The Top 50 games of the Decade (or "Hey, Destructoid, go fu** yourselves!) - Page 2

1) Yeah, I could see how that fighting system could definitely be a chore for someone who's colorblind. Not being afflicted myself, I will say I found it enjoyable enough. Didn't invent the wheel, but it was different from anything I had played at the time. Along those same lines, color was big in this game and lent a lot of the charm to the design.

2)I'll admit that some of the cutscenes could run a bit long (hard to find games that don't these days), but I LOVED the ship battles. They could take awhile (though I don't recall if I ever took that long - it's been some time since I've revisited the game) but the sense of strategy was great. Key here were the crew members you could pick up in various parts of the game world. Depending on how you outfit your ship, there are tons of options. I'm also a fan of battles like this that make you think. Plus, and this is just personal, I kinda love naval or airship type battles. So this thing was right up my alley.

3) The story definitely got better as the game went on, but it does hold to a lot of conventions.

Overall, I think I just fell in love with the world. The design was often great and the gameworld a blast to explore. I also just dig the whole "sky pirate" thing. One of my favorite aspects was building your hideout, customizing (like the ship) with the various crew members you could pick up in different areas.

So, you might be right. A lot of my love for this game is pretty subjective and thus it might not belong on a "greatest of the decade" list. It's still pretty high on my list, though.

I think these are the most interesting items in any listing. As much as I liked Chrono Trigger, it gets old hearing about how great it is. I would rather hear about lesser known games that resonated with you on a personal level. There's always a chance it will connect with me in a similar way.

the fact they include Vagrant Story is kinda nice. Vagrant Story was one of the hardest RPG's I ever played through and it was completely unique.

There's a reason more people talk about how great Chrono Trigger was than they do about like Secret of Mana or whatever. There have been plenty of games that I've had a particular fondness for, but that doesn't make them classics. I don't expect to see Blast Chamber on any top fifty lists any time soon.

But make no mistake, Blast Chamber is the best multiplayer sports game about being stuck inside of a giant, rotating, spike filled box with a bomb strapped to your back that's EVER BEEN MADE.

The same with Blockout and me. I never expect to see it on any top list, but I don't think I've ever spent so many hours in any other arcade game.

OK, I admit, the Ikaruga love does please me.

But over fucking ICO? Please.....

I'm always confused by comments like that, because games like Ikaruga are fucking DARLINGS for these lists. That's like saying "Gosh, I sure am glad to see some respect for Radiohead! All's forgiven, Pitchfork!"

Ten gets you twenty Shadow of the Colossus gets its completely unjustified top five slot.

If Ico was in the top 40 (was it, I don't know), Colossus should be an even money lock for top 10.

Ico is a better game than Shadow of the Colossus.

Not kidding, not trolling: Colossus is a horrible fucking piece of shit.

I'm glad there are still sane people who like Ico as a videogame and don't like Shadow of the Colossus. I'm guessing Twilight Princess or Wind Waker are going to make the top 20. I love the Zelda games but I think Twilight Princess was probably the worst of the main series and Wind Waker, whilst pretty fucking great, was so obviously unfinished that including either would seem odd.

Every time a new Zelda game makes it in one of these lists, the writers should just fucking drop pretense and say BOY DON'T YOU GUYS STILL LIKE OCARINA OF TIME? Because that's all it says.

That's true. I guess I would be more interested in a top personal favorites list so the results aren't so predictable.

Well, no kidding either when I say: I enjoyed the hell out of that piece of s**t (stars to fly around the firewall over here)

I liked Ico too, but SOTC is something else entirely. I can understand that people don't like it, but I'm puzzled why you would view it as a failure.

It certainly is the best aimlessly wandering simulator out there.

I always sort of assume that people that were deeply affected by that game's story must have home troubles.

What's great about Ico is that it's kind of unassuming, it works because it works. Whereas Shadow of the Colossus is so desperately trying to be an 'art-game' that it comes across as utterly laughable.

Perhaps, (I really have no opinion on them), but Ico usually gets ranked high on these lists, Colussus cleans up.

SotC and BioShock seem to be playing the same basic trick, ie trying to use the conventions of gaming against a player. But SotC is so ridiculously blatant and over the top it kind of ruin it. There's no morality or soul searching involved when you literally have no choice other than to murder the shit out of these things, and no amount of sad music is going to make it emotionally deep. BioShock at least works as a 'gotcha' moment, SotC is just cynical. It's like being forced at gunpoint to stamp a kitten to death in real life and then the person who forced you to do the act bursting into tears, calling you a monster and running away.

This is exactly right. It just felt like after Ico became a critical darling they felt like taking the "arthouse videogame" feel to 11 and made a game that collapses under its own pretension.

Sure, a few of the battles are pretty neat, but the whole game boils down to "Ride horse to Specific Area. Find New Monster. Insert Sword A into Magical Weak Spot B." There's just really nothing to it.

The colossi themselves, on occasion, can have a neat design, but that doesn't excuse the whole world being so drab. But I suppose that matches the "story." I really don't get, and pretty much don't believe, that people are moved by this game. There's nothing to be moved by! You stab some shit, get hit by a shadow. Wake up back at the starting point. Repeat ad nauseam. That's the whole damn story up to the end.

People try and use the whole "it's sad because you're killing these poor creatures" argument, but that just isn't gonna fly. In my vast history with video games, I've killed a lot of random, likely innocent or unassuming creaturs. You want me to feel something, you might try making them into characters worth giving a damn about. This really is one of the most overrated games you'll find.

