What are your top 10 games of all time?

[COLGeek]

In regards to "all time", my favorites are games of zero renown. When I was in high school, I wrote a game called "Polaris". You operated a submarine to sink passing enemy ships. This was motivation for a lifetime of geekery that had been planted several years earlier.

As I had the D&D bug pretty bad, I played a bunch of text based crawlers that have been lost to the depths of time and obscurity. I remember having notebooks of mapped out dungeons. Good times.

It was the Ultima series that got me going in more modern games.

 

[January's Ghost]

I honestly don't think I could make such a list. Having been a gamer for so long there's probably greats out there that deserve to be on the list that I've forgotten about.

That said, I would definitely put Mass Effect 2 at the top of the list.

 

[Frindis]

It was the Ultima series that got me going in more modern games.

That inventory system in the late Ultima games was something else. I am still impressed by how you could move (I don't think you could rotate/flip them) around the different items in your inventory. Even a lot of games today don't have that feature since the items will be set to a particular square in the inventory. I also think you could put items on top and even inside of other items as a way to save space. It makes me wonder why we have so many clunky and even kakapo inventory systems in RPGs today.

 

[isleepinabed]

In regards to "all time", my favorites are games of zero renown. When I was in high school, I wrote a game called "Polaris". You operated a submarine to sink passing enemy ships. This was motivation for a lifetime of geekery that had been planted several years earlier.

As I had the D&D bug pretty bad, I played a bunch of text based crawlers that have been lost to the depths of time and obscurity. I remember having notebooks of mapped out dungeons. Good times.

It was the Ultima series that got me going in more modern games.

When was this, more or less? Late 1970s? Early 1980s?
Anything played on timeshare or mainframes?
Or early microcomputers at home?

 

[COLGeek]

When was this, more or less? Late 1970s? Early 1980s?
Anything played on timeshare or mainframes?
Or early microcomputers at home?

My first computer experience came in 1972 when I was selected for a special advanced education program (three of us). That is what started it for me.

After a gap due to a move in grade 6, I didn't get to touch a computer until 1980 (TRS-80/Apple 2) in grade 12. By my second semester, I was teaching BASIC to other students due to demand (only a single computer science teacher at my high school).

At college, started at age 17, in 1981, all mainframes and mini-computers.

My first home computer was in 1988, prior to that and after college (graduated 1985, all work related computer access with a variety of early PCs and client based/batch processing systems (1985-1988).

Since then, with the exception of quantum computers, not much I haven't worked with.

Now retired, I am experimenting with AI/ML/LLMs at home. Keeps the brain young.

 

[isleepinabed]

My first computer experience came in 1972 when I was selected for a special advanced education program (three of us). That is what started it for me.

After a gap due to a move in grade 6, I didn't get to touch a computer until 1980 (TRS-80/Apple 2) in grade 12. By my second semester, I was teaching BASIC to other students due to demand (only a single computer science teacher at my high school).

At college, started at age 17, in 1981, all mainframes and mini-computers.

My first home computer was in 1988, prior to that and after college (graduated 1985, all work related computer access with a variety of early PCs and client based/batch processing systems (1985-1988).

Since then, with the exception of quantum computers, not much I haven't worked with.

Now retired, I am experimenting with AI/ML/LLMs at home. Keeps the brain young.

@COLGeek Honestly, I find that fascinating. This year I had the good fortune to read a lot more on the dawn of the computer age.
You touched pretty much on its apparent fundamental tenets regarding early computer gaming: mainframes, D&D and the Apple II.

As you said, "a bunch of text based crawlers that have been lost to the depths of time and obscurity". Regarding computer games in particular, a lot of information is either hard to find or was not properly archived. My father was an early microcomputer user, from a hobbyist perspective - but he passed over 10 years ago and there's a lot of stuff I just can't ask him anymore. His brother, my uncle, actually sold mainframe computers in the 1980s for british company ICL, which were absorbed into Fujitsu in the late 90s early 00s. But most things weren't recorded: it was his job to sell them to businesses, not play with them.

Were these text based crawlers Adventure/Advent/Zork variations?
Or more the likes of Temple of Apshai and Eamon?
Maybe something a bit later, more contemporary to Ultima like The Black Onyx or Wizardry?

