Rllmuk Top 100 Games 2017

[gossi the dog]

16 minutes ago, NEG said:

Mario Kart 8 is certainly the best Mario Kart (only just, due to amount of fit and finish, not content, Super Circuit still wins that category), but I still wish it would try and do more. You know, like Diddy Kong Racing did, 20 years ago.

 

It was 20 years ago! Mario Kart 64 was far better in multiplayer than Diddy Kong, but in single player Diddy Kong was better. Did you manage to unlock TT?

[Benny]

TIME FOR MY FAVOURITE GAME EVER

 

 

8. Dark Souls

 

 

 

 

Original format: PS3/X360. Released: 2011

(2015 Rllmuk top 100 position: 9, number of votes: 23. Voted best game of all time by: Benny, Oz, Mr. Gerbik, El Spatular, flight, PyramidFace, Ravern, Rsdio)

 

As it gains a place, I will note now that only one other game on this list had more 1st place votes. That shows just how much Dark Souls fans love Dark Souls. It is perhaps for this reason it places so highly, despite dividing opinion, as those that have played it either love it more than any other game ever made, or they bounce off it, hard. And of course, many people are yet to give it a try… But if they haven’t, they really should, as Dark Souls is perhaps one of the most important games of the generation, and at the very least that is something worth discovering. Try it, and let it seep into every pore of your gaming being like it did with me:

 

“A new entry into the list, deservedly shooting right into the top 10, Dark Souls is a creation of absolute, staggering genius.

 

Taking the core gameplay mechanics from Demon’s Souls, with some subtle changes, Dark Souls expands upon that game with a world of startling interconnected beauty - areas are no longer separated into self contained levels, but weaved into each other in often surprising and fiendish ways.

 

The entire landscape of Lordran gets into your psyche and in some ways feels almost as real as actual real world landscapes and castles, as they have a background history that is woven into the very fabric of the game, from the creature design, items, descriptions, and vague hints from the many characters that you meet in your travels.

 

The combat mechanics are a thing of tactile brilliance, as every parry, every blow, and every blocked attack has a real sensation of weight and presence. Your decisions made in developing your character from their clothes to their strengths in every aspect feel like more than simple statistics - every number and every item used to wear accounts for significant changes in how your character feels to play, and how your behaviour changes as you interact with the world. It goes beyond what is found in most RPGs and actually gives an unprecedented sense of being at one with your avatar.

 

The game’s difficulty can be punishing but only bolsters the sense of involvement, as each death hardens your resolve as it feels like the cruel tricks played on you are there to only increase your curiosity and determination to unravel every secret and hidden revelation.

 

Dark Souls is now already part of the collective gaming unconscious, and is informing the design of games developed ever since and, like so many on this list, will now be remembered for hopefully decades to come.

 

The greatest RPG ever made.“

 

Sun Tze:

 

“What can you say that hasn't been said already? This improved upon Demons Souls in almost every way. You made so many new friends every week just by playing this (online). The only thing you had in common with these people is that you were lost.... where to go, what to do, which weapon to upgrade, who are those invisible guys that keep backstabbing me in that forest place, why is this so much harder then Demons Souls?  In it's first year and a half this was the best game of all time. Pre patch 1.05 pvp in Anor Londo/Forest might have been a bit broken but it was utterly amazing :wub:”

 

Jamie John:

 

“This is an older game that I have played in the last twelve months, and although I think DSIII and Bloodborne improve on a lot of the mechanics, the effortlessly brilliant level/world design and lore set it above the more recent games for me.”

 

And Mr. Gerbik:

 

“After a few failed attempts with Demon's, this was the first Souls game that clicked with me. And once it did, it clicked hard. None of the sequels or the spin-off have quite managed to capture the same magical combination of Dark Souls. The interconnected world is a big part of it, but even without that it still has the most interesting areas, lore, and aura of mystery and misery. I keep coming back to this game and it amazes me every single time.”

 

[NEG]

20 minutes ago, gossi the dog said:

 

It was 20 years ago! Mario Kart 64 was far better in multiplayer than Diddy Kong, but in single player Diddy Kong was better. Did you manage to unlock TT?

 

100%'d, and in Mirror Mode too, with the coins all being in new placements to boot. Good times.

[gossi the dog]

10 minutes ago, NEG said:

 

100%'d, and in Mirror Mode too, with the coins all being in new placements to boot. Good times.

