Top 5 games that best capture the feeling of adventure (examples: LoZ, Shadow of the Colossus, Ultima 4. choose your own of course).
Top 5 GTA "clones"
Top 5 2D platformers - that aren't Mario games
I've come to the conclusion that Hexen may have the most glorious level design ever seen in a FPS. The shit is madness, MC Escher on crystal meth. This was from an age where MIT graduates were working in video games, and it shows in games like Hexen, System Shock, Thief, etc. Love the art style too; it's like a fantasy comic book animated. Why it never achieved the popularity of DOOM is a mystery to me.
I played Doom 64 for the first time a couple years ago, and I have to say it became one of my favorite versions of the game. Certainly the best looking, with its colored lighting and subtle shading. One of my favorite Halloween games.
Was thinking about doing the same, but waiting for that autumn atmosphere. I have Zombies Ate My Neighbors!, Demon's Crest, Shadowgate, and a few others in mind.
I rented this back in 93. I liked the art in the game, which made it neat to see the characters in action on my Genesis, but I could feel there was something off about how it played even if I couldn't put it into words then. I gave it a good try, but wound up putting it down after only one or two sessions.
Probably game of the year for me, from what I've seen. Can't wait.
Road Rash and Road Rash 2 on Genesis were my shit. It was as fun to just drive along as it was to do battle. Peaceful, meditative when you are way out in front and have nothing but road before you.
I'm still in the middle of DKC1 on emulator. I kept dying on the same jump in minecart level. I think it has to do with the 360 controller I am using.
I play depending on who has the best apparel or who looks best in the apparel you are give. Females look better in the Mass Effect N7 armor than males, which look too boxy. Males look better in most Dark Souls armor than females.
Very rarely do I play a female because I want to perv out. Dragon's Dogma and Saints Row 2 and 3 are the only ones that come to mind, because the character models can look pretty sexy.
I think we are seeing more of this Skinner box mechanism in games as time goes on because of the increase in open world, non-focused games and MMOs, and the expectations of the audience and media for a certain amount of hours/content
Personally, I like open worlds but not all the little chores and diversions that developers pack in them (mostly. I did a ton of the side stuff in Saints Row 2. But most games' diversions aren't as fun as that game's). Just give me a story, major objectives and let me exploit the world structure by tackling them from various directions (e.g. Crysis.), and I'm satisfied. No need for collecting feathers, or skinning boars, radiant quests, etc.
"I I bet I could find some mechanism in the game you say that has an addictive quality to it without necessarily being enjoyable in its own right."
Which would be your subjective viewpoint. I could turn around and say that that mechanism is enjoyable in its own right. Or it could be that I do not engage that particular mechanism so that while it may exist in the game, it is not relevant to my enjoyment of the game and therefore may as well not exist which would make it a legitimate entry into my list of games that do not addict in such a way. Without knowledge of a particular player's motivation, you can't claim that they've fallen victim to doing something unenjoyable because addiction. They could be replaying Silent Hill for points, or just because they liked it so much the first go around that they want to relive it.
For the record, I loathe things like collecting widgets and whatnots. I think it's one of the most primitive and least rigorous approaches to game design there is, which is why "platformers" like Banjo Kazooie are the nadir of the genre to me. But Super Mario World is enjoyable in its own right, even taking the most direct path through the game.
And you have to take into account common usage of terms like "Skinner box" when it comes to video games. These are taken to be tasks that offer little-to-no challenge or mechanical substance/depth/complexity in themselves, where the point for the player is some reward (whether game object, title, ranking, etc.) and the point for the developer is to create the illusions of breadth and longevity.
So this list, if i were to lay it out completely, could possibly go into the hundreds because it includes games that have these elements but I do not engage them (e.g. GTA4. Did the story, some of the stunt jumps if they were on my path, but did not go after pigeons, master the parlor games, etc.)
I don't think Bayonetta is an evolution of Devil May Cry, as in it's fundamentally the same combat but better. That they have similar moves may lead people to make that assumption, but this shows a lack of deeper analysis and understanding. The scoring systems are the key.
In the DMC games, your score is based around variety of moves performed, while in Bayonetta it is based on simply keeping a combo going for as long as the requirements demand. This is significant. DMC's system is more versatile,allowing for the chaining of any kind of moves, whether fast and light or slow and strong, while in Bayonetta it is usually best to use weaker attacks to keep the enemies from dying too quickly; this leads to what I call "death by a thousand paper cuts." I can S rank in DMC using almost nothing but the slower power moves, while getting the combo requirement for Pure Platinum in Bayonetta is a more mashy affair. This also leads to Dante feeling more powerful even though he is a weaker character. Plus, I tend to not like maintaining long combos, which is one reason why Ninja Gaiden is still be best of these kinds of games to me. But anyway, all this effects things like animation, timing, encounter design, etc.
Basically, Bayonetta does not obsolete Devil May Cry when it comes to combat, and certainly not DMC4. which may be the best playing game in the series (although I could make a case for the original, as having it's origins in Resident Evil development makes it a different kind of game than what followed). It's everything else -camera, level design, bosses- that Bayo does better than 4.