I had recently finished God of War and moved up to the next game in a series of games I'd borrowed from a friend. To get some variety after the mayhem of GoW, I thought I'd choose SotC, a game I'd heard was kind of a relaxed platformer/puzzler. I also heard it was very beautiful.

And yeah, it was. The graphics were pretty slick, and the music very immersive. By the tenth minute of the first cutscene I was getting to feel pretty antsy, though.

Then I got to play, after about twenty minutes of complete vagueness (pretty vagueness though). Okay, let's jump this horse. No, mount the horse! MOUNT IT! Oh goddammit. Okay, we're on the horse. Raise your sword! VIBRATE VIBRATE VIBRATE okay Colossus thattaway, I suppose. Huh? A mountain pass? Okay, dismount. Press [button] to climb ledges. OK! I climb a ledge. There is no second ledge. Uhh... okay. Maybe I'm supposed to find a way around this pass or something? Goddammit horse, back the fuck up. Back up, horse. I said BACK THE FUCK UP GODDDDDD! GALLOP GALLOP GALLOP INVISIBLE WALL huh... okay.

GALLOP SUM MO! What a pretty forest! Shit, the trees are pretty close together here. Oh fuck you horse. Oh fuck. You. Horse. GOD DAMMIT GOTTA GET OUT OF THIS FOREST yes yes yes there's a tunnel out of here! Oh... it's a dead end. With a deep chasm to the right. Lemme just turn around this hummer limo of a horse. Almost, almost, almost you fat assed son of a bi... did you just fall off the ledge to your death? What happened to invisible walls? Oh hello God of War II.

Those were my 45 minutes spent playing Shadow of the Colossus. I never even saw a Colossus. I then popped in God of War II. You know what I did in the first fifteen minutes? I stabbed a Colossus in the eye.

Shadow of the Colossus is an amazing game. Simply stated.

But more specifically, I have played through Ico twice. I could probably go back and play it a third time and enjoy it.

As beautiful and amazing as the Shadow of the Colossus stands, once you figure out the puzzle of each boss, there is no replay value. It's like an M. Night Shamalamadingdong movie. The first viewing is mind-blowing, but once you know the twist, there is no desire to go back.

And after all that is said, I will say that I won't sell Shadow of the Colossus. It's a great game to give to new gamers to hopefully blow their minds too.

Okay, of course if you put it like that!

But like Neaux says: the experience was all about figuring out the method of eliminating the colossi. The first three giants or so are forgettable, basically tutorial levels that may drag on a bit too long. But the payoff for figuring out something like this was great. If you're into that kind of thing, I guess.
And I for one liked the pace (once you get the hang of riding the horse...), although I love me some GoW adrenaline rush anytime... no comparison, just different vibes.

SotC is #1.

Have they released the last 10 or are you speculating?

I like the game, but even if you get past the basic "wandering + boss fight" nature, it's got some control and camera issues. Plus horses can't survive falls like that.

Oh they have:
http://www.destructoid.com/the-top-5...--155591.phtml


That top 10 is very dubious.

Ignoring #1 (see earlier comment) Valkyria Chronicles is a game I recently gave up on in frustration. The solid base mechanices are ruined by mid battle intrusions (eg. You capture a base then an invincible character turns up) that are impossible to predict on the first run through and force very specific strategies.

I would have put WoW higher. Certainly I've spent more time on that anything else in the last 10 years.

The only games in their top ten I would not debate on being there is BG&E and Half-Life 2

SotC is such a convention-defying work of art that I actually saved the main character by giving up. META

Portal and Half Life 2 are definitely deserving.

No Mass Effect, no Oblivion, no Fallout 3 absolutely kill this list.

Ah, the old WarGames approach.

"A strange game. The only winning move is not to play."
- Joshua

I enjoy Shadow of the Colossus, but more as a piece of visual art and a set of (at the time) impressive boss fights.
The only good thing that can be said about the crude postmodernism is that at least it tried, which is more than most of the medium even bothers to do.
Portal is far more elegant at turning the assumptions of the player against them.

I think some of the top ten is fine. RE4 deserves it's spot (#10) and God of War II is definitely one of the most playable and solid games of the decade, especially for a sequel. They aren't revolutionary, but they are among the most fun and the most impressive technically.

I was actually kind of pissed off by the TBD ending of GoWII, I probably would have gone with I.

Knights of the Old Republic was already on the list, it is unlikely that Mass Effect would be higher. As someone who loves Fallout 1 and 2, I found Fallout 3 disappointing so I don't mind the slight. Due to the similarity of Fallout 3 and Oblivion, I doubt both would be on the list. Especially since Fallout 3 is so much more of a media darling.

Much as I love the game, I've always been puzzled by the general critical consensus that Resident Evil 4 is a game that 'could genuinely terrify you'. As a shoot'em up in a creepy setting, it is great. But apart from the beginning (the village and the inhabitants gave me a jump or two), I've always considered it more goofy b-movie adventure fun then straight up gruesome horror. Once you arrive at the castle, there's no sense of dread at all for the rest of the game. If you're talking genuine chills, something like Silent Hill 2 or the Fatal Frame series were much better at sorting that effect.

GOWII has a QTE where you slam a guy's head into a solid gold door 20 times, allows you to impale Harry Hamlin on a giant butcher's hook, and ends with you nailing Almighty fucking Zeus to a stone altar to bleed to death for your amusement.

The first game's still really good, but there's very little in that game that trumps the sheer number of "Holy SHIT" moments in the second.

RE4 is a shoot-em-up in a creepy setting. I always saw it as a hybrid of Jim Cameron and John Carpenter...a B-movie with a huge budget. But it is a great action game.