Löwenherz
Starter
I still haven’t played that even after buying it and asking on here years ago for programs to get a PC Steam game to run on a. Mac.
Obsolete indeed.
The 2025 Desert Island Video Game Draft
- Thread starter Capt. Factorial
- Start date
Obsolete indeed.
Löwenherz
Starter
I also went and redacted this reply to Sluggah’s Batman: Arkham Asylum pick. Truly an awesome set of five titles to bring me back to gaming.
Also, wanted to close the loop on the whole “war room” thing. Total bust. They’d moved on by round 4. Surprised me too because I worked with a friend last time to make some picks and it went fine. Turns out wanting XCOM and not wanting Dark Souls were deal breakers.
I didn’t make a list per se, but if I had, my 15 picks fit fairly nicely within my personal top 30 (subject to change).
1: Chrono Trigger (SNES)
2: Mega Man 3 (NES)
3: Odin Sphere (PS2)
4: Bioshock: Infinite (PS3)
5: Skies of Arcadia (Dreamcast)
6: Valkyria Chronicles (PS3)
7: Civilization II (PC)
8: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)
9: Persona 5 Royal (Switch)
10: Hollow Knight (Switch)
11: XCOM: Enemy Unknown (PS3)
12: Secret of Mana (SNES)
13: Super Metroid (SNES)
14: Hades (Switch)
15: Mega Man X (SNES)
16: TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge (Switch)
17: Disco Elysium (PC)
18: Mega Man 9 (PS3)
19: Cyberpunk 2077 (PC)
20: Mirror’s Edge (PS3)
21: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PSX)
22: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)
23: Super Mario Brothers 3 (NES)
24: EarthBound (SNES)
25: StarCraft (PC)
26: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2)
27: Super Mario Kart (SNES)
28: D&D: Shadow over Mystara (Arcade)
29: Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3)
30: Sim City 2000 (PC)
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The first game in the franchise I actually played.
Insomniacal Fan
Starter
I'm quite happy with my own list; I wouldn't trade it.
But if I drafted from other people's picks, my list would look something like this (no particular order)
1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo Switch)
1. Super Mario World (SNES)
13. Ghost of Tsushima (PS4)
3. Disco Elysium: The Final Cut (PC)
5. SimCity 2000 Special Edition (PC)
2. Tetris (NES)
5. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim [Special Edition] (PC)
8. Cyberpunk 2077 (PC)
12. Pokemon GO (Mobile)
4. Minecraft (PC)
4. Demon's Souls (PS3)
3. Stardew Valley (Android)
6. Alien: Isolation (PC)
1. Portal (PC)
1. EarthBound (SNES)
But if I drafted from other people's picks, my list would look something like this (no particular order)
1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo Switch)
1. Super Mario World (SNES)
13. Ghost of Tsushima (PS4)
3. Disco Elysium: The Final Cut (PC)
5. SimCity 2000 Special Edition (PC)
2. Tetris (NES)
5. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim [Special Edition] (PC)
8. Cyberpunk 2077 (PC)
12. Pokemon GO (Mobile)
4. Minecraft (PC)
4. Demon's Souls (PS3)
3. Stardew Valley (Android)
6. Alien: Isolation (PC)
1. Portal (PC)
1. EarthBound (SNES)
Insomniacal Fan
Starter
If I drafted another 15
XCOM 2: (With War of Chosen DLC)
A refined version of XCOM: Enemy Unknown (Firaxis 2012) with an updated campaign.
Also a set of hero NPCs that seem to learn from previous encounters (echos of "Shadow of Mordor" Nemesis system)
Phoenix Point
The developer of XCOM 1994 looked at XCOM 2012 and said... hmm, that's not quite right, lemme give this a try. More simulation aspects to combat; i.e. if you miss a target, your shots keep going until they hit something. Interesting campaign where you uncover the mystery of the aliens.
Terra Invicta
Early release game, but from the developers of the "Long War" mod for XCom 2012. What if we did an XCOM, but didn't have the infantry tactical battles? (Eventually replaces with ship battles) Until then, instead of one resistance org, you have multiple shadowy orgs influencing nations around the world in order to take advantage of an alien threat to further their own faction's ends
Alpha Centauri
Civ2, but with a sci-fi setting. Tells a story through the campaign as various factions terraform a distant world. Design your own units, alter terrain. Game design unencumbered by historicity
Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord
Sid's Pirates, but instead of plundering trading vessels, your crew bonks people on the head until the peasants pay you rent. Other crews want this too, so you end up getting into medieval battles with hundreds of troops on horseback, with spear walls, and swinging your sword. From a first person perspective
Victoria 3
Industrialize all the things! Grand strategy of the 19th century. Build up a tech tree to take advantage of resources, while trying to appease various political factions in your nation whose interests are threatened by the increasing pace of change.
Europa Universalis IV
Colonize all the things! Grand strategy of the 14th through 17th centuries. Explore the world. Make new friends. Mug them. Become prosperous!
