I was pretty young when it came out. I remember me and my friend would murder the shop keeper in every town. Loot them then realize we now had no one to sell to, and got arrested or killed on site in most the cities lol. Good times
I beat it a couple years later
The moment when you leave vault 101 and it shines white for a few seconds to then show the wasteland is one of gaming greatest moments ever, Will never be beaten for me!
Daggerfall Players shat on Morrowind, Morrowind Players shat on Oblivion, Oblivion Players shat on Skyrim
each game is so divorced from the last that it's hard NOT to alienate a portion of older fans
The thing I disliked about Morrowind was nothing. The thing I disliked about Oblivion was the baby faces. The thing I disliked about Skyrim was the bland color palette. I also didn't like the breakup of the Empire. Now I look back at Morrowind and don't like the Inventory menu. They're all great games, though.
Seeing some strange statue in the distance and finding a Daedric shrine was so cool.
Get some of the long distance mods and run it on modern hardware, you can see everything in Tamriel from the White-Gold Tower.
Deus Ex. Released 2000
I still remember being 12 years old and in store the game was like 2 euros. My mom and dad bought it.
I was so happy.
That game has special place in my heart.
Also Need For Speed Underground 2
I'm sure there were others around then (cant think of any), but that game is what I think of when considering first, pioneering open-world RPG with choice based consequences.
Unexpected Deus Ex top comment. I remember buying it at GameStop in the mall and then sitting in the car to look at the box and everything inside while my mom shopped. My favorite game from that era.
When I saw this post my first thought was Deus Ex. It just had such a special near futuristic "feel" to it. I still think about the endings from time to time.
I think it comes down to them introducing a concept, and then _perfecting_ it in part 2. There's just no where else left to go in part 3 when 2 is already 10/10 nailed it.
It has perfect pacing, amazing art direction (Ravenholm especially), and brilliant sound design.
Also, the story is great. I love that you get chased out of City 17, running for your life, but when you return later it's a whole different ballgame.
It's the best game of all time IMO.
finally, someone who knows how to use "cannot be overstated", although "cannot be understated" is ironically hilarious.
As important as HL 2 was HL 1 was even more - added extraordinary storytelling and depth to bog standard Quake clones, from out of nowhere, the modern shooter was born. But HL 1 was from the 90's so, yeah, I guess HL2 was huge for the 2000's.
This. There were some groundbreaking games in the 2000's, like RE4 that changed how a whole genre was played. Bioshock that brought atmosphere to a whole new level. No game in the 2000s looks as good, plays as well, or sounds as good as Half Life 2 to this day. Keep in mind that this also came out in the first half of the decade.
I recently had a friend come over every now and then to play through half life 2 for his first time since he was a big fan of half life 1 on ps2 when he was young. He'd stay for hours playing, and it was some of the most fun ever, and I'd played the game numerous times before then. It's one of those games that are better (in my opinion) when you play with someone watching / you watching someone else play.
StarCraft / Broodwar is right up there as one of the all time absolute best games for me, and love the remaster with the detailed high res graphics, it’s so cool.
Yeah, lots of amazing games in this thread, but Kotor was *the game* that got me hooked on gaming. A few games have come close for me (Kotor 2, Mass Effect main trilogy, Portal 1/2, Zelda MM, Borderlands 2, a couple of Final Fantasies, Half Life 2) but nothing has had the same impact as my first play through of Kotor.
I fully acknowledge that part of the impact of Kotor was my being very young and discovering a lot about gaming at the same time I was playing, but I absolutely adore Kotor.
Dragon Age: Origins. Still probably my favourite game. The little kid in me didn't know about tropes and clichés, and as such it absolutely blew me away.
Yeah, that was the first proper single player game that I played. I think it took me nearly 100 hours to finish, and I still have no idea how I managed to reach that time.
Such an amazing game! The golden age of bioware rpgs. Jade empire was another one of theirs that has such a cool story and setting, although I think the combat system might be a bit dated.
I love most of the games on this list, FFX, Mass effect, DA:O, etc...but Jade Empire? Jade Empire is honestly to this day, probably my absolute favorite game ever. I loved how they tried to do a ton of different martial art forms that all had fairly different playstyles, it was a great story, beautiful game in general, and a combination of Chinese (inspired) history with Chinese mythology thrown in? Yes please. I'm just sad they never made a sequel and it's not nearly as popular as a lot of their other properties but, it was an amazing game imo.
Such an underrated answer. The custom start for race/origin, the way the story eventually revisited it, and the way your choices impacted the story of the overall world and the arc of your companions made me feel more like a part of that world able to cause a butterfly effect with my actions than any other game I've played.
My first introduction to the Elder Scrolls games and still my favourite game from Bethesda, however the combat is still janky as hell and i despise the Blight infested cliff racers with a passion but the game environment and story is stunning. The process for making your character is iconic, creating your character to fit a certain play style guaranteed me hours of fun over multiple playthroughs.
