How long have you been gaming and what are your top 5 games of all time?

[Mcblob]

I've been gaming since the early to mid 90s. This is almost as hard of a question as what would you pick for a superpower.


1. Mount and Blade: Warband
2. Fable
3. Final Fantasy 8
4. Goldeneye 007
5. Diablo

[wurt]

Mid 80's, oh boy.

1. E.T.
Okay, I'm lying. Had it and hated it.

No particular order. Probably not accurate either, daddy is tired.
1. Super Mario 64
2. Silent Hill 2
3. Resident Evil 2
4. Fallout 1 (Awe hell, NV too I guess)
5. THPS 2 (yeah, so? It added the manual and a park builder. Savage)

Top 20 games would be easier.

[PartyUpLive]

First question. I remember playing Centipede in the arcade. I still play Millipede. I would say since I was pretty young, so around 1984.

Second question is hard.

Contra NES is one of my all time favorite games. Especially co-op with my best friend growing up. Didn't even need to use the code.

Gears of War 2 is definitely one of my favorite sequels/games of all time. I enjoyed and still play campaign multiplayer, and Horde. Made sooo many friends from online.

Super Castlevania IV. Played it at a friend's house on a Saturday and went and got a SNES the next weekend. Soundtrack is Amazing.

Assassin's Creed II. Amazing sequel and I LOVE the story and soundtrack.

Metal Gear Solid. Amazing game at the time. I would love a remaster.

Other games not on the list:
Outrun
Virtua Fighter series(feel in love with part 2)
Super Mario Bros. 3
Super Metroid
Castlevania Symphony Of The Night
Revenge Of Shinobi(prefer 3 overall)
Mechwarrior PC. First online multiplayer game I played and Loved using the Sidewinder Joy Stick.
Star Wars Tie Fighter series. Also LOVED using the Sidewinder Joy Stick.

And not a videogame but the Terminator 2 pinball game. I still play it on PC and Xbox.

[LordSparkleButt]

Since I was real young in the early 00's. hotline Miami 1 and 2 and I know they aren't the best of games but I really enjoyed Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 and I've probably sunk more time into those games over my lifespan than most games and this one is recent but god I loved Nier Automata its easily in my favorite list.

[twidget]

If you count Pong clones ...

Of course they count.

I was 27, it was Christmas 1975 and I was home on leave visiting a friend.
He had just got a pong clone and we took turns playing with our friends and his family.
It'll be 43 years to the day over this Christmas season.

#1 (with a bullet) The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind I switched from consoles to PC gaming purely for the love of this game and it's many mods. I only had a cheap eMachine for a PC and when I'd add to many mods it would slow to 1-2 fps. That or I'd add/remove mods and break the game. I think I broke it more than I finished a play through the first year. Currently have a version (v18.07) of Tamriel Rebuilt installed for the first time and still play every few weeks.

#2 Super Metroid I loved the mechanics, the atmosphere, the color palette, the boss fights.

#3 Doom 'nuff said.

#4 Fallout New Vegas I liked FO3 ( my 360 died playing it and that pushed my to PC gaming ) and FO4 isn't a bad action/adventure game (after you mod out your typical Bethesda bugginess and make up your own story) but FNV, for me, was the first game I played to hit my sweet spot for a post apocalyptic action/adventure/RPG game.

#5 Super Mario Bros. Gaming had crashed and was all but dead. Nintendo's little grey box and SMB brought it back to life.

[Smackems]

1992 or 1993 at 4 or 5 years old.

1. FF7
2. Skyrim
3. The Last of Us
4. Ocarina of Time
5. Half Life 2.... maybe?

[Zenryu]

I believe I've been gaming since 1998. My first console was the Sega Genesis.

Only including one game per series, My top 5 are:
1. Tales of Vesperia
2. Ratchet and Clank 3
3. Jak 3
4. Halo 3
5. Hyperdimension Neptunia V

Funny that all the games except for Vesperia is the 3rd game in their series.

Other honorable mentions I can think of atm would be the original Battlefront 2, MW3, Final Fantasy 12, Budokai Tenkaichi 3, Persona 3, 007 Agent under Fire, Spiderman PS4, God of War PS4, Phantasy Star Portable 2, and Nier Autonoma.

