Your Timeless Games List & Stories

We've all probably played many games, some good, some not so good. Now imagine if we could do things over again, and could choose which games we would still want to play again.
Let's each make a list of games you would recommend to yourself to play. How you want to divide, categorize, explain why, or if just want to list a few games you like, is up to you.
What I really hope to get out of this, is a list of games that we might want to try ourselves, or maybe just get to know each others interests a little better.
Old or new, your timeless games list are the games that left a mark. Whether they stand up to today's standards is besides the point if they were good to you.

PS - This can include any kind of PC, console, or other digital "game" content. Including user modifications, fangames, mods, etc. Or multiplayer games that may be dead now, that once were amazing to you. Spoiler tags might be recommended if your list is huge. And although I recommend editing to add or change your list over time, you can make new posts instead if you so choose.
Actually. You *could* also do a single post about a single game and tell a story of why you highlight that game. A memory; a story; a reason that made it great.

If things take off, I'll link the lists in this post later.

 

- minecraft
-terraria
-tf2
-smash brothers
-rythm heaven megamix

 

Alright me, you’re gonna wipe your brain and play through these games again and you’re gonna like it:

Half Life: This game (/series) is unmatched in terms of storytelling harmonized with game play. The story itself in this game is amazing, and it’s themes of scientific disaster and determinism are prominent and engaging. It’s this story combined with the level design and environmental storytelling that truly make it stand out from other first person shooters on the market, TO THIS DAY. As a side note, Imo, this game is best enjoyed standalone, since the series may never be concluded...

Cave Story: This game is a champion of the indie game scene and in itself a champion of independent creativity. Pixel fully commits towards inventing his own style of art, sound, story and gameplay, and it will leave you influenced and wanting more for years after you’ve finished it. What makes this game special is how it truly comes from a personal place, having been developed over the course of five years by one person. This personal connection is something that you seldom find in any other game nowadays.

Metal Gear Solid: A game which I admittedly will never played, but still enjoy immensely. This game is like a movie. A friggin badass movie. The other entries in the series also share this quality, but this entry stands out the most because of the hardware it runs on, and how it overcomes it’s limitations and in same cases turns those limitations into an ADVANTAGE. Compare MGS1 and The Twin Snakes (the GameCube remake) side by side and you’ll understand the difference. Kojima’s storytelling ability has always been a strong suit in his games, but here is where it’s strongest.

I’ll add more later.

 

Here's a list of game's I like and would like to play trough them again.
-Cave Story
-Undertale
-Touhou
-Super Smash Bros

 

Games in the Cave Story universe i would be playing again
-Cave Story
-Half Life
-Half Life 2 ep 1
-Half Life 2 ep 2
-Half Life 2 ep 3 (if it ever releases welp time to play the fanmade version)
-Portal
Games in other universes:
-Wall-e the game (WII)
-Toy Story 3 the game
-Deltarune
-Ultimate Custom Night
-Minecraft

 

Now, this is an interesting idea. Games that I'd suggest to my younger self. Before I was Serri, before I was TLinkan, time to suggest them to CrackyXG from my teenage years.

Given everyone else's posts, a very obvious choice is for me to suggest Cave Story. I started playing this game right before I started adulthood (18 days until I turned 18), when my first 3DS was practically given to me by my stepdad's relative! It would've been so good if I had played it during my teenage years. I learned about it in a Nintendo Power issue at the time too, if only I were to have actually looked into it and find the freeware version instead.

Another game that I feel I really should've played during my teenage years was Team Fortress 2. I mean, I had several friends who played TF2 and GMod, I even saw the trailers during high school, I had a few friends show me videos of GMod Idiot Box (they gave me more exposure to TF2 characters) and I really enjoyed watching those videos. The fact that the game is still holding up to the test of time, even when it's been a very, very, very long time since the Jungle Inferno update was released, don't @ me, it would've been nice to play it at a similar age to Aar when he started his videos.