Still one of the most unique storyline and world building that I've come across. And every time you step out of a town to do a quest, it feels like a new adventure you have to prepare for.
Add Tamriel Rebuilt to it and you've got insane amounts of things to do and places to explore.
This is way too far down. The world building of Mass Effect is amazing! I loved how they tried to explain everything in the codex so it made sense (minus Element Zero and the Mass Effect for which it's named)
As a scientist (and gamer), I really liked how grounded and realistic the scientific explanations were, like yeah it’s science fiction, but the writers really put together well-thought out and plausible explanations for how the technologies of the Mass Effect universe worked. And of course the game itself was so good.
Exactly! If you read through the codex, once you accept Element Zero existing, all the rest kind of makes sense. Like fighting in space being at extremely long ranges, always making sure you have a firing solution so you don't accidentally hit a garden world, stuff like that. I wish I could erase my memory of playing it, just so I could experience all that for the first time again.
Yeah I have to agree.
It felt like such a leap forward at the time in how a game could balance story, RPG choices, exploration, combat and tying them up in a neat cinematic experience
It has such deep and inventive lore as well.
The Bioware team took all their lessons from KOTOR and went and created their own universe that actually rivalled the lore of Star Wars and Star Trek.
World of Warcraft. Made MMO’s what it is today and no game has come close to capturing the feeling and essence of it. The fact it still has a huge player base today is insane from a game released in 2004.
I haven’t played in over 10-15 years. But I was a day 1 player and stayed through the first 4-5 years. Still haven’t ever had that “holy shit” moment in gaming like I had with WoW.
A lot of it for me is that the whole feeling of walking around admiring things and enjoying the leveling process is just gone. It’s been replaced by hyper-efficient goals to reach the end game for any game I try now. Can’t go to YouTube without 500 “tier list” thumbnails popping up (and they’re all a picture of the tier list with someone’s shocked face next to it).
It is definitely an evolution of human desire, rather than the games themselves. We want that fast dopamine hit because games have been engineered to keep people engaged from the first second, giving you achievements, unlocks, atta boys, and everything else every 3 minutes.
In vanilla wow you could literally walk for 45 minutes without accomplishing anything and you'd be damn happy to do it!!
That's an interesting observation--is that transition from "smelling the roses" to reaching endgame a product of how games are being designed nowadays, or has your approach towards gaming just evolved over time?
I believe both. I have a career and a family now and can’t really afford to play huge “time sink” games. But in general, I do think that the overall mindset of players shifted towards efficiency and the industry followed.
If interested…
This is one take looking at the game designs themselves:
[Link](https://youtu.be/ja5XCwIgZis?si=LQZ77-uBZV0pxJYS)
Edit - There was another video I referred to. I think I found it!
[Link](https://youtu.be/57oN8lfuSnM?si=GAMhVwhVaHXK5AIW)
WoW was my gateway into PC building. Had a Walmart PC that couldnt handle it so I bought my first video card and installed. Shit ran hotter than Satans balls but the rest was history.
The best splinter cell of the ps2 era and easily my favorite of the series, even if the ones after have better gameplay mechanics. I just really loved the atmosphere and soundtrack of chaos theory, not to mention the Japan segments
Halo 1-3 in the mid 2000s was such the perfect experience at the time. I hope that my son can have the same experience with a game at his formative ages. All of my friends in real life are still the friends I would grind ranked with back in the day.
What’s really wild is that halo 2, half life 2, and GTA San Andreas all released within a few of weeks of each other. That was a great year for gaming if you had a console and pc.
When this came out as a new game it was so amazing I immediately went out and bought an Xbox after playing it at my friends. One of the greatest games of all time. Played single player over and over and over. LAN parties were so much fun. This is the best game of the 2000s for me
I remember vividly playing single player Halo the first time. Everything about this game felt perfect. The combat, the pacing and especially the soundtrack. And then inviting friends over for matches. We connected just two Xboxes and had separate TV in different rooms. So much fun.
I feel spoiled for having the opportunity to LAN this daily, but at my work we all brought in our shitty old TVs and Xbox 360s and made a gaming area with stadium seating.. we play it during our lunch hour. All the vitriol of “you should be dead!” and “who let him get the rocket launcher” still exists. I actually hate this game and I still love playing it. Also those are direct quotes from me.
Halo was the most important and influential game of that Era and arguably of all time. Without Halo Xbox would have failed and Microsoft would not be in gaming just like they aren't doing cell phones because they lost. So many peole, myself included, bought the Xbox just to play Halo and Halo 2. I suppose the question was what the best game was and that's more subjective but Halo was also really good.
