Posts tagged xenogears

What’s on your Top 5 video games list?
Submitted by mileena.

1. Xenogears – A friend turned me onto this under-appreciated gem of a game for the playstation released in 1998 by Square. It has the most intricate story that I’ve ever experienced in a video game, taking around 60 or so hours to complete without doing any optional side stuff. I was playing it using an emulator at the time, and I got to just before the final dungeon and…my computer crashed and I reformated without saving my game. after 56 hours of playing. But I didn’t mind. Going through the story again really helped clear some things up. It’s really a game that you need to play twice because a lot of the stuff in the beginning makes a whole lot more sense after you go through it and learn the reasonings.
2. Lunar: Silver Star Story – Another friend (the wife of the friend mentioned above), upon learning that I was going to get a Playstation 2, she decided to shower me with classic games to borrow. Included in the stack was the two Lunar games. I really enjoyed the first one, and the second was good too, but didn’t really meet the level of the first for me. The best part about Silver Star Story was, well, it’s story. (Warning, slight spoilers ahead!) It may appear to be your standard “Peasant guy gets sucked up into a evil plot of world domination and has to put a stop to it”, but really, the saving the world part is a side effect of the love story plotline. It’s really nice how it’s set up. The character development is also worth special mention. As you move through the story, you really start to care about what happens to the characters.
3. City of Heroes - I was debating including this, but I figure that I have to. I’ve spent about 2 years playing this game almost nonstop. It’s the Anti-MMO. No Loot, Limited crafting, fast paced battle system and a comic-book focus keep me interested. I’m into a period of burnout right now, but I see myself playing it for a while to come still.
4. Freespace 2 – This was one of the most under-rated games of all time. I’m not sure if underrated is the right word, exactly, but it definitly didn’t get the attention it deserved due to poor advertising efforts on the part of Interplay. Freespace 2 was, in my opinion, the best of the space combat simulation games. It had awesome graphics and a very cool story line to tie things all together. As you go through the missions, you’re never quite sure what could happen. A simple cargo transfer mission could turn into an explosion, you could be tasked to intercept asteroids one minute and the repel an attack the second. One of the coolest missions is a game of cat and mouse in side s nebula where an electrical storm is interfering with your sensors. You’re flying almost blind, trying to find a missing comrade when you come across something unexpected in the haze.
5. Starcraft – I’m not one for real time strategy games usually, but I spent a lot of time with Starcraft when I was in high school. I played multiplayer with some of my classmates usually (Over dialup modem. Old school style!)

I really considered placing Final Fantasy XII at the #5 spot instead of starcraft, but I haven’t finished it yet, so I figure that it’s not far to list it there. Who knows, it might take a turn for the worse…but so far, it looks like Starcraft is going to get bumped right off