 

[Zloth]

After a gap due to a move in grade 6, I didn't get to touch a computer until 1980 (TRS-80/Apple 2) in grade 12. By my second semester, I was teaching BASIC to other students due to demand (only a single computer science teacher at my high school).

Call -151 for the win.

 

[Zloth]

Were these text based crawlers Adventure/Advent/Zork variations?
Or more the likes of Temple of Apshai and Eamon?
Maybe something a bit later, more contemporary to Ultima like The Black Onyx or Wizardry?

Eamon was a text adventure. It was one where you could save your characters at the end of one game and use them in the next and those adventures were often community made, but it was straight up text. (At least when I played it.)

 

[isleepinabed]

That inventory system in the late Ultima games was something else. I am still impressed by how you could move (I don't think you could rotate/flip them) around the different items in your inventory. Even a lot of games today don't have that feature since the items will be set to a particular square in the inventory. I also think you could put items on top and even inside of other items as a way to save space. It makes me wonder why we have so many clunky and even kakapo inventory systems in RPGs today.

Some text adventures, which also deal heavily with inventories, already had defined, as early as 1982's The Hobbit, if not before, that items could physical properties. Like you described: 1) a ball could be put inside of a box, but not inside of a banana; 2) things had a specific weight or could get wet, torn, etc
This didn't relate just to inventories but also to objects in the world.

It feels that with the need to make things visual, things that could be described an imagined, now were severely hampered by what could be faithfully represented visually. At a time the proof of laboured game design was that swords were always on the right hand, no matter where the character was facing, instead of mirroring the sprite.
It often feels like we're taking things for granted.
There's a broad line between realism and designing a fun experience. But it shows attention to detail and a dedication to immersion. Plus, even reality can be presented in a fun way and while establishing the game's rules (as Ultima and others did).

 

[COLGeek]

@COLGeek Honestly, I find that fascinating. This year I had the good fortune to read a lot more on the dawn of the computer age.
You touched pretty much on its apparent fundamental tenets regarding early computer gaming: mainframes, D&D and the Apple II.

As you said, "a bunch of text based crawlers that have been lost to the depths of time and obscurity". Regarding computer games in particular, a lot of information is either hard to find or was not properly archived. My father was an early microcomputer user, from a hobbyist perspective - but he passed over 10 years ago and there's a lot of stuff I just can't ask him anymore. His brother, my uncle, actually sold mainframe computers in the 1980s for british company ICL, which were absorbed into Fujitsu in the late 90s early 00s. But most things weren't recorded: it was his job to sell them to businesses, not play with them.

Were these text based crawlers Adventure/Advent/Zork variations?
Or more the likes of Temple of Apshai and Eamon?
Maybe something a bit later, more contemporary to Ultima like The Black Onyx or Wizardry?

I wish I remembered the names of some of those games. They were purely text. Almost like an old school dungeon master describing the scenario. You really had to use your imagination.

 

[Frindis]

@COLGeek & @isleepinabed Speaking of text adventures, this little gem is still around:

BBC Radio 4 - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - The Game - 30th Anniversary Edition

The 30th anniversary edition of the The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy game.

www.bbc.co.uk

Hobbit/Wizard's Castle is on eXoDOS (just checked through Launchbox) in case anyone wants to give them a spin.

 

[ZedClampet]

The voting is over. I will tally the votes as I have time over the next few days.

 

[isleepinabed]

I wish I remembered the names of some of those games. They were purely text. Almost like an old school dungeon master describing the scenario. You really had to use your imagination.

Maybe a sort of MUD like "dnd" or "oubliette" ?
Was the dungeon master a user or was it scripted?..

 

[isleepinabed]

@COLGeek & @isleepinabed Speaking of text adventures, this little gem is still around:

BBC Radio 4 - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - The Game - 30th Anniversary Edition

The 30th anniversary edition of the The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy game.

www.bbc.co.uk

Hobbit/Wizard's Castle is on eXoDOS (just checked through Launchbox) in case anyone wants to give them a spin.

Indeed, and the interactive fiction database also has a few classics that are playable in browser.