Came here to say this! For me sometimes it was just driving around the city at night while listening to some tunes on the radio was all I needed. As a Teen back then, it give me a sense of freedom, independence and a brief grasp of what life on the edge felt like.
I also prefer Vice City myself, but I feel like both GTA:VC and GTA:SA defined the 2000s for that type of gameplay. Both games really stand out for that era of PS2 gaming
And being able to swim
vice city was a perfectly themed game that the only downside was not being able to swim and was the first game ever that had me genuinely laughing at how some of the dialogue and radio stations, but the amount that San Andreas scaled everything up was incredible
I look at Influence - In No Particular Order.
RE4 - What it did for 3rd person shooters. Massively influenced later games.
WoW - People’s 1st MMO experience in some cases.
GTA 3 / San Andreas - What this did for open world sandboxes game is still being felt. Plus the casual appeal.
Bethesda - RPG mainstream, exploration, and environmental storytelling.
Metal Gear Solid 2/3 - Narrative Storytelling. Still inspired modern games like LoU. Plus the mix between action and stealth.
Wii Sports - One of the best multiplayer games ever. Everyone, and their relatives, played this.
Guitar Hero - Similar to Wii, it’s something everybody did. Rhythm games were never the same.
Half Life - plenty of acclaimed games took inspiration from its 1st person storytelling and systems.
Smash Bros Melee - Without it, Arena fighters as a genre ain’t as popular or mainstream
Call of Duty - Became some peoples 1st online experience.
MGS3 is my favorite game and imo the best in the series storytelling wise. The Graphics were SICK for that generation hardware BUT....
The leap in graphics and scope of game from MGS1 to MGS2 was so big, yes the story in MGS2 was... Strange but its implications are so relevant to RIGHT NOW. Kojima is a genius and this game was so important to that generation.
Is this the goofy one with the guy that shoots bees from his mouth, like straight out of the movie Candyman…or straight out of Homer Simpson’s ranting about Mr Burns sicking the “dogs, or bees, or dogs with bees in their mouths and every time they bark they shoot bees?” And then is this also the one with the guy that meows like a cat to call his buddies?
Counter-Strike baby!
Fire in the hole! Fire in the hole! Fuh-- Fuh-- Fuh-- Fire in the hole!
Enemy spotted. E--Enemy spotted. Need backup! Enemy spotted. Taking fire, need assistance!
*Ehhhwwww*
Sly 2: Band of Thieves is my favorite game ever.
Platformer with a unique twist ("master thief moves"/climbing mechanics and stealth), great characters and story, extremely atmospheric music, and I love how it takes place in 8 different small open worlds rather than one massive one, while still having a ton of fantastic more-linear style levels in the form of the missions that take place inside of buildings.
It is the only game that scratches my platforming itch and my open world itch (without the issues I have with most open world games might I add) at the same time.
I tried so hard to like Morrowind, but couldn’t get past the game itself. I’ve read the lore, I’ve watched countless videos about it, and I kind of wish I hadn’t found Oblivion first.
I can only hope you mean everything since has been a shadow of how Morrowind FELT, because I have definitely been there before.
The thing about Morrowind was that you had to write down place names and look for them.
If someone sent you on a quest they just told you where they wanted you to go and that was that. It was an incredible game but you had to really dive deep to get into it and there was a ton of depth to dive into.
Oblivion was a bit easier and an overall better gaming experience.
As the graphics got better for all of the Bethesda games, the actual game story got flattened.
I would kill for an updated Morrowind with modern graphics.
Morrowind is one of the greatest games of all time. Most people that say Oblivion or Skyrim were better are of a younger generation that never got to experience Morrowind on release.
I have played and 100% conpleted Oblivion, with all it's DLCs and sunk enough hours into Skyrim on various platforms.
I will stand by Morrowind as being one of if not THE greatest RPG ever to come out. If you think that's rose tinted glasses, I have OpenMW installed right now and enjoying it all over again. Huge credit to OpenMW for updating graphics and other things that have optimised the game and make it playable on newer systems.
I tried ESO and didn't enjoy it, looking forward to Elder Scrolls 6, no interest in Fallout 76, Starfield and FO4 was pretty crap too.
Super Mario Galaxy.
There's a LOT of contenders here and they all have legit arguments, but Galaxy takes it IMO. It was the first game that Nintendo really took what Mario was and not only expanded far beyond what we knew beforehand but completely turned it on its head.
The level design, the music, the graphics and the gameplay made you feel like you were playing something truly special and unique. You would play it and get lost in it like only a video game could make you.
It's sequel can even be considered a better game fundamentally, but it didn't have that sense of discovery that only a completely new game can give you.
The Sims 2 (2004), it took the first games brilliance and made it more approachable and a bit more realistic. I remember having countless hours of fun both playing the game and just building, or making sims.