[Irritablesquid]

I don't know when I started gaming, I can't remember a time when I didnt. I know I had a sega master system at home and a Sega mega drive at my grandparents.
i then got a ps1 at home and an n64 at my grandparents. Since then I've had a couple pcs and several consoles, Nintendo, xbox and ps.

my favourite games in no particular order:

Goldeneye on N64
Spyro
hitman franchise - most of them were good, 1 wasn't
splinter cell franchise - same as above
GTA san Andreas.

My list would be so much bigger but you asked for 5. I've played so many games in my life that I've truly enjoyed and have put so many hours into that when I'm asked how long I've been playing it I always lie. Instead of telling them I've been sat down playing it for 5 hours I'll say it's been 1 at most.

I would've added world of Warcraft on that list but I've been clean for a few years now and thinking about it might be dangerous.

[Athocus]

Been gaming for 20 years ever since the gameboy was a thing. My top five games are:

• Halo Original Trilogy, can't pick
• Crash Bandicoot 2
• Hollow Knight
• Modern Warfare 2, don't judge me cuz CoD
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
• Bonus: GTA V, great sandbox

[Thatoneuser]

I've been gaming since I got my ps2 at the age of six so almost 12 years now.
My top 5 games would have to be
1.Metal gear solid 3
2.Hotline miami
3.Yakuza 0
4.Fallout new vegas
5.Bloodborne

[Hadley]

I've been gaming for over 30 years, my first system being the Atari 2600. Picking my top 5 is super difficult but I'll try my best! Here they are in no particular order:

1. Prince of Persia (1990 - Atari ST)
2. Donkey Kong Country (1994 - SNES)
3. Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar (pre-F2P, PC 2007)
4. Metroid Prime (2002 - Gamecube)
5. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997 - PS1)

[OverdriveActive]

I've been playing games since I was about 5 I think. It started with an Atari that a friend in primary had and then later the NES, OG GameBoy, SNES and then PC from there on out. I've not stopped since so at the moment that means 27 years.

Top 5 games I constantly hold up as reference points for core tenets of design?

1. Diablo 2 and its Lord of Destruction expansion.

Not only was this a great singleplayer experience, I played this for nearly 3 years exclusively online. The way that Blizzard dealt with that game even then wasn't great. Patching was done incidentally and balance was often a side effect rather than intentional. The community was super enjoyable and I've not found anything like it since. I started playing at patch 1.01 and quit toward the end of 1.09c. That patch lasted 2 years and in that time the community dwindled somewhat. I was on DiabloWorld.com at the time (shoutout to that group of folks!). Around mid-2003 it became evident that patch 1.10 would be the death knell for the game's economy and everything that made it work. So I moved on to other things.

2. Unreal Tournament '99

This was the most enjoyable shooter to me. Though I've now found myself much more partial to Quake as I've gotten older, I still find myself missing the weapon diversity and map design philosophy of UT99. It was fun, it was deep, it was interesting and the online functionality was great between '99 and '01 and then even between '03 and '05 there was plenty going on. Community efforts were great as well which really helped. ChaosUT being a standout in that regard.

3. Baldur's Gate II (and other Infinity Engine games)

I haven't found any RPGs that have engaged me like BG2, IWD1/2 and Plancescape Torment did. The subject matter and the way it seemed to be organically grown from a small kernel exposed in the first few moments of the game was superb. I think these games' remasters are great and they hold up today. Though I lack the patience to go through them again I still think that the narrative structure and worldbuilding that was done is second to none. Strikingly, I didn't think much of BG1. It missed the mark for me on several things but then - I played BG2 first so that's probably why.

4. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

Since that release I haven't really been able to find my feet in the MMO genre properly. This wasn't just a golden age that happened to come about. It felt manufactured to perfection with an exactness and specificity that has been unmatched. I will concede this though; my lifestyle at the time supported my rabid 24/7 always online 8-hour raid nights playstyle. I was doing a lot of hiding from the big bad world and WoW was perfect for that. I recognise that perhaps the game itself has less to do wtih how I view it and my lack of self-control coupled with the ridiculous amount of time I was willing to devote reflect my feeling much more. Still, there are systems and a sense of aesthetic consistency in WotlK that even now feel more cohesive than anything that's been produced since. Frankly though, if WotlK came out today I probably wouldn't enjoy it. But that's just the thing. It came out then. Right when everyone was frothing at the mouth at exactly that experience. It all just fit.