And now for a series that I knew I would've enjoyed, but I was too dumb and played only Mario games and bootlegged NES games on my FCEUX emulator back in the day, but I really should've played Mega Man during my teenage years. Kinda helped me with how to play a platformer game, and when I tried the first game out back in my last few months of high school, it severely kicked my ass, but I always knew that it was possible to beat the stages, no matter how hard I struggled, especially in the Wily Stages and having to deal with the Big Eyes, Killer Bullets, and... Yellow Devil. *shudders* But I grew to enjoy the series more (yes, even 2 with its severe flaws), and I should really play the games beyond MM4 some time, wow.

While I can't really think up more at the moment, I do think these games I mentioned so far have left a lasting impact on me, so I'm fairly certain 13-16 year old me would've enjoyed it, too! ^w^

Also Gabriel, Serri's got few important tips for you:
Go to community college first.
PLEASE don't take classes for Computer Engineering, take Computer Science instead.
Don't grab a job until 2017, you'll thank me later.
Subscribe to Pewdiepie, he's better than you'd think.
You'll learn a whole lot more about your identity in 2017.
And more importantly, no matter what happens in the world, no matter how much things have changed around you, and no matter how many times you mess up, you're still going to live alright.

 

When I was younger, a number of games left an impression on me, and I think they are what helped fuel my appreciation for video games today. One game in particular that I will never forget is Klonoa 2 on the Playstation 2. It is such an utterly whimsical and charming experience that is bursting with creativity, and being exposed to that as one of my first gaming experiences is something I'll always be thankful for. Its art style is beautiful and absolutely holds up even to this day, its music has a ton of variety and fits the scene perfectly no matter the situation, and the game's difficulty was balanced such that it was easy enough for me to beat it as a kid, but difficult enough to keep me having fun as an adult. Speaking of which, when I replayed the game a few years ago, I was expecting it to not hold up as well because of how long ago I played it. I experienced this with a few games that I loved when I was younger, like Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door (a great game in its own right, but it definitely underwhelmed me upon replaying it) and Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life (a charming and mysterious game, but it drags on for way too long with hardly any interesting content along the way). However, Klonoa 2 never disappointed me when I returned to it. The only disappointing facet of the game to me is the story; I never understood it as a kid, and even nowadays it fails to interest me as an adult. The first game was a solid platformer (the Wii remake, at least), but I feel like the sequel tops it in every way. Besides that game, the game that I feel left the biggest impression on me as a kid was Pokémon Ruby & Sapphire. I think everybody's first Pokémon outing is a magical one -- especially as a kid -- and this was no different for me. I'm in the middle of replaying it now, actually, and it still holds up pretty well despite the optimizations of later games in the main series (something I'll get to later at the end of this post).

In my teenage years, I was quite into playing a ton of multiplayer games with my friends: Mario Party, Super Smash Bros., Halo, Call of Duty, etc. I would go into detail about these years, but I realize how wordy the first part of my post is, so maybe my privileged life as a teenager will be a story for another day haha... In short, though, being able to consistently play competitively with friends was a huge part of those years, and those games were the reason it was all so exciting.

One game that I regret not giving more of a chance that I would recommend to myself would be Pokémon Black & White. The fifth generation of Pokémon games is one that I immediately disliked, but I think it was for all the wrong reasons. Having started playing the series during its third generation, I was playing them to the point of utter burnout by the time Black & White came out. Emerald, FireRed & LeafGreen, Diamond & Pearl, Platinum, HeartGold & SoulSilver (and even going back to play the original Gold & Silver as well)... hundreds of hours on each... it's no surprise I was sick of the series by the time the newest games released. However, upon replaying them with a different perspective and a more critical eye, my outlook has totally changed on these games. They are not only my favorite Pokémon games (by far), but they sit among my favorite games of all-time. The graphical fidelity is at its peak (this is the final generation before Pokémon started using 3D models, and the result was beautifully animated and colorful sprites that the newer games have failed to replicate), the soundtrack is quite literally my favorite music of all-time, the story was oddly (yet refreshingly) nuanced for a series infamous for its clichéd storytelling, and the gameplay featured many optimizations of the formula without bloating it with unnecessary gimmicks (like Mega Evolutions and Z-Moves). I still have to replay Black 2 & White 2 to see how those hold up, but as a whole I feel like Generation 5 is one that should definitely be recommended.

