enough to give you any real way to customize your gameplay experience.

All that said the game still handles smoothly. There is a good variety of levels, your lead character may not have a lot of personality but is still pretty likable, and the game offers a good challenge and finishing off many areas does give you a genuine feeling of accomplishment, something a lot of games could stand to do these days, but that's a rant for another day.

168) Sim City (SNES)

I could go into details about all the small things the game does that I like. For example, when you build multiple residential zones together they may become one large building, and there are a variety of things they can become. There are references to other Nintendo games, all the little animations, there are a lot of things I like.

But this game will always be the game where I would cheat to build up a large and expansive city only to cause natural disaster after natural disaster and watch it all burn down for my own amusement. The game would be higher, but I really don’t' remember anything about the game I really, truly enjoyed beyond that.

Let's not dwell on what this says about me as a person and just move on. 

167) Dream Daddy (PC)

Dating simulators are not really my thing. What I do like are terrible dad jokes, and this game offers that in spades. The problem is once you get through the dad jokes, there really is nothing here considering how bland the mini-games are.

The relationship between the father and daughter is also pretty great and well written but feels completely disconnected from any of the romances you can have, it's as though there are two unrelated narratives going on that happen to feature the same characters.

The game is carried on its charm and niche humor, but the lack of anything else to offer keeps it low on the list. Worth checking out if you like dad jokes a lot, but otherwise the game will do nothing for you.

166) Criminal Girls: Invite Only (PS Vita)

Issues with censorship wanted me to just not mention these game at all, but that would feel a bit dishonest to leave it off for that. Despite not being a very good game in just about any respect, the game partly won me over due to the games unique visual design of having all of it's enemies appear as these unnatural angular creatures, and a truly great use of emptiness and atmosphere in the ice level.

Combat was fine on paper but rather uninvolved. You'd basically pick which party members 'plan' you wanted to go with each round, and that is how it would play out. The story was an interesting premise, all the girls under your watch basically had some very troubled pasts, and this little trip into hell was a chance for them to get off the paths they are currently on. Not the best of executions, but it's an Idea I had not seen done before, so despite the many flaws of the game I managed to enjoy it a bit.

165) Rock Band and Guitar Hero

I just like having an excuse to rock along with some great music. The depth of the mechanics are largely irrelevant to me in the case of these games, I just really liked rocking out to some Santana and Stones.

Thing is I can kind of do that without having the game, so while it can be fun to bust out with some friends, I didn't really have a use for the long term. Part of me feels like it should be lower on the list because of that, but at the same time this isn't a list I made with any kind of objective standard, and this is where the game falls for me.

This was a boring entry. Moving on.

164) Super Mario Bros (NES)

I am starting to feel like I am losing a lot of you already, and flushing my credibility down the toilet.

I had already played Super Mario World by this point in my life and didn't get the chance to play this until I had the collection of NES Mario games that released on the SNES. The game suffers for much the same reason that Final Fantasy did, and that is I played so many better Mario games by this point it just didn't do it for me.

Though also like with Final Fantasy, it was still fun to play despite that. The controls were good, despite being an older game the levels and monsters all looked great, and the soundtrack was superb. I can't really say anything bad about it, just that I'd already experienced so much better by that point it didn't leave much an impact on me.

163) Lufia and the Fortress of Doom (SNES)

I didn't get the chance to play this one until near the PS2 era began, and I had already played its sequel. Lacking a lot of the great things the sequel did, Lufia still managed to have a good story going for it. Some fun characters, interesting plot twists, and a competent battle system.

There was also fun to be had with a dungeon you could delve into as you increased in level, the higher the level the deeper you could go, that added some content to the game outside of the main story.

The only real issues the game has is the whole game feels pretty basic and archaic at times, and has aged poorly compared to other RPG's of the era. It's probably not the easiest game to get into unless you are pretty hardcore in your old school RPG love like I am, but if you are it's worth a playthrough.

162) Kirby and the Rainbow Curse (Wii U)

Games that are purely geared towards puzzles never quite work for me, and while this game is technically a side-scroller it is pretty much played like a kind of puzzle game, so it's not a game that was really made for my own enjoyment.

But despite that, the puzzles were fun even if the majority of them were to easy to pose much of a challenge, and the weird claymation art style the game went with looks fantastic. It's another game that's low on this list due to just not being my kind of game.

161) Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits (PS2)

To date, this is the only Arc the Lad game I have played through. As my introduction to the series, it wasn't really something that gave me the impression it's something that was a must play. That said, as an SRPG, it was pretty decent all the same.

I like Strategy RPG's that don't use the typical square grid for movement, this one, in particular, gives you a range of free movement when it becomes your characters turn. I like how attacks of all kind can be targeted with minute detail to try and optimize how many enemies you can hit, and I like how the affected area of everyone's basic attack is different, giving you a bit more control than other SRPG's.

What this game does great kind of ends there though. The combat is fine, though outside of some pretty basic types of attacks you end up with very little variety in what you can do. The only real exception to this is a character called Bebedora, who can take control of enemy units. The only problem is it's almost pointless as stronger enemies are not controllable, and anything you can control can get easily wiped out by her powerful spells anyway.

The story and characters are hit and miss, sometimes there are some good twists, and characters can have some interesting motivations and backstories. But the plot lacks any kind of subtlety in it's 'all races can get along message', and I never liked it when a message is beaten to death like this, despite how much I may actually agree with what it's trying to say or not.

The game has it's moments though, and despite some overall sloppy execution of some good ideas, it's still overall enjoyable. I owned it years ago and played it again when it launched on the PS2 on PS4 thing, and still enjoyed giving it a second play through. If you are a big fan of Strategy RPG's it's worth a go, but nothing I'd actively recommend.