The Game Pantheon

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This was inspired based on a discussion with Skyrim. Most agree it's really good, but I'm not sure if it's great.

So I'm asking what's your personal "Pantheon: of games in terms of the enjoyment level they gave you. Keep in mind that the Pantheon should be a very exclusive group. You can't have 50 games in the Pantheon. It should probably be a single-digit number.

It's like the difference between BG/SoA/ToB as compared with IWD/HoW/TotL. The former is a Pantheon game series, the latter is just very good (at least for me). Or the difference between the Diablo series and Warcraft/Starcraft series. Again, the first is Pantheon, the second for me isn't, but still a great game series. The Total War series is another example of a great game that falls just short of Pantheon status. And I think Skyrim is going to come up just short as well.

My Pantheon is a very, very, exclusive group. It's the BG series, the Diablo series, the Civilization series, Sid Meier's Pirates (countless hours spent on both the original and subsequent one 20 years later), and the Pool of Radiance Series (Forgotten Realms) from TSR dating back to the 1980s of my childhood. I think I probably played Curse of the Azure Bonds the most of that group.

EDIT: And yes, the Dragonlance series - thanks Blades - that was a big miss on the list.

 

The Avatar series from Origin -- Ultima/Worlds of Ultima/Ultima Underworld. Martian Dreams and Ultima VII (Parts I and II) are the best RPGs ever. The next tier includes the BG series, Torment and Fallout/Fallout II (haven't played Fallout III yet). The old D&D games (gold box and few that followed it like Menzoberranzan, Al-Qadim and Dark Sun) are sentimental favorites but not quite in my pantheon.

 

In no particular order...

Dragonlance Series of Cok/DKoK/DQoK
Forgotten Realms Series of PoR/CotAB/SotSB/PoD
Darksun Series
Baldur's Gate Series
Wizardry Series
Might and Magic Series(original games, NOT the Heroes of games)
Ultima Series
SSIs General Series - Panzer General/Allied General/Fantasy General
Realms of Arkania I & II

Not included in the list but one of my faves... Infocom's series of text-based Zork Games - my first foray into PC madness!

 

Never got into Zork, but the omission of the Dragonlance Series right next to Forgotten Realms Series was a big miss on my part. I'm amending my list.

 

So were Wishbringer, Planetfall & Spacefall. Also as an honorable mention....

The Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy. Don't remember the developer though. I don't think it was Infocom.

 

Return to Zork was awesome. The beginning was a nice tribute. For text adventures how can you not list "Leather Goddesses of Phobos"?

 

Gee... I think it's time for a younger person's pantheon. Most of these games I've never heard about.

Elder Scrolls III/IV/V (Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim) -- Maybe Skyrim isn't perfect but I've still played it for more than a 100+ hours on a single character. Same for Morrowind and Oblivion. It's by far my favorite series of game. -- By the end of Shivering Isle, my Breton "awesome" (custom class) reached the level cap, had 100% magic resistance, 100 points in Blade, Block, Destruction, Conjuration, and Restoration -- I was for all intent and purposes invincible.

Fallout I/II/III/New Vegas -- just awesome, though I cannot understand why they just didn't called NV Fallout IV. (the third is my personal favorite). Obviously I played the two first after the third, seeing as I was way to young to enjoy them when they actually came out. Best Moment ? Finding the TARDIS by accident in the original fallout, awesome.

the Baldur's Gate Saga (Trilogy?) -- I mean TotSC didn't really add anything to the overall story arc the way ToB did, that's why I say it's a trilogy.

The Longest Journey / Dreamfall; "classic" adventure game with an original plot. An underdog to say the least. Alright Dreamfall still has some serious issue, clumsy controls, token and boring "fighting" sequences, but meh still pretty awesome.

Edit:
How could I forgot Sid Meier's Civilization ?! -- Mind you I only played the III/IV/V but still the best damn strategy games to me. It baffles me that some people think Warcraft of Starcraft are better strategy game. Nonsense.

 

Well, Starcraft/Warcraft are not really comparable to Civilization. Completely different games. It is like comparing BG to Civ.

My pantheon would be:
Civilization I-IV
World of Warcraft
Elderscrolls III-V
Rome and Medieval II: TW
Infinity Engine Games

 

Plansescape:Torment! How did I forget about that one... probably the best game I ever had played. I was thinking series..dolt!

