Here goes....
The Witcher 2: The Assassin of Kings - I was heavy into Elder Scrolls and Fallout before I knew about the Witcher 2. So, I was kinda bias. I had already played through both Skyrim and Fallout 3, so I needed something to hold me over because I wasn't in the mood to buy DLC for those games. At that time, I was playing Kingdoms of Amalur, which I thought was pretty good. So, I looked up gameplay for Witcher 2, and I was somewhat intrigued. When I finally picked up the game, and began playing it on the hardest difficulty (Dark Mode), I no longer looked at Elder Scrolls and Fallout the same. In fact, it made me scrutinize both titles significantly. I even decided not to finish Amalur, because it paled in comparison to Witcher 2 (and the former was released nearly a year before the latter). Witcher 2 was just about everything I wanted in an action RPG. It was mature-themed, and the narrative was so much better than a lot of other RPGs of its time. The most interesting feature was that your choices in the game effected the story, setting, characters and atmosphere. This dictated the paths taken in the game and the type of ending you'd end up with. The combat system was phenomenal, and due to the game's difficulty, strategy was involved. This game was my bread and butter, as I had played through it three times. The game got more and more enjoyable each playthrough. It may not have had an open world or the numerous gameplay options like Skyrim, but it did a lot of other things better than Skyrim did. Sometimes having less is better than having more, in my opinion. I daresay that this is my favorite action RPG, hands down.
Halo 3 - The one Halo game that I spent countless hours on while in college. I managed to get caught up with Halo and Halo 2 before playing this. Halo 2 is what got me into the franchise, and I completely sucked at that game for some reason. I did have moments were I would play pretty well, though. Apart from that, Halo 2 never had me hype for the franchise. But, when Halo 3 came out, it elevated my interest. I was better at this game than I was at Halo 2. There were multiple game modes to hold me over for almost three years until my third Xbox 360 gave out on me due to RROD. But, I was mainly a Slayer guy, as well as a Big Team Battle guy, too. I quickly adjusted to the new weapons in the game and I managed to get the hang of using the Battle Rifle effectively. With the numerous hours put into the games, I was failing and/or barely passing my classes, so I sorta kinda regret the amount of time I put into Halo 3. I talked a lot of trash in this game, too. I'm talking vitriol.It was serious.
Street Fighter 4 - When this game was announced, I was extremely pumped for it. It was yet another game that prevented me from passing my classes. LOL. Understand that this was the first Street Fighter game I had played since Third Strike. There was a ten-year gap between that game and SF4. My hype for this made me open up a few threads here in the off-topic forum. When the game was released, a lot of us here on the Vine shared gamertags and played against each other. I put a lot of practice into this game, and eventually became really good. My win percentage online was 76%, and my mains were Sagat, Fei Long, and Ryu. I even competed on the tournament level in the Street Fighter IV National Tournament, sponsored by Gamestop. I was the best in Valdosta, GA at the time, and eventually made it to Round 3 but I didn't make it past the preliminaries. I continued to play the game and all of its expansions, but I wasn't able to play it consistently like I used to. So, my skill diminished greatly.
Pokemon Silver - Good Lord. I won this game from a cereal box sweepstakes. When it came in the mail, I was hysterical. I had played the other Pokemon games before it, so I was well-acquainted with this one. This was the only game I played after the school, and it was on my younger cousin's Game Boy Color, since I didn't have one of my own. It renewed my interest in Pokemon after the Johto League became relevant. In fact, it made me appreciate the Johto League even more. I was extremely excited to have three of my favorite Pokemon - Heracross (all-time favorite), Hitmonchan, and Scyther/Scizor - all on the same team. Even after beating the game, I kept playing it, trying to catch more and more Pokemon to increase my Pokedex. I ended up losing this game years later. Fell out of my pocket somehow while walking home from a friend's house.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - I played this game years after it came out. Motivated by Castlevania: Dracula X, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow and Super Castlevania IV, I downloaded SotN from Xbox Live, and in spite of all of the newer games coming out at the time, this game managed to keep my attention for a while. Someone told me that it could be the greatest action platformer ever made. While that's debatable, I can see why someone would think that. The environment was similar to Metroid (the whole Metroidvania thing), but then it had RPG elements in the game, too. The bestiary was vast, and the game was pretty challenging, as well. Alucard had these magical attacks that were inputted like commands in a fighting game, and I had a blast playing with Richter Belmont, mainly because of his Item Crash special abilities, which made the game a lot more enjoyable.
Shinobi 3: Return of the Ninja Master - The quintessential ninja game. I went into this game thinking that it would play exactly like the Revenge of Shinobi (an honorable mention). But, it exceeded my expectations. It played better than its predecessor. Gameplay was faster and more responsive. There were a multitude of new moves, and the game's soundtrack was phenomenal. When I first played this game, I was a member of the Boys and Girls Club. I had just completed the eighth grade at the time, and many of the younger kids wanted me to play the game for them. The audience in the room increased the further I got into the game. But, I was so amazed by it that I completely forgot that there were other people in the room. This is greater than all of the Ninja Gaiden games, and the only ninja game that I've played through numerous times.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - When I first played this game in the seventh grade, I had no idea what it was. Then, I remembered the classic Legend of Zelda game that I played on the Nintendo and quickly made the connection. Although I played the first Zelda game, I didn't get very far. I was also in the first grade, so a game like that didn't keep my attention for very long and I immediately forgot that it existed. It took me forever to finish the first dungeon in OoT, and when I did, reality no longer matter to me. It was the first time that I had ever been introduced to a fantasy world with an interesting and immersive story. Back then, this game was so vast, so open... So many things to do. The combat system was ahead of its time, and IIRC, such a gameplay mechanic like Z-Targeting paved the way for similar gameplay mechanics in other games, specifically action RPG titles. Like the other games above, I played through this multiple times, acquiring new items and learning new things about the game. It was the first Zelda that I had ever beaten, and the only one that held my attention the longest. It was my gateway to other Zelda games, like Link's Awakening (completed this one, too), A Link to the Past (didn't keep my attention, however), the Phantom Hourglass (didn't finish this one), the Minish Cap (completed this), and Twilight Princess (I still plan to complete this one).
Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Metal Gear Solid 3, Final Fantasy VIII, Dragon Quest VIII, Seiken Densetsu 3, Super Metroid, Metroid Fusion, Kingdom Hearts and NBA Street Vol. 2 are also among this list. I've played a lot of great games over the years, but I have an emotional attachment to the games listed in this post.
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