 

Answer the question! Did you unlock TT?

[NEG]

Just now, gossi the dog said:

 

Answer the question! Did you unlock TT?

 

Yes

 

 

[gossi the dog]

Just now, NEG said:

 

Yes

 

 

 

Nice one. I did too. It's the sort of thing I definitely wouldn't bother with nowadays. Took hours! 

[Stanley]

Thought Dark Souls was going to be higher but still, very well deserved. I think Dark Souls III is the best one overall but this was the first, kind of, so I understand why it has more resonance.

[Cappuccino Kid]

I don't rate Dark Souls quite as highly as others (though it did make it into my top 20), but just looking at those screenshots gives me the feels. I think Firelink Shrine may be the greatest location in all of videogames.

[Benny]

Ignoring how influential they were and just basing the ranking on how good they are taken in isolation, and if you only played one Soulsborne game with no prior knowledge of the others, I would rank the series thus:

 

1. Bloodborne

2. Dark Souls

3. Dark Souls 3

4. Demon's Souls

50. Dark Souls 2

[mdn2]

I still think Mario Kart 8 is possibly the best looking game I've seen. It's so pretty.

[Azrael]

Expected Dark Souls to be higher, I didn't persist with it after continuously dying after reaching the first main place after doing the opening area but have always been meaning to go back and try giving it another shot because I love the look and feel of it all - just not the difficulty. 

[Stanley]

8 minutes ago, Benny said:

Ignoring how influential they were and just basing the ranking on how good they are taken in isolation, and if you only played one Soulsborne game with no prior knowledge of the others, I would rank the series thus:

 

1. Bloodborne

2. Dark Souls

3. Dark Souls 3

4. Demon's Souls

50. Dark Souls 2

I'd be:

 

1. Dark Souls III

2. Bloodborne

3. Demon's Souls

4. Dark Souls 

5. Dark Souls II

 

Though to be honest I'd rate DS1 and Demon's equally.

 

[Qazimod]

6 hours ago, Qazimod said:

From the vote thread:

 

On 03/10/2017 at 18:00, Qazimod said:

I think last time I was expecting RE4, DS1 and Ocarina to make up the top three, but DS1 came in at nine so what do I know.

 

This year's top three will definitely be RE4, DS1 and Breath though. One game I haven't played and two I barely started. 

 

Gah.

[Benny]

9 minutes ago, Azrael said:

Expected Dark Souls to be higher, I didn't persist with it after continuously dying after reaching the first main place after doing the opening area but have always been meaning to go back and try giving it another shot because I love the look and feel of it all - just not the difficulty. 

 

Usually with most areas in Dark Souls it's not so much it's hard, but just requires a very patient approach to combat, as it really punishes mistakes. It's worth sticking with it.

 

Blight Town can get to fuck though.

[NickC]

Cracking write ups Benny, thanks. 

[Treble]

7 hours ago, Stanley said:

I'm surprised Mario Sunshine isn't anywhere to be seen. I guess the shine wore off.

 

FTFY

 

And Blimey, Clippa's really leaning into his new 'forum twonk' persona these days, isn't he? I guess some people prefer notoriety over anonymity. 

 

I don't like the Souls games either, but I can see they're great. Rubbishing them just makes you look ignorant. 

[Qazimod]

I bounced off DS1, completed the base game of DS2 and platinumed BB  People have said I should give 3 a look though...

[Benny]

3 is like a Dark 1 and Bloodborne had a beautiful child.

[Jamie John]

My DS comment was mentioned  I feel famous.

[Uncle Nasty]

Still have my PS3 hooked up for Dark Souls and it just doesn't lose its appeal or draw. Even after 600+ hours, those screenshots above make me want to dive in with a new build and start all over again. I'll never forget inching down that ladder into Blighttown for the first time and the sickening feeling of isolation and vertigo when I lit the first bonfire, the head-spinning realisation that THIS leads to THERE and then back to OVER THERE, the Saw-like deviousness and cruelty of Sen's, the first time I used the pyro glove or Queelag's boss weapon, the game is just full of deeply memorable and rewarding moments.

 

Easily the best game I've ever played and I doubt it will be bettered. Even FROM haven't come close at all. The world design and layout was just too good.

[Colonel Panic]

I guess all the shitty roguelikes are in the top 5. Can't wait!

