In order of most favorite to least, what are your favorite genres? Which ones are you not too crazy about? Here are mine:
It wasn’t easy making this list. Theres at least one game in each of these genres that I love. I ordered them based on which games I played the most for each and had the most fun with.
This is a tricky question, especially nowadays that so many games extend across multiple genres. For example one of my favourite games at the moment is Bloodborne, I’m not sure if it would be classified as an RPG, Action/Adventure, or Fighting? Also one of my favourite kind of games are the old slide-show puzzle games like Riven, is that a puzzler or a point-n-click? If “puzzler” means stuff like Bejewelled then I would probably downgrade it toward the bottom of the list. If I look at my favourite games of all time (Torgo’s Favourites Shelf | Grouvee) most of them are kind of hard to classify. Like Dwarf Fortress, ICO & Cataclysm:DDA they don’t really fit into any genre.
Still though, if I had to classify what “type” of game I like, there are definitely some themes. Firstly, all my favourite games are story-heavy. I don’t really like games without a good narrative. The other thing is all my favourite games are set in fictional worlds. Games set IRL (like milsims, military shooters, GTA, SimCity, sports games) don’t particularly interest me. I guess for me games are like escapism from the real world; I much prefer to go on an adventure in somewhere interesting and unfamiliar. Also I don’t really like multiplayer-heavy games, my friends keep telling me to buy Starwars: Battlefront but I know I wouldn’t enjoy it. It reminds me of my heartbreak when Quake 3 Arena was released; the older Star Wars games (like Dark Forces II) were much superior in my opinion.
So below is my attempt at ordering this list. Haha, sorry, I wasn’t intending on writing an essay!
That’s true, recent games often span several genres. I’m mostly an old school player so I’m used to the typical one genre per game.
I put RPGs further down the list only because lately I haven’t been playing many. Doesn’t mean I don’t like them or have a soft spot for those I loved in the past. Games like Might and Magic 2, FF7, FF10, Secret of Mana, Illusions of Gaia, Secret of Evermore will always be special to me. Now whenever I think about starting an RPG I feel overwhelmed. Sometimes I only want to dedicate 6 hours to a game.
I do like story heavy games and don’t care much for multiplayers. I tried getting into Half-Life and Counterstrike but in the end it wasn’t much fun.
Yes, I hadn’t thought of that but I guess the multi-genre thing is more of a modern innovation.
When I was younger I probably played RPGs more than anything, I spent hundreds and hundreds of hours on the old Black Isle RPGs in particular, Planescape Torment, Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale, etc. Sadly I haven’t played much in terms of JRPGs but I’d like to. I keep hearing about Secret of Mana and Earthbound, which I’d like to play some day. Weirdly I’ve never played any of the Final Fantasy games, even though there’s like 17 of them now. I really enjoy rogue games recently which I guess sort of fit into the RPG genre. Stuff like Infra Arcana, Catacylsm, DF: Adventure Mode, Nethack, ADOM,Dungeons of Dredmor or even rogue-likes such as Spelunky or Eldritch.
I’m really excited by the resurgence of infinity engine-style RPGs like Pillars of Eternity, Divinity Original Sin, Torment Tides of Numenera. That’s one of my objectives this summer: to play Pillars of Eternity. But I agree with you it’s harder to play these games because you really need to invest hundreds of hours. When I was a teenager I had all the time in the world but now that I’m a “grown up” I don’t have much spare time. ): Sometimes I wish I could time-travel back to being a teenager again, life was so much easier, things were simpler. Long hot summers playing video games, not having to worry about rent, bills, money, careers, food and all that stressful stuff.
[quote=“Torgo, post:4, topic:665”]
Sometimes I wish I could time-travel back to being a teenager again, life was so much easier, things were simpler. Long hot summers playing video games, not having to worry about rent, bills, money, careers, food and all that stressful stuff.
[/quote]I’ve always thought of that. But if I go back would I be sucked back into the same mind and everything, such as, I wouldn’t know how lame being an adult is? Or would I have that knowledge? This is getting way off topic. But I think I would enjoy school more, probably do better in it. But chances are I would be the same awkward teenager.
[quote=“Torgo, post:4, topic:665”]
Weirdly I’ve never played any of the Final Fantasy games, even though there’s like 17 of them now.
[/quote]OMG I can’t believe this!? Just kidding, there are plenty of games I haven’t played. If you do have time for FF game I would recommend 7 or 10. Those were the two I put in the most time. 10 being my favorite.
Haha, yeah I reckon that would be an important part of the experience. To be able to go back in time to being a teenager but with all the knowledge and hindsight. That would amazing! I always feel like I wasted so much time. There are so many things I’d like to go back and change and fix my disastrous life. 