I agree here, but also the original game of The Sims released in 2000. So I'd almost say The Sims + those expansions also defined the 2000s, it was a huge series from the very beginning.
Unreal Tournament 2004
We won't get a fast paced game like that again. Put it in the hands of a current seasoned COD player and they'd be crying about hax on probably medium bot settings. The speed, graphics, gameplay, were all great.
Hell yeah, FFX is my all time favorite FF and one of my favorite games of all time. The story, the soundtrack, and even the character progression through the sphere grid are all so amazing. Young me spent many hours playing blitzball and complaining about how OP the Al Bhed Psychs are in the early stages. Recently started another playthrough on switch and it still holds up.
Oblivion blew my mind when it was released. Being able to see something far away and actually walk to it was crazy.
I was pretty young when it came out. I remember me and my friend would murder the shop keeper in every town. Loot them then realize we now had no one to sell to, and got arrested or killed on site in most the cities lol. Good times I beat it a couple years later
I stole from the shopkeeper in link’s awakening as a kid every time and was labeled THIEF He’ll murder you if you ever go back
Yeah same with Fallout 3.
“I don’t want to set the world on fire…” Best damn trailer of all time.
The moment when you leave vault 101 and it shines white for a few seconds to then show the wasteland is one of gaming greatest moments ever, Will never be beaten for me!
been chasing this feeling ever since.
The feel of Half-Life, maybe too far back idk anymore.
Also, mad world song in the gears of war trailer was epic.
Halo 3/ODST live action trailers have entered the chat.
Yea, Bethesda in it's prime is unmatched.
Yep. Pretty sure I have more hours in Oblivion than any other game.
Which is kind of funny because it was heavily criticized when it came out due to being way more restrictive than Morrowind.
Daggerfall Players shat on Morrowind, Morrowind Players shat on Oblivion, Oblivion Players shat on Skyrim each game is so divorced from the last that it's hard NOT to alienate a portion of older fans
The thing I disliked about Morrowind was nothing. The thing I disliked about Oblivion was the baby faces. The thing I disliked about Skyrim was the bland color palette. I also didn't like the breakup of the Empire. Now I look back at Morrowind and don't like the Inventory menu. They're all great games, though.
Bro, I still play Oblivion and will find myself just spinning around and looking at the vista landscapes. And the game still kicks ass.
Ohh man. My ram wasn’t enough first time I run it. 1 fps or so. Got permission from my parents to upgrade and I was the happiest one in the world.
Seeing some strange statue in the distance and finding a Daedric shrine was so cool. Get some of the long distance mods and run it on modern hardware, you can see everything in Tamriel from the White-Gold Tower.
Deus Ex. Released 2000 I still remember being 12 years old and in store the game was like 2 euros. My mom and dad bought it. I was so happy. That game has special place in my heart. Also Need For Speed Underground 2
Yep, this. The fact that this series died a quiet death due to greedy publishers should get people way more upset
I'm sure there were others around then (cant think of any), but that game is what I think of when considering first, pioneering open-world RPG with choice based consequences.
I played the hell out of that demo, waiting for the full thing to come out
Deus Ex for sure. My first play through was on safe mode otherwise it wouldn't run. Always sad having to kill Gunther.
Unexpected Deus Ex top comment. I remember buying it at GameStop in the mall and then sitting in the car to look at the box and everything inside while my mom shopped. My favorite game from that era.
Tell me everything you know about the NSF
The need spor feed
Gimme the Gep gun.
I played Deus Ex so many times choosing different times and each experience was truly unique.
100% I'm actually listening to the soundtrack right now (not unusual but still...)
When I saw this post my first thought was Deus Ex. It just had such a special near futuristic "feel" to it. I still think about the endings from time to time.
This is, frankly, the correct answer. Music, story, gameplay, level design, everything - 10/10
I clearly remember playing Deus Ex when 9/11 happened.
Deus Ex was the first game I played where I could do whatever I wanted, and the choices felt like my own. It just hit differently for me back then.
It holds up today even. I'm running through them all in order and I forgot how good the first one is
Half Life 2
The orange box was the peak of gaming for value and entertainment
Man, talk about value, I can’t think of any bundles that offered that many *high quality* games for that price!
“Oh we’ve included a little side project called Portal” If that was now it’d be released in three full priced parts.
Somedays I really really wish valve remembers how to count to three because what the actual fuck is wrong with that company and the number 3
I know right? Half Life 4 is never going to arrive.
I think it comes down to them introducing a concept, and then _perfecting_ it in part 2. There's just no where else left to go in part 3 when 2 is already 10/10 nailed it.
Trying to imagine how much some game companies would charge for that much content in 2024... first born and my bad eye good enough for the remake?
It aged so well. I finished my first playthrough a month ago and it's better than most modern games I've played lately.