 

I've always been a fan of interactive visual content, or video games, mainly because of how they can be used to not only tell a beautiful story, but also be a genuinely fun and interactive experience at the same time; something books and movies, no matter how immersive, will never accomplish. Storytelling is and always has been a pastime and even a job within humanity, and the concept has evolved over time. From slapping your wet "paint" hands onto the wall of a cave, to oral / audio transmission, to writing, storytelling was a key part in humanity's growth to where it is today, and it gives us some insight on where it was before we got where we are now.

But I'm not writing about video games, I'm writing about good video games, and if I'm going to be entirely 100% honest, I don't think there is a single video game I have played that was so profound that it left a mark. Growing up, I often played the usual, Pokemon, Mario, Kirby (those are a blast), and Nintendo games, but I also stepped foot into the indie genre and other platforms. I don't doubt that most video games I've played are good, if anything I think that most of them are great. Bowser's Inside Story, Super Mario 64, Parappa the Rapper, and Cave Story are a few that come to mind. But they aren't what I'm writing about. Earlier, when I said "good video games" (in bold), what I really meant was "profound" video games. Whether such a thing is possible, surely there is, but I just don't think I've encountered any. However, if I've encountered anything close to that definition, it would have to be Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth.

The first thing that comes to mind when most people hear those words is "why", or "jfc cyber no one cares", and that is reasonable. Why would I put a Digimon game over the likes of Mario, Kirby, and every Nintendo spectacle!? It seems insane, and maybe it is, but Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth (from which i will now be referring to as DS:CS) is truly a profound game, if such a thing exists. But before I can get to that, we need some background. Why is DS:CS so profound? Because DS:CS knows what it is. Yes, it's a great game, but it's an even greater story, a Digimon Story.

The Digimon series was started somewhere in the late 90's, honestly forgot when, by a bunch of Bandai executives who all decided for some reason to credit themselves as Akiyoshi Hongo, a man who definitely does not exist, at least in our world. Akiyoshi Hongo is a concept, much like many characters in the Digimon sagas. But Akiyoshi Hongo is not important in this story, because Akiyoshi Hongo isn't alive, and never was or will be. What is important, is that Digimon was created as a Tamagotchi spin-off "but for boys". And because of that "for boys" tagline, well I don't know what that did, really, since I wasn't even alive back then. But the difference between Tamagotchi and Digimon, was that Digimon could fight eachother by linking up the tamagotchi pets, and that alone was enough to warrant 10 anime series, at least 15 different movies, and an intensely vast multiverse consisting of anime, video games, manga, and anything else, telling a story spanning literal generations, not too dissimilar from another show I'm watching right now. sono chi no sademe

So what, Digimon is a series. Everything's a series spanning literal generations nowadays, Marvel did it first lmao. But nonetheless, Digimon stuck out. Any individual Digimon game or series alone is probably not very great, aside from maybe two or three (adventure, tamers, and digimon world i love you), but that's the glory of it. DS:CS is not just a video game, it is part of that greater story. DS:CS is by far the most "Digimon" media I have ever consumed, and I'd argue that it has more "Digimon" elements than most of the original Digimon animes combined, and that's what makes it so good. It's a thrilling, chilling, and entertaining story about a boy who's lost his body and his mind, and must solve the grand mystery as to why that is, confronting stalkers, monsters, literal gods, and black market organ harvesters to do so, and it's incredible. I'm sure that if you were to play it with no insight on the Digimon series, it would be another lame monster collecting JRPG, and it is mostly, but it's a good one, and it's profound. The ending had me in tears, and I don't think any game or show other than a Digimon anime has had me cry at the end of it when it wasn't a character death. Thank you, Akiyoshi Hongo, thank you Bandai executives who dont really care all that much. you have accidentally paved way for one of the most profound video game stories in existence to enter the scene. And they already made a really good sequel/prequel as well.