5. Not sure really

Had to go over a list of over 400 games that were released in my time and frankly, the above lot really are the cream of the crop of everything I've played. Singleplayer experiences lost me very early on simply because of the focus on cinematic scenes in small worlds with everything scripted. I think the common thread through all of the above was the sense of freedom I had to experience and discover everything these games offered on my own terms. I've played many games since but with the appeal to mainstream has come a sense of banality. Many of the stories told, aesthetics and themes presented in a lot of games don't tickle my brain much.

I think maybe Elder Scolls Online is my fifth pick. I've only put a few dozen hours in so it's a bit early to say but I can say that the quests and situations presented are fun for the right reasons. Under the veneer of "generic fantasy setting" (whatever that means) is a deeply thought out and well presented set of Elder Scrolls lore. I've completed the Summerset content and that alone put me exactly where I want to be as a player. Right in the middle of everything without always being the deus ex machine everyone needs for their problems. There's a bit of mary sueing but not so much that it upsets the balance of everything. Thoroughly enjoyable and moreso than most everything else I've played.

Rift, the MMO, is very high on my personal game list but putting it on the top 5 with the others feels like cheating. Rift was never a marvel of innovation, design, theme, narrative, aesthetic or technical prowess. It's a flawed game with many unpolished edges that needed work nearly half a decade ago and still do. I feel a twang in my heart and shed a tear for the missed opportunity it represents. In spite of this, I love the game to death. It's gorgeous to me, it hits all the Everquest notes I want combined with all the World of Warcraft I like. Its story is exciting, the content is engaging and difficult - all backed by a world that really comes alive the longer you're in it. The game never did well enough to stand on its subscribers so was forced to make some hard decisions in how to monetize. In all honesty, it should have died about 2 years ago. The choices Trion made with regard to introduction of lootboxes and the infamous earring slots probably ensured the game's survival even to this day.

People never seemed to draw that line though. The one where it was this or the game dies altogether. They just go angry at the monetization, without respect to the context. Trion never did very well financially. They existed, sure. They survived. But you only have to look at their portfolio to see that it wasn't going to last. Archeage was a mess, Rift was their cashcow and needed to go F2P to survive as it bled dedicated fans month on month. Devilian got taken on as a publishing job, launched and was DOA. Atlas Reactor never found and audience. The only game that seemed to garner any significant engagement was Trove. So they sold and now they don't exist any more.

Rift has a special place in my heart and enjoys a rose-tinted look from my end. It made me jump for joy when it came out. I played every beta. I played at launch and have returned every single expansion. I bought all expansions and even dropped some money on crates. Make no mistake though. To put this game next to the masterpieces that are D2 / D2:LoD / Infinity Engine games and WoW:WotlK would be lying to myself. It's not up there but it certainly captured the same, if not more, of my heart over its existence. I reckon 2019 will be the year it truly dies. I think it'll get chopped as I don't see how Gamigo (the company that bought Trion) is going to turn it into a profitable venture. Maybe they'll just create something new from the existing assets, I'm down for that (hoping it's not a BR). I just don't see them making another Rift expansion and carrying it on. I'm playing it a bit over December and I'll probably finish levelling a character in January. Might do a full tour of the world before what will probably be my final uninstall. It's easier to close the book now than to watch it slowly sink into complete obscurity like I've done with other games.

Anyway. Number five is open at the moment. It might be ESO but it could also be one of the cool projects coming our way in 2019. Maybe it'll be Mortal Kombat 11. Who knows.

[MakeGamesGreatAgain]

I’ve been playing video games for practically 40 years now.

1. NeverWinter Nights (2002, BioWare)
2. Mass Effect 1.
3. Dungeon Master (FTL Games)
4. Skyrim.
5. Jade Empire.

[True Sight]

No clue when I started I was so young I cant even remember top 5 games
1.final fantasy 10
2.legend of dragoon
3.mass effect 2
4.persona 5
5.red alert

[Aimway921]

I've started when I was 4, and the first game I ever played was Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Time Gate on my dad's ye olde beige coloured PC. That was in 2003.

My top games of all times are mostly the ones I've started playing around that age.

1. Wolfenstein (all games in the series, from Wolfenstein 3D to the latest New Colossus)
2. Warcraft 3 Reign of Chaos & Frozen Throne (second game I played in my life. Also while technically 2 games, I treat FT as a DLC to RoC xD)
3. Team Fortress 2 (started playing this when I was 13, in 2012)
4. Skyrim (while totally not the best game in the series, it's the one that got me introduced into the Elder Scrolls universe, so it gets a spot on the list)
5. Mafia 2 (30's-50's music intensifies)