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Tactics game, storyline from 3 primary perspectives. Your army is made up of a set individual NPCs with unique talents and backstories. Level them up and guide their development. Get to know them. Oh, and they can permanently die. Have fun!
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous
Adaptation of Pathfinder Adventure Path. Deep story, engaging companions, challenging battles, well thought out fantasy world.
Also a Heroes of Might and Magic campaign mode? What a cherry on top
Kerbal Space Program
Build your own rocket to visit parts of the solar system in order to learn science in order to build cooler rockets. Nifty physics engine based gameplay.
Prey
Perhaps the most refined version of Deus Ex/Bioshock/Metroid immersive sim. Explore a creepy space station and figure out what the heck is going on
Into the Breach
Chess-like rogue-like strategy game, themed with mecha defending the last vestiges of humanity from kaiju.
Spelunky
Deceptively deep rogue-like platformer. Levels procedurally generated so they're new every time. Requires very precise, thoughtful movement, and has a 2d physics engine that can result in chaotic outcomes. Also every floor has a timer.
Rocket League
The best version of Soccer.
Left 4 Dead 2
Multiplayer Co-op shooter. Great if you can get a group of friends to play with regularly.
XCOM 2: (With War of Chosen DLC)
A refined version of XCOM: Enemy Unknown (Firaxis 2012) with an updated campaign.
Also a set of hero NPCs that seem to learn from previous encounters (echos of "Shadow of Mordor" Nemesis system)
Phoenix Point
The developer of XCOM 1994 looked at XCOM 2012 and said... hmm, that's not quite right, lemme give this a try. More simulation aspects to combat; i.e. if you miss a target, your shots keep going until they hit something. Interesting campaign where you uncover the mystery of the aliens.
Terra Invicta
Early release game, but from the developers of the "Long War" mod for XCom 2012. What if we did an XCOM, but didn't have the infantry tactical battles? (Eventually replaces with ship battles) Until then, instead of one resistance org, you have multiple shadowy orgs influencing nations around the world in order to take advantage of an alien threat to further their own faction's ends
Alpha Centauri
Civ2, but with a sci-fi setting. Tells a story through the campaign as various factions terraform a distant world. Design your own units, alter terrain. Game design unencumbered by historicity
Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord
Sid's Pirates, but instead of plundering trading vessels, your crew bonks people on the head until the peasants pay you rent. Other crews want this too, so you end up getting into medieval battles with hundreds of troops on horseback, with spear walls, and swinging your sword. From a first person perspective
Victoria 3
Industrialize all the things! Grand strategy of the 19th century. Build up a tech tree to take advantage of resources, while trying to appease various political factions in your nation whose interests are threatened by the increasing pace of change.
Europa Universalis IV
Colonize all the things! Grand strategy of the 14th through 17th centuries. Explore the world. Make new friends. Mug them. Become prosperous!
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Tactics game, storyline from 3 primary perspectives. Your army is made up of a set individual NPCs with unique talents and backstories. Level them up and guide their development. Get to know them. Oh, and they can permanently die. Have fun!
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous
Adaptation of Pathfinder Adventure Path. Deep story, engaging companions, challenging battles, well thought out fantasy world.
Also a Heroes of Might and Magic campaign mode? What a cherry on top
Kerbal Space Program
Build your own rocket to visit parts of the solar system in order to learn science in order to build cooler rockets. Nifty physics engine based gameplay.
Prey
Perhaps the most refined version of Deus Ex/Bioshock/Metroid immersive sim. Explore a creepy space station and figure out what the heck is going on
Into the Breach
Chess-like rogue-like strategy game, themed with mecha defending the last vestiges of humanity from kaiju.
Spelunky
Deceptively deep rogue-like platformer. Levels procedurally generated so they're new every time. Requires very precise, thoughtful movement, and has a 2d physics engine that can result in chaotic outcomes. Also every floor has a timer.
Rocket League
The best version of Soccer.
Left 4 Dead 2
Multiplayer Co-op shooter. Great if you can get a group of friends to play with regularly.
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I've had Mirror's Edge on my games to play list since it came out and even picked it up during one of the end of the year Steam sales but still haven't gotten around to playing it. I came across it in my pre-draft prep and thought I'd better play it to see if it's worth drafting but life circumstances once again intervened and I found myself installing floors for the past two weeks instead.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is the one PS1 game I missed out on that I most want to play. The PS4 version is only $20 in the PS store so I could play it now, theoretically. I'm really surprised that this game didn't get drafted, actually. I've seen this cited as people's favorite game several times.
Disco Elysium may as well have been designed specifically for me with its existential subject matter, detective narrative, emphasis on branching dialog and player choices, and that gorgeous art style. And yet it taunts me with only an hour or so of play time from my games library. I think maybe what stands in the way of playing this one is that every time I look at it I just get inspired to work on one of my own projects instead.