It would be pretty weird though to go back and deal with stuff like Windows 95 and bad internet and CRT monitors.
Cool I just googled it, apparently FFX is on PS3 and FFVII is coming to PS4. Perhaps I’ll finally be able to play a PS4 game aside from Bloodborne!
One of my favourite RPGs of all time is Arcanum. Arcanum is virtually unknown to most people and I believe it was a bit of a failure at the time. It’s a great game though.
Another series I haven’t really dabbled in is Diablo. I remember my first Windows computer came with a Diablo 1 demo and I played that many times, but that’s the extent of my experience.
My friend gave me a copy of Divine Divinity for my birthday, I’m excited to play that too. Apparently it’s kinda similar to Diablo but cooler.
-1. TBS/TBT
2 Arcade Styled Dungeon Crawlers, Hack N Slash
3.FPS
4. second generation Infinity Engine ‘black isle’ styled isometric CRPGS
5.JRPGs
6. first generation Traditional RPG, FPS Adventure (Classic Dungeon Crawl) (Krondor, etc… I would category Elder scrolls as continuation of the genre.)
7 Racers, Railshooters and 6DoF
8 SHMUPs/twin sticks, side stcollers
9 Third Person Action Adventure
10 Space Flight/Combat Sims
11 4X
Disclaimer. I play way too many 9’s and not enough 4’s 5’s and 6’s -_-
Oh, I never thought on making a list like that, let’s try and see:
And I love all of them with some strong narrative component.
Tough question. This is difficult.
Well said. If Mass Effect is one of my favourite games/series do I say RPG? Third-person shooter?
True for me also. I do enjoy some games for pure mechanics but I very much want narrative.
What about story heavy multiplayer games? For example I very much enjoy FFXIV which provides an excellent story with robust multiplayer mechanics. Same could be said for other well produced MMOs. On the other hand I seldom (if ever) play multiplayer FPS.
You can pick up FFVII for PS4 or PS3 right now (separate purchase unfortunately). A remake is in the works as well. FFX/X-2 is available in a bundle for PS3, Vita and PS4 (also separate purchase). I would say grab it for PS4 for the smoothest play experience.
Also don’t forget FFIX, a gem that is sometimes under appreciated.
Can’t say I’ve played a lot of them.
I played Counterstrike for about an hour and decided I didn’t like it.
@8bithero MMOs present something richer and more fulfilling than that of something like Counter Strike. At least that has always been my experience. Not every MMO is for everyone, but there is enough variation out there that you might be able to find something enjoyable.
What would you recommend?
I’m a big fan of Final Fantasy XIV. That might or might not be up your alley, depending on what you will enjoy. It’s a robust online game with a great story. It has plenty of things to solo, so you don’t have to play with other people all the time but the multiplayer aspect is fun and the people are friendly. I play on and off depending on how much time I have personally and it is a very casual player friendly game which makes that work well.
I was recently looking into Wander. It is a non combat based MMO. I don’t know a lot about it yet but it is intriguing.
Interesting. Thanks for the recommedations. Ive always loved FF games. Might have to check out XIV. I didnt like tactics though. The bosses level up with you which I thought was unfair. Or I remember something like that
@8bithero I believe you are close to right about Tactics. Monsters in random encounters would match the level of your highest character deployed. However, if I remember correctly, enemies that were part of main story line events did not, thus being at a fixed level. While I enjoyed Tactics quite a great deal, it is a very different entry in the Final Fantasy series. FFXIV is also a different type of game (given it is an MMO) but may be closer to what you enjoy in the series than somehting like Tactics. That said, FFXIV does have a job system that refers back to classic Final Fantasy games, including Tactics. Some of the costume designs are directly lifted from Tactics (which is something I love).
FFXIV contains quite a lot of intertextual reference to other Final Fantasy games, with nods to music, characters, stories and so forth. It is quite a pleasure for anyone who is a long time fan of the series. The learning curve has to do with adjusting yourself to working as part of a party/team rather than controlling one
a heads up, it seems that Wander appears to receive some very poor reviews. I might need to take that recommendation back. As I have yet to play it I was purely going on level of personal interest.
I was going to say that I have read some pretty bad things about Wander.
Which is too bad because I think the concept is intriguing.
When they first announced the game, I immediately thought it sounded like something I would want to try. After reading two reviews on it, I decided to never touch it.
Not a fan of; First-Person Shooter, 3-D Action-Adventure, Open-World (Sandbox), Stealth (Spy), Point & Click Adventure, Text-Adventure, Flight Simulation, Racing Simulation and silly terms; Metroidvania & Western Role-Playing.