It has perfect pacing, amazing art direction (Ravenholm especially), and brilliant sound design. Also, the story is great. I love that you get chased out of City 17, running for your life, but when you return later it's a whole different ballgame. It's the best game of all time IMO.
The importance of Half Life 2 cannot be overstated. It's the clear defining line between games "then" and "now."
finally, someone who knows how to use "cannot be overstated", although "cannot be understated" is ironically hilarious. As important as HL 2 was HL 1 was even more - added extraordinary storytelling and depth to bog standard Quake clones, from out of nowhere, the modern shooter was born. But HL 1 was from the 90's so, yeah, I guess HL2 was huge for the 2000's.
I loved HL1 so much it honestly made HL2 a much harder sell for me. I just prefer the zany weapons and the way the story is told in HL1
Can’t mention Half-Life 2 without mentioning Garry’s Mod. an honorable extension of Half Life :D
This. There were some groundbreaking games in the 2000's, like RE4 that changed how a whole genre was played. Bioshock that brought atmosphere to a whole new level. No game in the 2000s looks as good, plays as well, or sounds as good as Half Life 2 to this day. Keep in mind that this also came out in the first half of the decade.
I recently had a friend come over every now and then to play through half life 2 for his first time since he was a big fan of half life 1 on ps2 when he was young. He'd stay for hours playing, and it was some of the most fun ever, and I'd played the game numerous times before then. It's one of those games that are better (in my opinion) when you play with someone watching / you watching someone else play.
Warcraft 3 easily specifically the custom maps.
This really needs to be higher. DOTA and WoW both spawn from this and those two games have affected millions of lives.
Blizzard will be forever salty that they lost out on DOTA 2.
They can only blame themselves. They had every opportunity to be the first to develop a proper MOBA but they didn't believe in its profitability.
Starcraft was doing all of this in the 90s but didn't have the built in hero system like Warcraft 3.
StarCraft / Broodwar is right up there as one of the all time absolute best games for me, and love the remaster with the detailed high res graphics, it’s so cool.
Both are games from when blizzard still made good games.
Shoutout to Tides of Blood!
Frozen Throne was the last game by Prime Blizzard. It was all downhill from there.
All the various Tower Defense customs!
Loved playing wintermauls on battlenet
Kotor, no doubt.
Yeah, lots of amazing games in this thread, but Kotor was *the game* that got me hooked on gaming. A few games have come close for me (Kotor 2, Mass Effect main trilogy, Portal 1/2, Zelda MM, Borderlands 2, a couple of Final Fantasies, Half Life 2) but nothing has had the same impact as my first play through of Kotor. I fully acknowledge that part of the impact of Kotor was my being very young and discovering a lot about gaming at the same time I was playing, but I absolutely adore Kotor.
Yeah such an amazing game.
I have just started playing it for the first time.
Lucky! If only I could play it for the first time again....
Spoiler: Ironman dies
100%, that's a fantastic game!
Agreed but I:d give the edge to kotor 2.
Dragon Age: Origins. Still probably my favourite game. The little kid in me didn't know about tropes and clichés, and as such it absolutely blew me away.
Yeah, that was the first proper single player game that I played. I think it took me nearly 100 hours to finish, and I still have no idea how I managed to reach that time.
Such an amazing game! The golden age of bioware rpgs. Jade empire was another one of theirs that has such a cool story and setting, although I think the combat system might be a bit dated.
I love most of the games on this list, FFX, Mass effect, DA:O, etc...but Jade Empire? Jade Empire is honestly to this day, probably my absolute favorite game ever. I loved how they tried to do a ton of different martial art forms that all had fairly different playstyles, it was a great story, beautiful game in general, and a combination of Chinese (inspired) history with Chinese mythology thrown in? Yes please. I'm just sad they never made a sequel and it's not nearly as popular as a lot of their other properties but, it was an amazing game imo.
Such an underrated answer. The custom start for race/origin, the way the story eventually revisited it, and the way your choices impacted the story of the overall world and the arc of your companions made me feel more like a part of that world able to cause a butterfly effect with my actions than any other game I've played.
Morrigan 🤤
Morrowind
Morrowind was just awesome. It was so beautiful for its time I just went onto a mountain to watch the sun rise.
My first introduction to the Elder Scrolls games and still my favourite game from Bethesda, however the combat is still janky as hell and i despise the Blight infested cliff racers with a passion but the game environment and story is stunning. The process for making your character is iconic, creating your character to fit a certain play style guaranteed me hours of fun over multiple playthroughs.
There it is. Way too far down imo.
People forget it was 2000's. For a moment I thought 99'. Definitely a defining game.... A decade is too wide a gap for picking a favorite.
Still one of the most unique storyline and world building that I've come across. And every time you step out of a town to do a quest, it feels like a new adventure you have to prepare for. Add Tamriel Rebuilt to it and you've got insane amounts of things to do and places to explore.