Oh and another one that I forgot to mention that I thought @pdxKingsFan may have been alluding to is Planescape: Torment. It's at least superficially similar to Fallout 1 and 2 visually and is supposed to have a really interesting story. I'd still like to play that at some point. (EDIT: It turns out it shares a developer with Fallout 1 and 2 so I really should play that game).
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OK, we've still got two rankings outstanding and then we can move on to the voting stage...
@SLAB
@Turgenev or @macadocious
Full disclosure: There is currently a tie for 4th/5th place, which is the cutoff for a first-round bye. In the event of any ties, I will determine positioning by coin flip, even for bye position.
@SLAB
@Turgenev or @macadocious
Full disclosure: There is currently a tie for 4th/5th place, which is the cutoff for a first-round bye. In the event of any ties, I will determine positioning by coin flip, even for bye position.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 is the skating game that I played a lot of and I loved that game. Kindof like playing NBA2K though, I ultimately would rather be outside doing the real thing even if I was never very good at it.
So in the course of this draft I was gifted an Oculus (Meta) Quest VR headset and then (foolishly?) bought a used PS VR2 a week later cause people are unloading them pretty cheap and they have PC support now. Star Wars Squadrons with VR support happened to be on sale for less than $5 on Steam so my next goal is to track down the best VR equivalent of Red Baron... so I can play it for all of an hour most likely and then get too busy again. But oh what an hour that will be!
It mostly comes down to the story for me. I feel that Fallout 1's story has a perfect beginning and a perfect ending. Also I like that the water chip quest has a time limit so there's real stakes and tension watching those days rapidly tick down as you hike on foot through the wasteland. And really there's just no substitute for experiencing a fictional game world for the first time. Fallout 2 is great though and fixes some of the most annoying bugs related to NPC pathfinding and friendly fire (do not give your companions automatic weapons in Fallout 1! They will kill you!). And I liked the additions of the Enclave and the NCR.
I tried to get into this game and just got bogged down with fetch quests trying to get off the first planet and gave up. I did play a ton of Star Wars: The Old Republic though and really enjoyed finishing all 8 of the character class storylines, especially the Smuggler and the Imperial Agent. I would play a full game just utilizing the cover mechanics that the ranged classes had in the original game. Bioware mostly abandoned that mechanic to focus on the Jedi classes in the expansion content and I gradually lost interest.
macadocious
Starter
I'll defer to Turnegev to do the rankings
whitechocolate
Bench
If I picked one game from each participant's list.
Metal Gear Solid
Dwarf Fortress
NBA Street Vol. 2
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
Resident Evil 2
SimCity 2000
Super Metroid
Disco Elysium
Quake
Diablo II
Myst
Metal Gear Solid
Dwarf Fortress
NBA Street Vol. 2
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
Resident Evil 2
SimCity 2000
Super Metroid
Disco Elysium
Quake
Diablo II
Myst
THPS 2 came out during my travel job on Dreamcast and I tended to bring the console with me on trips to have something to do (also because I was hoarding my per diem money to buy my dream car lol). Best soundtrack and probably the most fun although 4 ditched the clock and made the levels more open world. I played the heck out of 1 & 2 in 2020 around Christmas time. They just dropped 3 and 4 but seems like 4 has the old clock rules
Makes sense - I was a big Wasteland fan on the Apple ][. So Fallout was in large part a throwback to that experience. The timer was legit.
I think you are right about fetch quests. But the story was really neat along with how far into the dark side you wanted to go. And hell of a twist.
whitechocolate
Bench
Wrestling:
whitechocolate
Bench
If you have a PS4 or Switch make sure to check out Hamster's Arcade Archives. Hundreds of arcade ports, mostly $8 each.
whitechocolate
Bench
I might be trying to use this draft to reach 500 posts. ...I still have less than 500 posts.
With all the great arcade style sports games drafted, I will throw in one I was considering drafting.
Neo Turf Masters. $8 port available on PS4 and Switch under the alternate title Big Tournament Golf. Neo Turf Masters has S tier presentation. The player will hear the same lines of dialogue and the same bits of music over and over again. It never gets old and is hypnotic. The sounds of the ball going in the cup, and lines like "on the green" and "this is Nancy's report", are classic. The gameplay is very good. It has the strategy a golf game should have. Learning how to approach holes and how to use your character is crucial.
With all the great arcade style sports games drafted, I will throw in one I was considering drafting.
Neo Turf Masters. $8 port available on PS4 and Switch under the alternate title Big Tournament Golf. Neo Turf Masters has S tier presentation. The player will hear the same lines of dialogue and the same bits of music over and over again. It never gets old and is hypnotic. The sounds of the ball going in the cup, and lines like "on the green" and "this is Nancy's report", are classic. The gameplay is very good. It has the strategy a golf game should have. Learning how to approach holes and how to use your character is crucial.
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