TNL's 20 Favorite Games of All-Time

[bbobb]

X-Com is a good game.

But Planescape is even better and it's on the list, so it's all good.

[RoleTroll]

Obviously Sega didn't crank out a lot of sequels on DC. In fact, they've never been big on sequels in general compared to other companies. One of the reasons Sega was so great was that they always invested in new IP.... that's probably part of why they didn't succeed; people don't want new ideas as much as they want familiar names.

Sad but true. Capcom was brilliant to making 200 MegaMan games. EA was even smarter, making one game and changing the jerseys each year. It's not survival of the best, it's survival of the fittest.

[Low]

I got the same conclusion looking at the votes. Funny how Phantasy Star 2 got a spot when the original is far superior (more immersive and impressive dungeons, way better music and story).

PS1's dungeons were gold but I'd argue part two is at least it's equal. Better weapons and techniques, excellent character/enemy animation in battles (beautiful at the time), not to mention damn challenging the whole way through. Sorry, I never cared for the crew of PS1 and thought PS2 pulled off a futuristic RPG story better. PS4 was great too, just too much fan service and lack of challenge.

And who do I have to sacrifice a Flicky to to get a true sequel to Landstalker?

James

I wouldn't trust Climax to do the game justice. Steal Princess was crap.

[RoleTroll]

I tried PSII for the first time last year. It was a decent old-school RPG, and I can see how it would have been great for its time, but I still haven't been able to force myself to finish it.

Same here. Totally loved PS1 and PS4. I've wanted to play PS2 because of the hype, but the couple times I started I got bored before I got very far. Now I wish I'd picked it up immediately when I got a Genny for Christmas. I wish we had Phantasy Star Generation 2 in the US.

[Frogacuda]

You could argue PS2 was as good, but it certainly didn't have as much of an impact on me at the time. PS1 was really mind blowing in the context of the 8-bit generation. PSII gets some credit there as well for being one of the very first RPGs of the 16-bit console generation, but it didn't blow me away as much.

[James]

Shining Force might be an exception, but it's also a series Sega has revived and disappointed with. Meanwhile Valkyria Chronicles is better than any new Shining Force would have been.

True on the Valkyria Chronicles front, but not so much about Shining Force. Sega made no attempt to revive the series at all. Shining Force Neo is as much a Shining Force game as Final Fantasy: Modern Warfare 2 would be a FF game. Just because Sega figured tacking the Shining Force title onto an unrelated game would count as a series revival doesn't mean we have to humor their stupidity.

James

[kingoffighters]

You could argue PS2 was as good, but it certainly didn't have as much of an impact on me at the time. PS1 was really mind blowing in the context of the 8-bit generation. PSII gets some credit there as well for being one of the very first RPGs of the 16-bit console generation, but it didn't blow me away as much.

Thank you, that's exactly how I feel. Also, while it was generous of Sega, they should never have packed in the walkthrough with the game. MY will power as a kid was pretty weak.

[Fe 26]

True on the Valkyria Chronicles front, but not so much about Shining Force. Sega made no attempt to revive the series at all. Shining Force Neo is as much a Shining Force game as Final Fantasy: Modern Warfare 2 would be a FF game. Just because Sega figured tacking the Shining Force title onto an unrelated game would count as a series revival doesn't mean we have to humor their stupidity.

James

For what it is worth, I consider Valkyria Chronicles to be the spiritual successor of Shining Force. SF and VC are some of the rare moments that sega got pretty much everything right.

[StriderKyo]

Same here. Totally loved PS1 and PS4. I've wanted to play PS2 because of the hype, but the couple times I started I got bored before I got very far. Now I wish I'd picked it up immediately when I got a Genny for Christmas. I wish we had Phantasy Star Generation 2 in the US.

Same. I've tried to get through it 4, possibly 5 times over the years. I just can't do it, I always lose interest.

[Sixfortyfive]

I can appreciate Phantasy Star I for what it brought to the table and how it was superior to its peers in a lot of ways, but it's still a little too old school for me to get into these days. (Pretty much any 8-bit JRPG is.) PSII wasn't even bearable with a walkthrough. I've also played that one roughly half a dozen times but have never made it much beyond Neifirst.

PSIV is an order of magnitude better than either of them for no other reason than that it doesn't waste your damn time. No grinding needed if you know what you're doing, no inexplicably slow walk speed, battle macros, mostly straightforward maps, starting off with 3 party members who can actually handle the first few areas as-is, etc. Everything else is just a bonus.