Best Video Game Ever Series

by · May 31, 2013

Kyle Cupp

Kyle Cupp is a former regular here at Ordinary Times who lives in a small rural town about two hours southwest of Portland, Oregon with his wife, kids, and dog. He enjoys studying and writing about the world of employment, which is good because that's his job. You can find him on Twitter.

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29 Responses

  1. Kimsie says:
    May 31, 2013 at 2:28 pm

    Too many to choose from.
    Seriously.Report

  2. James K says:
    May 31, 2013 at 6:19 pm

    I’ll be writing a post on Bastion.Report

  3. Tod Kelly says:
    June 2, 2013 at 12:35 pm

    I might try to make the case that the best were the kind you had to play at 7-11 for a quarter. Asteroids, Spy Hunter, etc.Report

    • trizzlor in reply to Tod Kelly says:
      June 2, 2013 at 1:02 pm

      #SlatePitches:
      1. “You’ll never guess who spawned the best video games ever (HINT: they also make a mean Slurpee)”
      2. “How 7-11 saved the video game industry (and why they’ve been lost ever since)”
      3. “10 best video games that cannot be played”Report

  4. Plinko says:
    June 2, 2013 at 12:44 pm

    I put in for Minecraft.Report

  5. Don Zeko says:
    June 2, 2013 at 12:49 pm

    I could write up a case for either Portal or Civilization 4.Report

  6. Jaybird says:
    June 2, 2013 at 1:08 pm

    I will do my best to meditate upon Fallout.Report

  7. maxl says:
    June 2, 2013 at 1:37 pm

    +1 to Civilization (Civ V is a mulligan?). But Alpha Centaruri is a sort of a spin off and was brilliant.

    How about the Total War series? Total War: Rome II will be the decider on that late this summer. It’s probably the only game I will buy this year. Life get’s busy.

    Elder Scrolls (Bethesda’s take on Fallout was great, too) … or Baldur’s Gate? Especially if we can consider Planescape: Torment a spin off.

    And just for the grognards: Europa Unversalis and it’s direct spinoff’s Crusader Kings and Victoria.Report

    • Plinko in reply to maxl says:
      June 2, 2013 at 1:56 pm

      If I’m not mistaken, it’s a series on the best video game, not the best series (also a great topic, though!)Report

    • maxl in reply to maxl says:
      June 2, 2013 at 2:02 pm

      o, wait -write a guest post for? Then nevermind Elder Scrolls (Eric Kain has done that already and far far better than I could) or Civ (Don Zeko has dibs). I haven’t played Baldur’s Gate in over a decade. And I don’t think anybody else plays the grognard games but me. “It’s um, all just numbers?” was one friends instant review.

      I would give the Total War series a go, though.Report

    • James K in reply to maxl says:
      June 2, 2013 at 5:01 pm

      Personally, I enjoy Civ V quite a lot.Report

      • North in reply to James K says:
        June 3, 2013 at 10:52 am

        OMG me too! I play multiplayer online obsessively. What’s your favorite civ/strat? I’m a complete sucker for wonders and cultural victories so of course I play Egypt and am so excited for the new expansion I can barely breathe.Report

        • James K in reply to North says:
          June 3, 2013 at 2:33 pm

          I’m pretty eclectic with my Civ choices. I’m definitely looking forward to the expansion since it should help with the late game, which is fairly boring unless you’re trying to take over the world.Report

  8. Patrick says:
    June 2, 2013 at 2:08 pm

    Populous.Report

  9. Dave says:
    June 2, 2013 at 4:50 pm

    Seeing as my preferred gaming genre is one that I doubt anyone else here has much interest in, I would be wasting my time arguing why the IL-2 Sturmovik series is the greatest video game ever. However, it’s a great idea for a series and I’ll submit a post giving the game its due in its respective genre.

    I really like Tod’s idea.Report

  10. Sam says:
    June 2, 2013 at 7:15 pm

    All of you, please stop being ridiculous: the answer is Super Metroid.

    What’s next?Report

  11. Damon says:
    June 3, 2013 at 7:29 am

    The “Thief” Series

    First person “sneaker”.

    I also liked Half Life, Deux Ex, and the Elder Scrolls.Report

  12. Morat20 says:
    June 3, 2013 at 10:39 am

    Hmm.

    How do you define “best”? Ground breaking, or inspiring new genres? Unique and unforgettable?

    Masters of Orion 2, Civilization, Command and Conquer, Ultima Online — all created or advanced entire genres.

    Baldur’s Gate revitalized an entire genre that had been effectively dustbinned. Planescape: Torment is one of the most unique and best told RPG’s I’ve ever played. Deus Ex and Half Life are excellent shooters that should be the bar to aim for.

    Portal is, well, Portal and just space-awesome in every respect.

    Then there’s “Bioware’s Knights of the Old Republic and after” RPGs, which are all similar and all sorta the default for excellence. Or Blizzard with Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo I and II, and World of Warcraft — again, setting a bar or creating a genre. (Admittedly, the Dune game actually came before Warcraft for RTS).

    Still…Portal or Planescape Torment. The former is such a unique concept and gameplay that my wife — who loathes shooters, enjoyed the snot out of it and spent a good hour talking my ear off about how it was this excellent example of how to teach complex concepts iteratively and naturally (the fact that, well, you end up thinking 4 dimensionally and ‘with portals’ is proof of that), and the latter is such a good story and concept that people won’t stop talking about it what, 15 years later?Report

    • North in reply to Morat20 says:
      June 3, 2013 at 10:54 am

      I don’t know if Portal is the best game, but it’s sure as hell some of the best writing in a game ever. I couldn’t stand the “playing” part but my buddies and I watched Portal and Portal II played through on Youtube like it was a movie. And it was a -damn- fine movie.Report

      • Morat20 in reply to North says:
        June 3, 2013 at 11:26 am

        You obviously never learned to think in Portals. Honestly, by the end of that game, I was shocked at the concepts that came rather naturally. “Oh yeah, let’s go ahead and mutilate space time. Casually. On the fly. While falling through the air, so I can use my momentum“.

        It was a great game for that. By the end of the game, you were literally solving puzzles that you couldn’t even have grasped at the beginning.Report

        • North in reply to Morat20 says:
          June 3, 2013 at 11:41 am

          Yes I’m sure it was a fine puzzle solving game; I just don’t find puzzle solving that groundbreaking. Lord knows I don’t like explicit puzzle solving games myself. Then again, since I don’t partake in explicit puzzle solving games I have no context to make a determination that the puzzles in Portal (or 2) were that amazing. So maybe it was the worlds most amazing puzzle game. It certainly was the worlds most interestingly written puzzle game.Report

          • Morat20 in reply to North says:
            June 3, 2013 at 11:43 am

            No game is for everyone, that’s for sure. 🙂

            I, for one, was personally thrilled to see a shooter turned into a complex, spatial puzzle solving game with multiple solutions. Topped with ridiculously awesome writing and voice work.

            In terms of shooters — Team Fortress 2 also stands out as just ridiculously fun. 🙂Report

  13. Jaybird says:
    June 3, 2013 at 1:07 pm

    One should also nod to a particular subset of puzzle games. Games like Tetris or Bejeweled that play on the back of your eyelids right before you fall asleep.Report

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