In conclusion, yes
is pretty good

 

I saw this thread when it first got created and have been really wanting to post in it. Now that I have some free time, here are my memorable/timeless games:

• Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure. Apart from edutainment software like Jumpstart and Reader Rabbit, this is the first game I ever remember playing. It was a DOS-based sidescrolling trilogy, with each installment consisting of 10 linear levels. It had very fun platforming, a cool wall climbing mechanic, a fun points system with bonus levels, and superb music. My dad originally got the first installment as freeware on an old Windows 95 computer that we used to play on, and then continued playing it when we got a Windows 98 computer. A few years later when we were getting ready to move, my dad got the 2nd and 3rd Cosmo games to give me and my brother something memorable to play during this transition time, and so those games served as just that. We spent most of that time playing it on a Windows 98 laptop that is actually still at my parents house to this day, and still works and can play the Cosmo games just like my brother and I remember them.
• Lego Racers. This one holds a special place in my heart because it was the first racing game I ever played, and one of the first intense, action-based games I can remember playing. You basically get to build your own car out of legos, and race it on a variety of tracks, and you can try to knock out or speed ahead of your opponents with powerups, sort of like in Mario Kart. The game mechanics in Lego racers are so simple and smooth, and the powerup system is both creative and intuitive, as well as super fun to use. I played this game pretty regularly for many years. Even now, I still load the game up every once in a while.
• Rayman 3. I got this game for my 7th birthday the year that it was released, after having recently played and thoroughly enjoyed Rayman 2 (it wasn't until over a year later that I would play Rayman 1). The platforming was almost as good as R2, the combat was even better, and the levels and cutscenes all just stuck with me for some reason. I just absolutely adored this game when I was 8 and 9. The scoring system was very cool and very addicting in a way that incentivised you to keep re-playing the levels over and over again to get the best possible score. You would gain points by collecting gems, defeating enemies, breaking things, and interacting in certain ways with hidden NPCs, and the more you did this stuff in rapid succession, the more points you would earn. I loved this scoring system so much, and spent so much time trying different things to maximize my score. It was also super cool to find all of these secrets hidden in the levels where there were all kinds of extra goodies. Having recently re-played parts of the game, it's only now that I realize that the game has a very overplayed sarcastic and self-aware sense of humor that totally flew over my head as a kid, and the story doesn't really have any serious stakes until about 2/3 of the way through the game (unlike Rayman 2 where the stakes are very real and very heartfelt from beginning to end), but I still love it, I still love the gameplay, the scoring system, and the combat.
• FATE. This is an RPG for the PC that was released in about 2005, and was pretty huge among PC gamers my age from about 2005-2010. It's very similar in style to Runescape, but it's a standalone game instead of an MMORPG, and in my opinion it's easier to get into than Runescape. It has a very well-designed system of getting weapons and armor, fighting monsters, leveling up, collecting gold, and getting more money and notoriety by completing quests. Fighting monsters in the dungeon and searching for items was fun, and it is always such a satisfying feeling having completed a set of quests and returning to town to report to the people who assigned your quests to show them you've completed it and collect your reward. It's a bit repetitive after a while, but what keeps it so fun and addicting is that as you level up more and descend deeper into the dungeon, items that you find have more magical potency, you can keep gaining more fame and magical potency, and the variety of new monsters deeper into the dungeon keeps on going pretty darn deep. What I like the most is that when you reach a certain level and defeat a certain monster, you can retire and pass an item down to a descendant and the magical power of that item will be increased, and you get to start a new game as that descendant. Basically a never-ending "new game+". I played this game a lot when I was 11 and 12, but I've still played it off an on since then, especially a little bit more within the last few weeks.

 

If I didn't say Cave Story was one of the games I always come back to, I wouldn't be on this forum.

With that out of the way, I'd say the games I've consistently come back to over the years have been
- Minecraft
- Earthbound
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- TLOZ: A Link to the Past
- Any Mario game. Super Mario Galaxy 2 got me hooked on videogames when I was very young and it's still one of my favorites, but I'm a big fan of the older NES/SNES games (Yoshi's Island is my favorite 2D Mario game). I also have very fond memories of playing Super Paper Mario with my little sister.
- Forza Horizon 2. Much better setting than the first game and just a little bit more challenging (in the good way). This is the only game my dad has ever beaten and likely ever will beat, and the only one we ever played side by side. It taught me what a good racing game should be.

 

Looks like I never answered my own topic! Know I typed up something, but guess I held back.

Hm, okay me.. games I would recommend to myself...

