Your Top 5 Games of the Generation

[Poppincaps]

So, as 2014 has ended I think it also symbolizes the end of the previous console generation. I imagine we'll see far less games being ported to last gen consoles in favor of providing true next gen titles. So, with that being said I think we should take a moment to look back at the iconic games of the last generation.

For the purposes of discussion any games on the PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, PSP, and PC games released from 2006-2014 are eligible

Also, provide some reasoning behind your choices. There were alot of games in the last generation, there must be a reason why you chose what you did.

5. Grand Theft Auto IV: To be honest I haven't played GTA V very much except for a bit while at friends' houses, but GTA IV was incredible in my opinion. It was also the first GTA games that I ever actually completed even though I have played and own all of them since GTA III. Nico Bellic's story was great and for me it was the first time that the protagonist of a GTA game had a real personality. Then the end was of course a horrible but fitting end to his story.

4. Bioshock Infinite: To be honest it was a toss up between Bioshock and Bioshock Infinite. Story wise, I think they are equals, but I have to give props to Bioshock Infinite. The environments were gorgeous but also slightly twisted and sinister. Elizabeth is one of the greatest video game sidekicks as well. The twists and turns that you go on keep you guessing and even the ending can leave you speculating for a long time. One of the best cases of video game storytelling.

3. Dark Souls: There was actually a time that I played Dark Souls for an hour, long before I truly delved into it. I got through the tutorial alright, but got repeatedly killed in the Undead Burg. Eventually the rage took me and I shut the game off. Months later my friend hounded me to pick it up again, but he said to just look up a bit of info just to get the basics down and then do the rest blind. I took his advice and it gave me the push I needed to begin improving. After that I was hooked and I ended up playing through the game twice back to back in a month.

I think the thing I love the most about Dark Souls is the danger. I've become a pretty accomplished Dark Souls player but even I can get caught off guard and killed if I am not paying attention. As for the DS vs DS2 debate, they are both incredible but I give the win to DS1 because I feel like DS2 loses it's way in a couple places

2. The Last of Us: This game is an absolute masterpiece in gaming. If my list was objective this would be probably #1, but I have a lot more history with my #1 title. The story of the game is an absolute roller coaster ride. The relationship between Ellie and Joel and how they interact with the people in their world is the true genius of this game and the writing is some of the best you'll see not only in video games, but in any medium really. I don't want to talk about it too indepth because that would ruin the fun for those who haven't played it, but if you have a PS3 or PS4 you MUST play this game.

Also, the gameplay fits the setting and atmosphere perfectly. It is intense and on the higher difficulties your resources are extremely scarce. I understand that this is probably standard survival horror gameplay, but considering I don't have much experience in that genre the gameplay really resonated with me.

1. Fallout 3: I don't think there is a single game that has given me more enjoyment than Fallout 3 except maybe some of the Pokemon games, but considering those games are very formulaic I didn't want to include the DS ones on this list. Back to Fallout 3 though, just roaming the Capital Wasteland and listening to the news from Three Dog and jamming to some phenomenal classics is both relaxing and satisfying. Sure, the story isn't revolutionary, but they managed to fix the problem that so many open world games fall into which is the "filler symdrome." Where they populate the vast world with menial side quests.

In Fallout 3 the quests involve killing people, sure, but the motivations behind doing so vary wildly. In addition there are plenty of random locations that you can explore that don't even have side quests, but they may have their own back stories or awesome loot to obtain. Plus, besides Mothership Zeta the DLC is great. To be honest I could go on and on about how much I love this game, but we would be here all day. If you haven't already pick up the GotY edition and play this damn game.

[Fencers]

06-14 is too long to remember. I barely recall last year.

Uh... Portal 2.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

06-14 is too long to remember. I barely recall last year.

More like there really wasn't anything worthy of being proclaimed "the top game of the generation."

I'll throw out Journey and Minecraft for being crowning achievements, but really that's all I can think of.

[Deleted]

For console:

1. Dark Souls (best RPG ever made for me)
2. CoD4 (best CoD by far)
3. Gears of War 1 (amazing depth and skill requirement for a console shooter and very satisfying to play)
4. Bioshock 1 (incredible story and twist)
5. Mass Effect 2 (good all round, preferred the story of 1 but the gameplay of 2 was by far the best in the series)

For PC:

1. WoW TBC (started playing in TBC)
2. StarCraft 2 (best eSports by far to watch and still insanely difficult to play)
3. Natural Selection 2 (best FPS since CoD4 personally, multiplayer is incredibly complex and deep, very difficult game to master)
4. C&C Tiberium Wars (one of the best C&C games honestly, only RA2 beats it for me)
5. Left 4 Dead 1/2 (still fun to play and still thriving despite Valve pretty much abandoning support now)

[Fencers]

More like there really wasn't anything worthy of being proclaimed "the top game of the generation."