[Benny]

7. Super Mario 64

 

 

 

 

 

Original format: N64. Released: 1996

(2015 Rllmuk top 100 position: 3, number of votes: 30. Voted best game of all time by: Charles, Broken Thumbs)

 

A fall from grace? Or an acknowledgement that it may finally have competition? Either way, Super Mario 64 is still one of the most joyful things ever created, and its influence reverberates down more than two decades, with still more cleverness and genius packed into one tiny cartridge than most huge modern games can dream of having. A lesson in how to do everything right. Note my last line in 2015...

 

“Back when the Nintendo 64 launched, it was already more expensive than the Playstation, which had been out for a little while and had some great games. To really push the system, Nintendo needed something revolutionary, something so completely mind bogglingly brilliant that it made everything else that came before it seem clunky and hard to control.

 

Enter Mario 64.

 

Introducing so many industry firsts it’s exhausting: full 3D platforming with working camera controls being the icing on the cake.

 

The full freedom of movement afforded by the analog controls made games like Tomb Raider seem old fashioned and limited - this was how 3D games were meant to play. Picking it up now, it is still a lesson in how to get so many things right first time, and while 3D cameras in games have actually come on in leaps and bounds since then, the fact that it took every other developer perhaps almost a decade to eventually catch up speaks volumes.

 

That’s all very well from a historical perspective, but does it still really hold up today? The answer is yes, oh absolutely yes.

 

Playing the game today is still as much of a joy as it ever was when jumping and skipping through those first delirious moments outside Peach Castle - a subtle training ground to let the player get used to the controls in their own time and with gay abandon, whether scaling the trees dotted around or going for a relaxing swim in the moat.

 

Every level is infused with the sheer genius Miyamoto was already famous for for the previous Mario games, and the fact that it made the transition to 3D with all the charm intact is staggering.

 

The wild flights of fancy seen in the Galaxy titles may not exist here, but there is a consistency of quality throughout the entire game that just keeps expanding as you uncover more secrets, levels and beautiful moments of wonder.

 

It has not aged, and has arguably only become more impressive over time for how few games have matched it.

 

Perhaps the greatest 3D platformer ever made. (I’m still thinking Galaxy but you all have spoken!)”

 

And Danster sums it up nicely:

 

“An absolute classic. So much has been said in the past that I really don't need to dwell on it, but my girls and I still play it on the Wii-U 20 years on.”

 

[Treble]

24 minutes ago, clippa said:

 

Oh lighten up you glistening tit. Join in, as benny said, there's not nearly enough nerds bickering over the sacred cows or speculating about the top games.

 

This is supposed to be fun, it's not the pissing oscars.

 

"Oh wow man, I don't like the dark souls games but they're really great, what you said is like really ignorant, yeah?"

Yeah alright, treble, hearing you loud and clear, go and have a lie down or something if this is all a bit much for you.

 

OK, I'll try and emulate your style a bit... 

 

"Vertical shooters are made by developers who didn't learn to code past 16-bit standards, can't understand there are more colours in the spectrum than pink, and are pretty much all paedos".

 

"Roguelikes are created by lazy indie bastards who wouldn't be able to design an exciting level on pain of their favourite Hoxton cereal bar being closed down, or moustache wax manufacturer going out of business". 

 

Happy? Can you stop becoming an unholy mashup of Wiper and NEG now, please? 

[NEG]

Hey! Wiper has great taste in games! 

[nakamura]

On 20/10/2017 at 15:25, pervent aline perio grow d said:

To stand up for Goldeneye again because i'm however days late for when people were talking about Goldeneye (were they? i don't know)

 

.I wrote this about it two years ago.

 

http://www.retrocollect.com/Articles/debate-is-goldeneye-64-actually-an-arcade-game.html

[nakamura]

21 minutes ago, grindmouse said:

One day I will try Bloodborne again and I will beat Gascoigne and discover the rest of the game is also a big pile of balls.

I'm not a fan myself. I love the themes and art but the release button to dodge just ruins it for me. And the camera and general performance.

 

I've never bothered with any of the other Souls games though. I'd like Dark Souls 1 on PS4.

 

 

Mario 64 somehow feels a little smoother on Wii U. I don't know it's it's just placebo but it feels amazing to play on it.

