I have been playing PC games for 20 years, but I doubt I have played 100 games.
Definitely the large majority of PC titles have come in the last 5-6 years for me. I was primarily on consoles for most of the 90’s, and really only came back to PC with Civ IV, and full time with Mass Effect. Granted I had a number of flight sims and strategy titles in the 90’s, but little else.
Which would make it interesting. I’d be weighted towards the recent, but except I’ve actually played a fair bit of old games recently. Been trying to hammer some more of those all time classics. Now if I included games I played on console that had a PC port it’d be easier.
Still limiting it to PC would omit my favorite game of all time, Metroid Prime.
I just looked at my achievements list for Xbox 360 and there’s definitely more than 100 games there. So I guess I’ve got my platform…
edit: 150 in fact. I would not have guessed I played that many Xbox 360 games.
It would be a lot easier to do boardgames because those tend to stay in existence, and thus in my mind. PC games come and go with the technology, and the perceived excellence of the game is often lost over time simply by the advance of technology. Not to mention you might not even be able to play it anymore without the specific machine being available. PC games are kind of like sand castles - the wave of technology washes over them and they are gone. I loved MULE, for instance, but how does one really rank that against modern games. Dang, 34th, or 68th, not to mention all the shades of variation in between, and I can’t even review the original game? Boardgames? I have 300 sitting across from me as I type this, plus a staggering amount more that I have played. I can come up with a definitive 100 of those quickly. 100 computer games would take rather longer than it is worth in time and effort.
Yeah, this sounds fun, I’ll see what I can come up with. But I think I’ll be selectively ignoring the platform and series rules. PC is the only platform I would be able to come up with 100 for, but I don’t see any compelling reason to ignore the ~30% of the games that had the biggest impact on me that happened to be on other platforms. And within a series, I’ll honorable-mention a second title that’s good in the same ways as another on the list (HoMM 2 & 3, for example), but will give separate entries to anything where the reasons they would make the list are different (FF4’s story and music vs. FF5’s job system).
I’m always bemused by whatever psychological shortfall it is that leads people to honestly believe that a thread full of LISTS (especially long 100-item are you effing kidding me lists) is in any way interesting reading for anyone. They’re exercises in pure write-only narcissism.
Now if those lists were to be privately submitted to a third party and compiled into a statistical breakdown, that might actually be interesting. But just lists upon lists upon lists? Yeah, no. That sounds about as stimulating as spending all day reading nutritional information labels.
I guess you could call it Vacation Photo Syndrome. “These are interesting to me, therefore they’re interesting to everyone.”
That’s completely true. It’s much more of a mental exercise for my own enjoyment rather than anything I expect anyone else to read or care about. Though the short overall descriptions might lead to some interesting conversation.
I certainly wouldn’t mind perusing people’s lists. Top 100 lists could be particularly interesting where I can actually get good sense of what their tastes are and see if there’s anything interesting that I may not have heard of, or maybe remember a fun game I had forgotten.
I suggest we make Top 101 lists instead. Studies have shown odd numbered lists are more interesting.
I totally agree with this, I plan on looking at maybe the top 5 and bottom 5 of everyone else’s lists, but the idea of putting some constraints on it makes it more interesting than usual as far as actually creating my own list. And a couple paragraphs about how others deal with those constraints sounds interesting to me as well. I’m already conflicted about what franchises I want to separate and what I want to lump together on my list.
Yep, I am ready to engage in a little internet narcissism. And maybe I’ll check out a few other people’s lists, if I’m bored.
“Top 100 videogames that offer a fail state.”
How about that for some specificity?
Agreed 100%.
But then, I’ve never understood the appeal of list threads. They’re almost all just a list of game names. Who cares?
One of the best things about the internet is that it’s completely volunteer. It’s so easy to simply mark a thread read and move on if you’re bored by it.
It’s best to still keep an eye on them. Like the Game of the Month threads for example. Most of the time it’s just a list thread, but every once in a while, someone will post a really insightful, super-interesting post about certain games in there. So you have to keep an eye on even the list threads, otherwise you could miss some of the best posts on Qt3.
I would rather read a list than a statistical breakdown of anything, but then, math scares me.
It’s just a fancy way of saying “pretty charts and graphs”.
Alright, I think I got a pretty complete list of a little over 100 PC games, only roughly ordered. Next step is to start doing the one-to-one comparison that Greatatlantic mentioned.
Reading others’ lists and finding games I should have put on my list is going to be… let’s call it “funstrating.”
Everyone’s list will just be copy/pasted to this thread?
I did a top100 years ago, in… 2005 I believe. Found it!
Note:
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It doesn’t have titles from 2006 onwards, and I think a few games from the past years would have got a place here. From Company of Heroes to Portal or Stalker to a few more.
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It also doesn’t have some titles released before but that I played later. Like Fallout 2, Planescape Torment and Morrowind (which I played just the month after, I remember). Again, maybe they would have put themselves in there.
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And even ignoring the previous two points, I suspect that if I got to do the top100 again, the result would be slightly different, it depends of a lot in your mood, your subjective memories, etc.
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Doom I/II
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Ultima VII
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Civilization 2
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Alone in the Dark
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Operation Flashpoint
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Xcom Enemy Unknown
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Fallout
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Command & Conquer
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Quake I
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Deux Ex
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Tie Fighter
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Half Life
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Jagged Alliance 2
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System Shock 2
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Monkey Island 2
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Thief
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Homeworld
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Combat Mission
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Quake III
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Call of Duty
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Infiltration
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Street Fighter 2
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Independance War 2
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Day of Tentacle
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Lands of Lore
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Master of Magic
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Indiana Jones y la Ultima Cruzada
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Gabriel Knight 3
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Falcon 4
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The Longest Journey
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The Need for Speed 3
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Abuse
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Total Anhilation
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Gabriel Knight 1
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Annachronox
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Lemmings
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Shogun TW
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Halo
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Populus 2
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Age of Wonders
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Sam & Max
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Nox
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Lands of Lore 2
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Final Fantasy VII
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Jedi Outcast
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Terminal velocity
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Starcraft
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Hitman ½
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The Punisher
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Quake II
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Far cry
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Homm 3
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Sim City 2000
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Blade Runner
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Swat 3
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Duke Nukem 3D
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Bubble Bobble
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Space Rangers 2
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Commander Keen
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Aladdin
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Ultima Online
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Blade
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Alien Vs Predator
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Max Payne
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Jedi Knight
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Dungeon Keeper
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Syndicate
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Europa Universalis 2
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Fifa 95
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Little Big Adventure
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Rally Championship
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C&C Red Alert
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Carmaggedon 2
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Beyond good & evil
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Unreal Tournament
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Sonic the Hedgehog
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Prince of Persia
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Commandos 2
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Grand Theft Auto
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Ghost Recon
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Worms
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C&C Red Alert2
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Mdk
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Hexen
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One Must Fall
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Descent
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Empire Earth
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Dune
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Crónicas de Riddick
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Theme Park
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Doom 3
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Descent Freespace 2
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Tomb Raider
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Panzer General
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Magic Carpet
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Shadowman
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Silent Hunter
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Collin McRae
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Diablo 2
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Master of Orion 2