It is more likely that the time period saw the best cumulative refinement of video games ever. But eight years? Off hand, on a sub forum? No.

There is just no way to make sense of 8 years of video game iteration by a comparative ranking of individual titles. Especially in the PC market which isn't actually bound by "generation".

[Charmanderp]

1. Halo 3
God I had an amazing amount of fun playing this game with my friends before half of them disappeared.
2. WoW - WotLK
These are my best memories of wow it was at a time where I actually had time to play and friends to play with.
3. Bioshock Infinite
This game definitely gets a bad wrap, and some of it deserved,that is beside the point, I absolutely fell in love with this game from start to finish. This game was an emotional roller coaster for me and that was something I really had never experienced before in a game. This game alone made me appreciate what an amazing story can do for a game.
4. Dark Souls
Is and will continue to be one of my favorite games of all time. The experience is like that of no other game and Dark Souls 2 doesn't event come close to matching it in terms of gameplay quality.
5.Dragon Age Origins
An overall amazing game. There is SO MUCH TO DO and I loved every minute of it.

[Deleted]

My generation came and went. What's the point.

[Rumred]

1: Mass Effect
I was in awe of the game and story. I was so used to RPGS where i had no real choice in whats said or anything. ME opened my eyes to how awsome it is to have such a choice.
2: The Burning Crusade
I had so much fun and time spent during this expansion for me it could of been number 1
3: GTA V
I enjoyed GTA III and IV but i had so much more fun in GTA 5 i am waiting for PC release so i can play online with my friends. If it had come out on PC last year it would be number 1 for sure
4: God of War 3
Just awesome lol
5: Far Cry 4
This could easily be Far Cry 3 as well but i will give Far Cry 4 the nod do to riding a freaking elephant.

[Mirkaz]

For me 2014 was the year of Hearthstone.

Dota 2 also had a great year but that had been release quite earlier.

- Middle-earth Shadow of Mordor was a really nice release
- Civilization Beyond Earth was also entertaining for a couple of hours but it was way to close to its predecessor Civ 5

The next big game for me is going to be Heroes of the Storm most definitely. I got into the Alpha in early 2014 but none of my friends did. Extremely promising game. Some of my friends just recently got in with the release of the beta and it has been a blast so far. Definitely, looking forward to HOTS in 2015/2016

[Mechazod]

5: Red Dead Redemption
-This spot really could also be tie with some other various games I have enjoyed from the past gen like Ni No Kuni, Sonic & Sega: All-Stars Racing and a bunch of stuff on the DS and PSP. I will go with RDR since it was one of the few games that managed to give me the same sense of joy from when I first played early open world games from past generations, something that for some reason even stuff like the Elder Scrolls, Fallout or GTA never really managed to do. I think it just has to do with mainly the wide open landscape of the game and riding on horseback through it. The story and characters were also enjoyable which made me more invested in playing it, something that the GTA series could never really attract me with. Easily my favorite release that Rockstar has ever done.

4: Lollipop Chainsaw
-The game has its flaws, but I was just won over by its charm and simple game play. While some may compare it to a hack and slash game, to me it felt like a modern adaption of classic arcade beat-em-ups. I liked the combat, I liked the characters, had a decent soundtrack in some parts, was actually a pretty humorous game and it just gave me a feeling of playing through a game that was trying to re-create an arcade like experience, even if that wasn't the creators original intention.

3: Muramasa: The Demon Blade
-I would consider this the best game Vanillaware has ever done. While I prefer the settings and characters of their other, more western-fantasy works, Muramasa had the best game play, getting rid of most of the RPG mechanics that slowed down Princess Crown and Odin Sphere and making a straight up fantastic 2D hack'n'slash extravaganza. The best way I can describe some of the boss fights in the game is something like Devil May Cry done as a sidescroller. A really pretty, fast and fun as hell game.

2: Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2
-The same series as Elite Beat Agents on the DS, however I feel this one (cant remember if it came out before or after EB) is the best of the three games. When this game first came out it was pretty much cyber crack for me. I didn't even think to touch any other handheld games for at least 3 months after I started playing this.

1: Bayonetta
-Fortunately I dont have to take into consideration Bayo 2 if this is going by last gen systems. Blows away other similar games in the genre like God of War and Devil May Cry as far as I am concerned. Fantastic game play, incredible soundtrack, every boss fight feels like it could be a final boss battle of some other game, tons of "holy shit" action moments, some nice nods to classic Sega games and a great mixture of over the top intensiveness and never actually taking itself all that seriously. Stands out in front as my favorite game of the last generation with no real close competition.

[zealo]

1. GTA V. IV was good but 5 was probably one of the best in the series since San Andreas. Looking forward to the pc release. Having 3 different protagonists worked far better than i thought it would.
2. Dragon Age Origins. A crpg heavily influenced by earlier titles but without being bogged down by the problems of D&D in gaming.
3. Starcraft 2. One of the last modern games to offer competitive high quality RTS. Its sad how much mobas have started to take over.
4. Mass Effect 2. Not really much of an rpg but its definitely the highlight of the series both in theme and gameplay.
5.Probably Bioshock. Bad gameplay but amazing worldbuilding, theme and immersion.