[Stanley]

51 minutes ago, Benny said:

3 is like a Dark 1 and Bloodborne had a beautiful child.

This is true.

[Stanley]

Mario 64. I didn't even vote for it in my top 20 but it deserves to be there. It totally needs a remaster though. The DS version was shocking, saved by the mini games.

[Benny]

6. The Last of Us

 

 

 

 

Original format: PS3. Released: 2013

(2015 Rllmuk top 100 position: 6, number of votes: 31. Voted best game of all time by: strider, PeteBrant, NoseJam, Down by Law, barkbat, Talk Show Host)

 

No change here for Naughty Dog’s Magnum Opus. It was always going to be placed highly, but it seems to understandably have enduring appeal.

 

“There are a few games on this list I decided specifically I had to play so I could give my own thoughts, and The Last of Us is one of them.

 

Does it live up to the hype? Well, not in all respects, but in some ways it actually exceeds it. It takes a while for the story to get going, but this is to the game’s advantage, as so few stories in games take the time to truly flesh out their characters or indulge in significant world building.

 

The sheer detail in every environment of the game from the abandoned cityscapes to the absolutely peerless sound design (this deserves special mention as it might be some of the most immersive sound work I’ve come across in a game), creates a world that feels tangibly real in a way that has only been reached a scant few times in the past, such as in the stark beauty of Half Life 2’s wastelands or Red Dead Redemption’s vast prairies.

 

It is perhaps a shining example of both how far games have come and yet how far they have yet to go. Borrowing gameplay and set piece elements from other genre milestones such as Resident Evil 4, Manhunt, and the Uncharted series, it is often a game that struggles to match it’s extremely solid and satisfying gameplay mechanics up to the requirements of its own world immersion, as characters that have been given so much flesh and blood and feeling outside of gunfights become invisible ghosts ignored by enemies when trying to sneak past them. It is a compromise made to remove potential gameplay frustrations, though in practice the gulf between interactivity and narrative conceits is made that much more stark, especially when you enter some new areas and see so many chest high objects strewn around in ways that seem especially forced - which admittedly is only a problem for those used to the ubiquity of these mechanics - and at odds with the organic nature of nearly everything else in the environment design.

 

It is in some ways because of these small niggles that The Last of Us is shown to be such a staggering achievement, as they are the only blemishes on what is otherwise something so truly out of this world in its overall execution that it has set a high bar in gaming experiences for both what is possible in story driven gameplay experiences, what should be possible, and what should be built upon.

 

Above all else, The Last of Us is about going on a long unforgettable journey, with companions you come to care about, and what better way to tell such a story than by being able to make that journey with them.

 

The greatest interactive movie game ever made.”

 

And many of you agree:

 

strider: “The best game ever made. Period. Nobody understands the differences between games and movies like Naughty Dog does and you can already see the influence of TLOU in countless other games. It's influence is going to be huge and as more and more gamers want stories and character narration that match the onscreen graphics it's going to become even more importance. The one and only time I've ever cried playing a videogame.”

 

Luseth: “This one is one of those games that I well and truly loved. The reason I play video games are due to enjoying a good story, it's easier for me these days to play a video game than to read a book, being able to see everything that's going on and not having to visualize it. This is where the last of us really takes ahold. The story in this was fantastic and the graphics were not all that bad either considering it was first released on the PS3.”

 

nakamura: “Naughty Dogs first great game since the original Jak and Daxter. Actually brilliant gameplay mixed in with that incredible story. The action is brutal, so unbelievably visceral. I would since when Joel beat someone to death with a bit of wood. It never felt over the mark though and the characters had so much depth to them.”

 

Cappuccino Kid: “If Breath of the Wild takes open world gaming to a new peak, this does the same for story-driven linear gaming. I've never been so attached to a game's characters before, to the extent that I was sorry not to be able to spend more time with them when it was over. Even though Joel is a psychopath.”

 

bradigor “The only game in the last few years, as I start to get jaded that has made me weep actual tears. That came before the game really ever got going. It was a masterclass of how to tell a story in a game at the time. It raised the bar and the fact I felt something for two characters I had barely spent 5 minutes with made me want to see this through to the end no matter what. The game has faults, especially in the game play, but none of that mattered to me because I was so emotionally invested”

 

[Azrael]

Completed  (as in all stars) Mario 64 several times on the N64 and DS and would download it in an instant if it was available on the Switch.