The All-TNL Top 10 Playstation Games List - THE FINAL LIST! Updated sept. 4th
Updated on the 4th- The final list!:
1. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night /42
2. Metal Gear Solid /27
3. Final Fantasy Tactics /25
4. Final Fantasy VII /18
5. Xenogears /16
6. Final Fantasy IX /14
7. Silent Hill /12
8. Klonoa: Door to Phantomile /11
9. Tenchu: Stealth Assassins /10
10. Valkyrie Profile /9
Finally, closure! No more ties, even! It's official - TNL loves Konami (3 games) and Square (4 games). The seminal 2-D classic Symphony of the Night is our favourite game, and who can really argue with that? The ECM-approved Final Fantasy Tactics is our favourite rpg on the greatest rpg system of them all, with the oft-maligned-by-jaded-weirdos Final Fantasy VII our favourite game in the series proper.
The cult classic Xenogears, boasting the most ambitious plot ever seen in a rpg edges out what many consider the best example of the genre on the system, Final Fantasy IX. It's all about that mind-blowing final few hours.
Total mindfuck Silent Hill knocks the slow-loading doors off the ultra-popular Resident Evil series, while Klonoa takes home the Playstation mascot-platformer crown (Crash and Spyro didn't even register).
The biggest dark horse of the list is the psycho-ninja-murderer simulator Tenchu, clocking in at #9. And finally, rounding out the list is the somewhat obscure Valkyrie Profile from Enix. So there you have it! The as-determined-by-the-TNL-community 10 Greatest Playstation Games of all time. Now go vote on that NES list!
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OPM ran a list of their favourite games for the PS in this month's issue. I know how people always disagree with mag editors, so I wondered - now that the sun's just about set on hte system, what would be the top 10 games for the PS, as voted on by a highly informed group of the hardcore? I put down my top 10 favourite games for the system (yes, I had nothing to do tonight). What are everyone else's? I'll keep track of everyone's lists, and use this thread to make a composite TNL top 10 PS list.
Here's mine, in no particular order:
1. Suikoden II - One of the best 2D rpgs ever made. Awesome characters, tons of secrets, strategic koei-style war scenes, nice animation, the ability to continue your Suikoden 1 save and a suprisingly tragic and graphic story made this one unforgettable.
2. Wipeout XL - Changed the racing genre forever, and its soundtrack made bigtime mainstream waves when it came out. Stylish and a total rush.
3. Final Fantasy IX - Pure, distilled Final Fantasy, this one created a rennaissance fantasy world with an incredible atmosphere. Sometimes a huge budget is a good thing.
4. FIFA 99 - Fatboy Slim soundtrack, balanced gameplay, and best of all, no MLS! Every version after this one was seriously busted in one way or another, but this is one of the best multiplayer sports games I've ever played, up there with NBA Jam, Tecmo Super Bowl and NBA 2K. Hours of fun.
5. Xenogears - Alright, I have to admit, I haven't finished it yet; I'm still only about 55 hours in. 15 good hours followed by 35 mediocre hours followed by 4 hours (so far) of the most mind-bendingly ambitious plotting ever concieved of in a game. This one succesfully handles themes even few films can convey, with the decompressed pacing of a novel. It won me over, I'm a believer.
6. Ridge Racer 4 - style, speed and some of the best graphics and music for the system coupled with awesome gameplay and tons to do. All-time classic.
7. Silent Hill - quite possibly the creepiest piece of media ever made, I've never come across a game, film or novel that unnerved me the way this one did, all tied up in a killer plot (if you ever figure it out).
8. Suikoden - the original showed us how it's done: 108 characters, fast battles, cool war scenes and a great soundtrack added up to an awesomely fun rpg I must have gone through 4 or 5 times. And I never do that.
9. The Legend of Dragoon - in many ways, its a standard Japanese sentai rpg that was clearly inspired by FF VII. But it had the most enjoyable combat system I've ever come across in an rpg - I actually found myself looking forward to random battles. The music and atmosphere were really something, and the rendered backgrounds use some cool fmv effects while you run through them. A great plot with some cool twists towards the end, tons of the tightest CG cinemas going, and characters I really cared about (save for one or two) made for a game I was actually kind of sad to finish - even at 48 hours, I just didn't want it to end. I'm not the only one - Eggo gave Dragoon a 99 back in the days of Gamefan.
10. Vandal Hearts - Another Konami rpg I played through more than once, it takes the Shining Force formula and puts that series to shame (and I love those games). VH had a cool story, great animation, nifty sprites, secrets to find (did you ever become a Vandalier?), amazing character design and a tactical battle system that makes Final Fantasy Tactics look like tic-tac-toe (unlike FFT it actually encourages maintaining a formation). Unfortunately the sequel didn't live up to the first one, but any strategy rpg that tops Shining Force (in my book) belongs on a top 10 list.
Honourable mention goes to King of Fighters '95, Final Fantasy VII, and Symphony of the Night (would have been a shoe-in had it taken longer than a day to finish). As you can see, most of the games that had a lasting impact on me were rpgs - hands down, in volume and quality the PS was the best domestic rpg machine ever made.
So what do you all think? There's plenty of high-profile games that I didn't even mention (MGS, Turismo, heck, even Tomb Raider). Using whatever criteria you want, give us your list!