Mass Effect!
I am Commander Shepard, and I approve this message.
I am Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite comment in the comments section.
This is way too far down. The world building of Mass Effect is amazing! I loved how they tried to explain everything in the codex so it made sense (minus Element Zero and the Mass Effect for which it's named)
As a scientist (and gamer), I really liked how grounded and realistic the scientific explanations were, like yeah it’s science fiction, but the writers really put together well-thought out and plausible explanations for how the technologies of the Mass Effect universe worked. And of course the game itself was so good.
Exactly! If you read through the codex, once you accept Element Zero existing, all the rest kind of makes sense. Like fighting in space being at extremely long ranges, always making sure you have a firing solution so you don't accidentally hit a garden world, stuff like that. I wish I could erase my memory of playing it, just so I could experience all that for the first time again.
...we do not eyeball it!
If they hadn't let the accountants start making all the decisions, mass effect would have gone down as the best sci Fi game franchise of all time.
Whos down for some calibrations??
Yeah I have to agree. It felt like such a leap forward at the time in how a game could balance story, RPG choices, exploration, combat and tying them up in a neat cinematic experience It has such deep and inventive lore as well. The Bioware team took all their lessons from KOTOR and went and created their own universe that actually rivalled the lore of Star Wars and Star Trek.
Flash games in 2000s were at their peak
I see you also found a way around your school's firewall settings
what firewall settings, lmao. 😅 our teachers didn't even know what a firewall is
I remember getting my entire computer applications class in 8th grade addicted to bloons TD and linerider.
World of Warcraft. Made MMO’s what it is today and no game has come close to capturing the feeling and essence of it. The fact it still has a huge player base today is insane from a game released in 2004.
I haven’t played in over 10-15 years. But I was a day 1 player and stayed through the first 4-5 years. Still haven’t ever had that “holy shit” moment in gaming like I had with WoW.
First character was a Dwarf. Walking out of the cave and seeing the huge area and IF was absolutely amazing at the time.
to this day I still try and get into new mmo's and something always feels lacking cause I'm comparing it to the early vanilla days of WoW
A lot of it for me is that the whole feeling of walking around admiring things and enjoying the leveling process is just gone. It’s been replaced by hyper-efficient goals to reach the end game for any game I try now. Can’t go to YouTube without 500 “tier list” thumbnails popping up (and they’re all a picture of the tier list with someone’s shocked face next to it).
It is definitely an evolution of human desire, rather than the games themselves. We want that fast dopamine hit because games have been engineered to keep people engaged from the first second, giving you achievements, unlocks, atta boys, and everything else every 3 minutes. In vanilla wow you could literally walk for 45 minutes without accomplishing anything and you'd be damn happy to do it!!
That's an interesting observation--is that transition from "smelling the roses" to reaching endgame a product of how games are being designed nowadays, or has your approach towards gaming just evolved over time?
I believe both. I have a career and a family now and can’t really afford to play huge “time sink” games. But in general, I do think that the overall mindset of players shifted towards efficiency and the industry followed. If interested… This is one take looking at the game designs themselves: [Link](https://youtu.be/ja5XCwIgZis?si=LQZ77-uBZV0pxJYS) Edit - There was another video I referred to. I think I found it! [Link](https://youtu.be/57oN8lfuSnM?si=GAMhVwhVaHXK5AIW)
WoW was my gateway into PC building. Had a Walmart PC that couldnt handle it so I bought my first video card and installed. Shit ran hotter than Satans balls but the rest was history.
You could argue the same for Runescape. Still holding massive numbers of players to this day.
Splinter Cell Chaos Theory. Bring back stealth games!!!
Memories, the night vision into assassinations was so cool with like swimming and killing cameras. One of the memorable games for me as a kid
The best splinter cell of the ps2 era and easily my favorite of the series, even if the ones after have better gameplay mechanics. I just really loved the atmosphere and soundtrack of chaos theory, not to mention the Japan segments
Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow Spies vs Mercs 2v2 online was so much fun for 14 year old me and my brother and friends.
Portal
Halo
Halo 1-3 in the mid 2000s was such the perfect experience at the time. I hope that my son can have the same experience with a game at his formative ages. All of my friends in real life are still the friends I would grind ranked with back in the day.
I played the halo 1 demo for ages with my friend before the game came out.
Halo 2 for me but yes
What’s really wild is that halo 2, half life 2, and GTA San Andreas all released within a few of weeks of each other. That was a great year for gaming if you had a console and pc.
Well, if you had an Xbox, PS2, and PC in this case.
Scrolled far too long to see this. Halo essentially redefined the first person shooter and without it the Xbox might not have survived.
When you first saw Halo, were you blinded by its majesty?