[Tech614]

No particular order

The Last of Us
Grand Theft Auto V
Demon Souls(better then Dark Souls by far imo)
Bioshock Infinite
Red Dead Redemption

Also 2014 is a shit cut off date(not that we can accurately judge games not out yet but...) seeing as there are still 2 very significant PS3 rpgs coming in Tales of Zesteria and Persona 5. The later of which I am sure will top most of my list.

[Baracuda]

Souls Series
World of Warcraft
Definitely Red Dead Redemption over any GTA
God of War Series
Even though how flawed it was and is... Skyrim. Hopefully The Witcher 3 will be what it could had been.

[Acidbaron]

If i look at games i still play today.

Only Team Fortress 2 comes to mind. There's more a lot more games but as stated before the time period requires me to go over all my games and that's quite a bit.

[Deletedaccount1]

MGS 4 and HD Collection
Demon's Souls
Mario Galaxy
Journey
Dota 2

[Poppincaps]

No particular order

The Last of Us
Grand Theft Auto V
Demon Souls(better then Dark Souls by far imo)
Bioshock Infinite
Red Dead Redemption

Also 2014 is a shit cut off date(not that we can accurately judge games not out yet but...) seeing as there are still 2 very significant PS3 rpgs coming in Tales of Zesteria and Persona 5. The later of which I am sure will top most of my list.

I suppose it wasn't clear but I meant ANY ps3, 360, wii, DS, or PSP game and then any PC game from 2006-2014 since PC games don't really have a new console to designate what generation the games are in.

So, Tales of Zesteria and Persona 5 would qualify as would any Xbox 360 game that comes out in 2015 although obviously there will be less of those as we move forward.

[Okkervil]

Super Mario Galaxy
Portal
Dark Souls
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Burning Crusade-Wrath of the Lich King era WoW

[Deleted]

Okami
Journey
Final Fantasy X HD
Metal Gear solid HD Collection
WoW: Burning Crusade

Had to add FFX and MGS (namely MGS 1, Sons of Liberty, Snake Eater) to the list even though they are just remasters of original games released well over decade. If that doesn't count for some reason, then inFamous 2 (evil karma) and The Last of Us.

//Damn, I didn't add God of War 2 to the list. List, why are you so short?

[tehealadin]

1- The Last of Us
2- Fallout 3
3- Uncharted 2 Amongst Thieves
4- Mass Effect 2
5- The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion

So many honourable mentions, Bioshock, The Witcher 2, All other entries of Mass Effect, the Dragon Age games, Skyrim, New Vegas, the WoW expansions, MGS4, Uncharted 3, Demon's Souls/Dark Souls 1/2, GTA IV/GTA V, InFamous, the Batman Arkham games, Heavy Rain and so many more. But if gun to my head, I had to pick 5 that I could show to someone who has never played games before, to showcase the last generation, the ones I listed in the top 5 would be the ones.

[Gallahadd]

5 - Assassin's Creed 2/Brotherhood: I put them as one entry, because they're basically the same game, just split into two parts. Loved the story, loved fighting the Borgias and I went a little too far down the rabbit hole with the Glyph/Rifts.

4 - Last Remnant: An underrated gem of a JRPG, I'm so sad they didn't make a sequel because I would have picked it up in seconds: Awesome graphics, great storyline, new and interesting combat system, with insane levels of depth and the character customisation is brilliant. Plus is has one of the best cutscene fights in any RPG ever.

3 - Assassin's Creed Black Flag: Love this game SO much, especially after the disappointment of Revalations and the outright hatred of 3. It was the true spiritual successor to 2/brotherhood. The difficulty was just right, the sailing missions were SO fun and I spent far longer than I should have just sailing around mowing bitches down with my The Jackdaw. Hell, you know a game is good when I will voluntarily do underwater/swimming missions...

2 - Dynasty Warriors 8: I'll probably get a fair level of shit for this one... But I've been a huge fan of the "Warriors" series of games for years now and DW8 took the franchise to a WHOLE new level. EVERY single character in game has a totally unique weapon/moveset (this becomes a lot more impressive when you remember there's over 80 playable characters), I wouldn't be surprised if further games in the franchise moved down a more "Action RPG" route and away from the "mindless hack and slash" route of the previous games.

1 - Dragon Age Inquisition: Love this game so much. After the greatness of Origins and the supreme letdown of DA2 I was so hyped for Inquisition, but part of me kept whispering "You know it's going to be a letdown right?" but then I got it... Oh man it's just SO good, even on my crappy Xbox360 it's still amazing. Love the story, the characters... Everything. Basically it took the best part of Origins, the best parts of 2 and fused them together to make something better than both of them.