The Hitchhiker's was made by Infocom. Man, it's been a long time.... I think I played that about 23 years ago.....

 

I have 3 games (in order):

BG2/ToB.
Diablo (the original). It was one of the first computer games I played, and I was completely hooked.
System Shock 2. The only FPS I have played more than once, due to the RPG elements and the completely different experience you can get playing different characters.

 

If I just limit myself to games that I find myself coming back to again and again, the list will be fairly short.

Medieval II: Total War - simply so much fun and so much replayability. Great game.

Baldur's Gate series - still a lot of fun to play, to try different combinations, different classes, different themed parties.

Saint's Row 2 - basically a GTA clone that is what GTA should be. Lacking the good story from the GTA games, but more than makes up for it in gameplay and fun. GTA has taken a turn for realism, but realism is not a lot of fun in sandbox games like this.

STALKER series - great atmosphere and fun gameplay. This is how a survival game should feel like. Fallout 3 and NV got nothing on this.

Morrowind - trance inducing jumping around on Vvardenfel. Playing superman and jumping from mountain top to mountian top is just a lot of fun.

Deus Ex - still a game that surprises me every time I play it by how well the gameplay works and how well the story is told.

 

I've been thinking the same thing for a while now. GTA 4 was so ridiculously disappointing to me. I honestly think I only logged maybe five hours before getting bored with it. Saint's Row 2 and 3, on the other hand, I've easily logged probably 60+ hours in each of them. Like you said, realism in a sandbox game isn't nearly as fun as all out ridiculousness.

The only games for me that haven't been mentioned yet are the Space Quest series. First series of video games I played on a computer. Even though the last one came out when I was 6, I still find myself going back to them quite often.

 

Monkey Island I-III
Civilization I
Colonization I (playing it now on DosBox )
Baldur's Gate II
Hero's Quest / Quest for Glory saga
Caesar III
Majesty I

Non-pc:
Xbox: DefJam - Fight for New York

This might become one:
Wii: House of the Dead - Overkill

 

The Baldurs Gate Series
Planescape: Torment
The Black & White Games
Children of the Nile
The Sims 2 (Oh yeah, I went there )
Icewind Dale Series
Mortal Kombat (2011/9)

I actually think that might be it; Sacrifice, Ghost master and Evil Genius have a place in my heart, so does Gruntz actually, but the games above are the ones I return to time and again. Fallout 1 & 2 I had difficulty falling in love with like I did the other games on the list, though Fallout 3 is certainly interesting. Morrowing and Skyrim are on the same level, I pretty much enjoy making the character more than following the story.

 

Civilization I to IV
Icewind Dale II
Cobra Command
Centipede
Space Invaders
Snow Bros
Bubble bobble

Pretty much the 7 games that have made up 90% of my game playing life, although Civilisation II probably makes up 50% of that all on its own.

 

Hmm... a small Pantheon of the best games. Now that is a difficult one to come up with because there are a lot of great games that deserve to be there. But for certain it would include Subspace (AKA Continuum). It is the only MMO that I play and have been playing more or less actively since 1996. No other game comes even close to the thousands of gaming hours spent. As for other games... I have to think about it, hard choices.

 

Oh, I didn't even go that old school on you. If I were willing to go back to my early console playing days, I could have named Earth Worm Jim as a completely awesome game for the Sega Genesis as just one example. Don't make me go Atari 2600 on your ass... that's when you didn't get unlimited "lives" for your pixels.

Criminally under-rated. Although I have to admit that I just didn't play them enough to get to my Pantheon. I always played the monkey.

 

I thought about adding Fallout 1 & 2 and PS:T to the list, but while I think they are great games, I don't really find myself coming back again and again to them. Out of them, Fallout 2 has the most appeal to be replayed a lot to me, because it has the most sandboxy-playground to mess around in.

But if I mention them, I feel like I should at least mention Jagged Alliance 2 as well. That was great fun to play too. And Painkiller. And Red Faction (the original) - I spent an inordinate amount of time playing that game. And Neverwinter Nights. But then, we're trying to keep the lists fairly short and these are just not the games that I'm still playing fairly regularly. Well, excepting maybe Painkiller.

Not underrated in my book. It was fun for a while, but trying to coerce your animal and your followers to do what I wanted them to do got on my nerves after a while. So mostly I ended up with a very friendly animal while I beat up everybody because they wouldn't do what I wanted to do.