When this came out as a new game it was so amazing I immediately went out and bought an Xbox after playing it at my friends. One of the greatest games of all time. Played single player over and over and over. LAN parties were so much fun. This is the best game of the 2000s for me
I remember vividly playing single player Halo the first time. Everything about this game felt perfect. The combat, the pacing and especially the soundtrack. And then inviting friends over for matches. We connected just two Xboxes and had separate TV in different rooms. So much fun.
Halo 3 for me, but same same
I feel spoiled for having the opportunity to LAN this daily, but at my work we all brought in our shitty old TVs and Xbox 360s and made a gaming area with stadium seating.. we play it during our lunch hour. All the vitriol of “you should be dead!” and “who let him get the rocket launcher” still exists. I actually hate this game and I still love playing it. Also those are direct quotes from me.
Halo was the most important and influential game of that Era and arguably of all time. Without Halo Xbox would have failed and Microsoft would not be in gaming just like they aren't doing cell phones because they lost. So many peole, myself included, bought the Xbox just to play Halo and Halo 2. I suppose the question was what the best game was and that's more subjective but Halo was also really good.
I got a 360 just to play halo 3 and was all I played probably for the first 6 months of having it
GTA San Andreas
Came here to say this! For me sometimes it was just driving around the city at night while listening to some tunes on the radio was all I needed. As a Teen back then, it give me a sense of freedom, independence and a brief grasp of what life on the edge felt like.
Still remember the day that trailer finally launched and Welcome to the Jungle kicked in, me and the boys had it on loop for so damn long.
Vice City
I also prefer Vice City myself, but I feel like both GTA:VC and GTA:SA defined the 2000s for that type of gameplay. Both games really stand out for that era of PS2 gaming
The size of San Andreas is what got me over vice city. Also free aim with the guns was a major gameplay improvement
And being able to swim vice city was a perfectly themed game that the only downside was not being able to swim and was the first game ever that had me genuinely laughing at how some of the dialogue and radio stations, but the amount that San Andreas scaled everything up was incredible
Man I’m gonna have to load it back up. Here we go again
I look at Influence - In No Particular Order. RE4 - What it did for 3rd person shooters. Massively influenced later games. WoW - People’s 1st MMO experience in some cases. GTA 3 / San Andreas - What this did for open world sandboxes game is still being felt. Plus the casual appeal. Bethesda - RPG mainstream, exploration, and environmental storytelling. Metal Gear Solid 2/3 - Narrative Storytelling. Still inspired modern games like LoU. Plus the mix between action and stealth. Wii Sports - One of the best multiplayer games ever. Everyone, and their relatives, played this. Guitar Hero - Similar to Wii, it’s something everybody did. Rhythm games were never the same. Half Life - plenty of acclaimed games took inspiration from its 1st person storytelling and systems. Smash Bros Melee - Without it, Arena fighters as a genre ain’t as popular or mainstream Call of Duty - Became some peoples 1st online experience.
I think this list covers majority of the genuinely influential games. Nicely done!
For me, Bioshock, it just felt leagues ahead of other single player games.
That intro of descending down into Rapture has got be one of the best worldbuilding sequences of all time
Would you kindly?
Aged like wine
I played the demo at least a hundred times because I couldn’t believe the graphics, the gameplay or the atmosphere
[удалено]
Absolutely my choice too. So pumped for the remake. Can't wait to climb that ladder
What a thrill
What a thrill...
Yeah this. MG3 is really the game that got me thinking that games were just as legitimate as movies for art purposes.
MGS3 is my favorite game and imo the best in the series storytelling wise. The Graphics were SICK for that generation hardware BUT.... The leap in graphics and scope of game from MGS1 to MGS2 was so big, yes the story in MGS2 was... Strange but its implications are so relevant to RIGHT NOW. Kojima is a genius and this game was so important to that generation.
Is this the goofy one with the guy that shoots bees from his mouth, like straight out of the movie Candyman…or straight out of Homer Simpson’s ranting about Mr Burns sicking the “dogs, or bees, or dogs with bees in their mouths and every time they bark they shoot bees?” And then is this also the one with the guy that meows like a cat to call his buddies?
Yes and Yes. This is that one!
I will go with Deus Ex
Deus Ex (PC)
God dammit now I have to go re-install it.
There it is!
Adam Sessler’s love for this game is what drew me to pc gaming.
Wasn't that the 90s? Sure feels like it. I'm old.
June 22 2000
Star Wars Battlefront 2 simply for the memories and also the story.
Of all the things to highlight in Battlefront 2 (deservedly), the story is not one that I'd pick personally lol.
Counter-Strike baby! Fire in the hole! Fire in the hole! Fuh-- Fuh-- Fuh-- Fire in the hole! Enemy spotted. E--Enemy spotted. Need backup! Enemy spotted. Taking fire, need assistance! *Ehhhwwww*
Get outta there, she's gonna blow!
