It’s weird that Deus Ex isn’t in this thread yet. Such a well made game with quite a few prophetic moments.
Zelda OoT, Majora’s mask, BotW, TotK
The first Halo trilogy takes the cake for me
YESS
I would have to go with the Panzer Dragoon trilogy on the Sega Saturn.
While the first title was, at its basics, a fairly simple on rails shooter it was more than the sum of its parts.
It had incredible art direction, a sweeping musical score, innovative world building and rock solid gameplay.
The second title built up on the first installment in every way to solidify it as one of the best titles of that generation.
Then came Panzer Dragoon Saga which evolved the series into a full blown JRPG that is still so unique and unlike anything else out there.
Team Andromeda’s passion, dedication and innovation ensured each game was a new benchmark for Segas black box.
What I wouldn’t do for a new installment by the original team.
The Yakuza series I guess? Granted I’ve only played zero, kiwami and kiwami 2, but it all seems to be completely sincere in its craziness. It doesn’t appear to pretend to be anything more than it is.
A videogame that was made with complete love and devotion to the medium, made with talent and sincerity, and is a pinnacle of everything it stands, something that will stand the test of time…
And nobody mentioned Stardew Valley? I spent too long looking for it and didn’t find a single mention of it. Absolute mastery of its genre, an incredible amount of dedication spent by the developer listening to the fans, and I can’t imagine it not still holding up 10 years from now, or even 20 years from now.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is great, I love it, but there were so many performance issues with the game even with top tier hardware, and the game was borderline unplayable for others due to these issues. I have a little bias since my save didn’t sync across devices with the steam cloud and I have to start all over. Love the game, but I just can’t believe Stardew Valley isn’t even mentioned.
I kinda feel like Stardew is incomplete, I want to know more about the world, the lore. I also wish that I could have more time in a day to complete what I set out to do.
Not every game needs an endless depth of lore that only those without jobs or have other things that fill up their days can dive into. Stardew Valley is a farming simulator, it doesn’t need hundreds or thousands of years of history for you to study up on, and thank the dieties it doesn’t. It meets the prompt provided in the original post.
Not bagging on people who enjoy deep lore in games, you do you, but I only get about 1-3 hours a week to play so that shit is not for me anymore. I need a game I can very easily pick up, get some shit done, and be okay putting it back down again before not too much time is up.
You might be interested to know that concernedape’s new game haunted chocolatier will be set in the same world.
Terraria I feel would be closer as stardew valley is a one man job. Terraria grew as a vision that hasn’t really strayed beyond, but every update instead chisels the stone more. It is a game that took castlevania/mario inspirations and honed it into a perfect conception of 2d sidescrollers but with a liberty. (Akin to stardew being the first real open farming sim)
Redigit did amazing on the original SMBX fangame. Basically took the concept, and removed constraints. You can see the differences in development ethos as new people came on and really created a diverse game. It is so groundbreaking in their conformity that most can only compare to Minecraft, something essentially extradimensional to terraria.
Imagine being so baller you get compared to a game that puts you in control of shaping the world around you. When terraria is a game that predominantly shapes you around the world. Eventually even adding lore to these shapes it forms out of you.
Are you the summoner? The fisher? The knight? The archer? The farmer?
You will be all at some point in your journey of improvement. You will don every hat and for it you will be able to reflect back on your next life and proceed with new knowledge. The Belmont’s curse is never over, and this is our only solace.
Planescape: Torment does it for me.
More lines of dialogue than all of Shakespear’s works? Sign me up for that kinda RPG, lol.
Though these days some good voice actors can do a lot, looking at BG3 here, at least the voice casting.
Mass Effect. I know some will disagree, the third game has a lot of glaring issues, and EA really fucked up the ending, but as far as a fully fleshed out story and universe with a multitude of unique and independently structured species, characters, and cultures I think it’s one of the best. The writing and possible story outcomes and decisions that vastly and permanently affect the story from the first to the third game are insane.
Neither of these are popular enough to be on the scale of LoTR, but in terms of atmosphere and detail:
Hollow Knight - my absolute favorite thing about it is each NPC has its own voiced language recorded, babbling in the background as you read the dialogue.
Subnautica (the first one) - shitting myself with each new experience is something I’ll always cherish. Highly recommend just playing without looking into the gameplay or plot. Has elements of exploring, resource gathering, base building, psychological horror (not graphic, just tense scenarios), sneaking.
Clair obscur
World of Warcraft, at least for the first 3 expansions. I think the people that made it back then were utterly devoted to the story and gameplay, as were the players. I’ll remember playing that until I die, so many memories.
Downvote away.
3.3.5a for life
Completely different genre but the Stabley Parable checks all of these.
100 years in the future and it will be just as perfect.
Good one! My favorite single player RPG for sure
Try Yakuza
It’s not a trilogy, but I gotta preach the good word of Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights. If you enjoy 2D metroidvania style games it’s top notch.
The game just drips in atmosphere. The environments are beautifully drawn and designed, characters and enemies are animated well and the music just wraps everything up in a nice bow. It’s a melancholy game and it literally made me cry at points and I’m not the type to tear up often when playing games.
The game can be challenging at times, but I wouldn’t say significantly so. I would say Hollow Knight is more challenging than this game especially with some of the end game content that that game has.
The game is worth full price, but it goes on sale pretty regularly and probably is right now with the summer sale on Steam.
There’s also a sequel out now called Ender Magnolia. I haven’t played it yet but I will eventually.