Spoiler: Large unfilitered list

Baldur's Gate 2 + mods
Ultima VII Black Gate & Serpent's Isle
Ultima VIII Pagan
Mass Effect
Mass Effect 2
Morrowind + mods
Oblivion or Skyrim (?) + mods [recommended but haven't finished it myself...]
Ys I & II, Ys series
Planescape: Torment
Tyranny
Loren the Amazon Princess
Persona 4
Persona 3 FES
Persona 5

Cave Story
Iji
Cross Code
Iconoclasts
Wuppo
Sundered
Kero Blaster
Pink Heaven
Pink Hour

Braid
Celeste
INSIDE
LIMBO
Hyper Light Drifter
Ghost 1.0
Environmental Station Alpha
VVVVVVV
Titan Souls
140
Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap
Secrets of Raetikon
Thomas Was Alone
Bleed
Potatoman Seeks the Troof
Unepic
Underhero
Wings of Vi
Nihilumbra
Slain: Back from Hell
Rain World
Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara
The Aquatic Adventure of the Last Human
Within a Deep Forest
Saira
Crescent Pale Mist
cloudphobia
Another World
Sixty Five Million And One BC (?)
Gato Roboto
My Big Sister
The End is Nigh
Heartbound
Touhou Luna Nights

1001 Spikes
Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
A Hat in Time
FEZ
SIMULACRA
Super Meat Boy
Kingdom (series)
Ninja Pizza Girl
Princess Remedy (series)

Undertale
OneShot
The Way rpgmaker
Love & War rpgmaker
Hello Charlotte (series)
Mad Father
Ib
The Hex
Angels of Death
Changed
Anodyne
Misao
Coffin of Ashes
Wolf & Rabbit
Kio's Adventure

Night in the Woods
Wandersong
Pony Island
Yuppie Psycho
A Rose in the Twlight
One Way Heroics
The Walking Dead
The Wolf Among Us
Consortium

Chaos;Head
Steins;Gate
Steins;Gate 0
Phantom of Inferno
Demonbane
Utawarerumono
YU-NO
Ever 17
Tsukihime
Fate/Stay Night
Planetarian
Yume Kusuri

Unavowed
The Fall (series)
VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action
Doki Doki Literature Club
Hate (series)
Deponia (series) (?)
Echo of the Wilds
Silence
Scheming Through The Zombie Apocalypse

Saints Row 2
Dying Light
Doom
Black Mesa
Quake I / II

Vagante
Hammerwatch
Heroes of Hammerwatch
Terraria
Starbound
Project Zomboid
Serious Sam's Bogus Detour
Diablo 2
Left 4 Dead 2
Starsiege Tribes
20XX
Spelunky

Jamestown
Trouble Witches Origin

Nitroplus Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel
Vanguard Princess

Blueberry Garden
Neon Drive
Wizorb
Thumper
Replica
Texorcist
The Stanley Principle
The Talos Principle
Audioshield
Beat Saber + Mods
FRACT OSC
Crypt of the NecroDancer
Aeero
Scribblenauts Unlimited
The Lab
Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope
ABZU in VR

Project Diva Hatsune Miku (series)

Final Fantasy IV, VI, VIII, (series)
Ninja Gaiden 2
Crystalis
Mario (series)
Zelda (series)

Odin Sphere
Castlevania SoTN
Mega Man X / ZX series
Metroid series
Star Fox series
Shadow Hearts
Digital Devil Saga
Xenosaga series
Xenogears
Zone of the Enders series
The Bouncer (?)
Galaxy Force 2
Ecco the Dolphin
Shining Force series
Sonic series
Double Dragon 2
Kirby series
Smash TV
Strider
Wizards and Warriors series
Xenophobe
Actraiser
Saga Frontier 2
Seiken Densetsu 3
Chrono Trigger
Demon's Crest
F-Zero series
Gun Hazard
Legend of Mystic Ninja
Populous
Valken
Lagoon
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons
Traffic Department 2192
Wing Commander series
Eternal Darkness

EDIT: Accidentally posted early, will edit further later... Explanations and analysis eventually.
I probably should reduce the list in size. It's an overdose of information that will probably make anyone glaze over. But, these are games that had an impact on me and I would play again, and/or just good games for one reason or another. Yet, as large as the list is; I've played countless more over the years. Kind of a waste of time in some ways, yet it's the only way to find the ones I've loved.

 

digimon was the first strand type game

( i did do like the new mario game )