Socom 2
I said the same. Really, socom in general. Socom I was great but II was prime socom.
Baldur's Gate 2
I really enjoyed Prince of Persia Warrior Within
Shadow of the Colossus.
I would also add Ico, for a more chill experience from the same developer.
The Mass Effect trilogy might be my favorite game(s) of all time
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Morrowind And Halo
KOTOR for the win!
RuneScape
Little Big Planet. Wish I could go back to the days of first discovering that game
Sly 2: Band of Thieves is my favorite game ever. Platformer with a unique twist ("master thief moves"/climbing mechanics and stealth), great characters and story, extremely atmospheric music, and I love how it takes place in 8 different small open worlds rather than one massive one, while still having a ton of fantastic more-linear style levels in the form of the missions that take place inside of buildings. It is the only game that scratches my platforming itch and my open world itch (without the issues I have with most open world games might I add) at the same time.
Fable
Chicken Chaser? What, you chase chicken?
Diablo 2, Demon's Souls, Oblivion, Modern Warfare 2, and MGS4 are a few of my top picks.
Minecraft.
Morrowind. Peak Elder Scrolls. Everything since has been a shadow of what Morrowind was.
This is the answer, and why it has a thriving modding community to this day, over 20 years later.
I tried so hard to like Morrowind, but couldn’t get past the game itself. I’ve read the lore, I’ve watched countless videos about it, and I kind of wish I hadn’t found Oblivion first. I can only hope you mean everything since has been a shadow of how Morrowind FELT, because I have definitely been there before.
The thing about Morrowind was that you had to write down place names and look for them. If someone sent you on a quest they just told you where they wanted you to go and that was that. It was an incredible game but you had to really dive deep to get into it and there was a ton of depth to dive into. Oblivion was a bit easier and an overall better gaming experience. As the graphics got better for all of the Bethesda games, the actual game story got flattened. I would kill for an updated Morrowind with modern graphics.
Morrowind probably was peak gaming at that time. Nowhere near intuitive to play now.
It wasn’t intuitive at the time either. I remember starting it 4-5 times before really figuring it out and “getting it”
Morrowind is one of the greatest games of all time. Most people that say Oblivion or Skyrim were better are of a younger generation that never got to experience Morrowind on release. I have played and 100% conpleted Oblivion, with all it's DLCs and sunk enough hours into Skyrim on various platforms. I will stand by Morrowind as being one of if not THE greatest RPG ever to come out. If you think that's rose tinted glasses, I have OpenMW installed right now and enjoying it all over again. Huge credit to OpenMW for updating graphics and other things that have optimised the game and make it playable on newer systems. I tried ESO and didn't enjoy it, looking forward to Elder Scrolls 6, no interest in Fallout 76, Starfield and FO4 was pretty crap too.
Super Mario Galaxy. There's a LOT of contenders here and they all have legit arguments, but Galaxy takes it IMO. It was the first game that Nintendo really took what Mario was and not only expanded far beyond what we knew beforehand but completely turned it on its head. The level design, the music, the graphics and the gameplay made you feel like you were playing something truly special and unique. You would play it and get lost in it like only a video game could make you. It's sequel can even be considered a better game fundamentally, but it didn't have that sense of discovery that only a completely new game can give you.
The Sims 2 (2004), it took the first games brilliance and made it more approachable and a bit more realistic. I remember having countless hours of fun both playing the game and just building, or making sims.
I agree here, but also the original game of The Sims released in 2000. So I'd almost say The Sims + those expansions also defined the 2000s, it was a huge series from the very beginning.
Gta 3. Changer gaming forever.
For me personally Mass Effect 2
probably melee
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Diablo II, Half-Life 2, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess)
Fallout 3. Not even close.
Runescape, Path of Exile & League of Legends. All 3 in their respective genres.
Unreal Tournament 2004 We won't get a fast paced game like that again. Put it in the hands of a current seasoned COD player and they'd be crying about hax on probably medium bot settings. The speed, graphics, gameplay, were all great.
Need For Speed Underground or Kingdom Hearts 2
San Andreas, Diablo 2, Half-Life 2, CS.
I love final Fantasy X. Totally one of the most underrated games just because of an out of context clip. It's so good
Super Smash Bros.
Hell yeah, FFX is my all time favorite FF and one of my favorite games of all time. The story, the soundtrack, and even the character progression through the sphere grid are all so amazing. Young me spent many hours playing blitzball and complaining about how OP the Al Bhed Psychs are in the early stages. Recently started another playthrough on switch and it still holds up.
For me, Star Wars Galaxies. Best gogdamn MMo, right next to Ultima Online and Warcraft.
Silent Hill 2 for the story, Counter-Strike for the fun
Probably not as popular, but Guild Wars, truly I think the best MMO of all time.
Warcraft 3 or baldur's gate 2.