Games you think are perfect

prowler

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So this sort of thread popped up on Neogaf and I wanted to hear what you guys have to say.
ITT: Games you think are perfect and don't think could be improved in any way.

Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst
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Xenosaga Episode 1
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Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
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Satangel

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Only one that's really perfect IMHO is Age of Empires 2 (Age of Kings and The Conquerors). But it's perfect thanks to a major amount of nostalgia and playing time.
Furthermore, I think the AlterIWNet version of MW2 is epic too, but it could use zombies. With zombies, it would be another 10/10 in my book.
 
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prowler

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I like to think no game is perfect, so it can have room to expand and improve.
I never really regard any game as perfect. Unless they are really so good that they really blow me out.
Alright, fuck the title perfect and just post games you think can't be improved. It really isn't a hard choice.
 

Guild McCommunist

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Portal 2 is practically flawless. Writing is masterful, puzzles are challenging, and the difficulty curve is perfect. I can't think of a single flaw with that game unless you want to go on about graphics, but those still look good, even with Source being a bit "dated" now.

Not sure if it's as perfect as I rated it but I thought Red Dead Redemption got up there. It was just one of those few games that was able to balance multiplayer and single player content without sacrificing one or another. You could buy the game for single player and still get your money and time's worth or buy it for multiplayer and get the same effect. Considering so many games have a "Catch 22" between single player and multiplayer, RDR was one of the few games to balance it well.

I'd probably say Mass Effect despite it being imperfect. It's glitchy and the gameplay is really inferior to ME2 (minus the RPG aspects) but it honestly revolutionized story telling in games. It created a unique universe (while obviously drawing from other sci-fi elements it's still unique rather than a rip off), deep characters (for the most part), an engaging plot, and had a weighty decision making mechanic. Plus the ability to transfer your character from game to game makes continuity seamless.

EDIT: It's really hard for me to choose any older games since, in retrospect, it looks like they can be improved upon so much or haven't aged well. If i had to choose one, it'd be Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal. While the Pokemon games after that have essentially improved on the formula by just adding more content, GSC is still the standard. It took the basic gameplay from RBY and improved on it before people considered Pokemon sequels to be just "more of the same". It added 100 new Pokemon which were all well designed and memorable. It had an entire new continent but gave you the blast from the past by including the entire old continent (well, most of it). It's still, to date, probably the best handheld RPG because it captures so many of the elements of what makes a handheld unique in combination with RPG elements.

I'll go into list for this explanation:
  • Handhelds have wider appeal: Even before this whole "casual wave", handhelds still had casual appeal. They were cheaper and didn't require too much commitment. Pokemon captured this perfectly by making the elements easy to grasp but still thoroughly engaging.
  • Pick up and play: Probably what I love most about portables is "pick up and play" value. Unlike other RPGs which require a save point to save or only have quick saves, Pokemon allowed a full-on save no matter where you were. The games are also story light and even then, the story is complete garbage. Which actually works here. If I'm on-and-off on a game, I'll find myself maybe rushing through a cutscene out of necessity. Pokemon never has that issue. Even if you don't want to mash through cutscenes here for some odd reason, they're short enough to get through quickly and unimportant if you don't want to read them at all.
  • Constant enjoyability: An issue I find with modern handheld games is that they lack lasting appeal. I find that buying a game for a handheld that I'll play once and let it collect dust for the rest of its life span is silly. I want something I can constantly pop into my portable for that daily theoretical bus ride or free time at school. Pokemon pretty much covered that while still keeping a RPG. Like a good, 20+ hour RPG is nice, but you find yourself playing it once and then with no real draw to come back to it. Pokemon had the whole "game after the game" going for it. Sure, I can put 50 hours or so into FFXIII, which is a nice run time, but I can put hundreds into Pokemon.
  • Variety: Well, Pokemon's gameplay can be a bit repetitive, but I'm talking about the choices you make to change the game. Not Mass Effect style choices, but basic things like what Pokemon to use. They're all unique so no two Pokemon are the same. You start the game and can choose one of three different Pokemon, with no access to others except by trade. You can restart the game and choose a new starter for a completely new experience. You can capture different Pokemon and use them, teach them different moves, try new strategies, and so on.
I'd say as a console RPG, Pokemon would be rather meh. But as a handheld RPG, it's masterful in combining every unique aspect of the handheld with RPG aspects while creating a unique experience that many games still seem unable to capture today.





EDIT 2: But another big question would be why I would choose GSC over the other Pokemon games. I myself am a believer in "superior sequels", where generally sequels, even while lacking some originality in content, are better than their predecessors because of their improved amount of content and tweaking of mechanics. I'd have to answer that with Pokemon becoming rather fluffy today. While there's more content in today's Pokemon, it's mostly useless. In GSC, "mini games" were basically just gambling. Even then, they were rather useless unless you wanted to play them. You could eventually buy coins on their own instead of gambling to get more. Nowadays there's "mini games" like fashion contests and stupid touch based stuff. There's also an overwhelming amount of Pokemon. Where 251 was a tangible goal, challenging but still reachable, the 600+ they have nowadays is just silly. There's way too many hoops to jump through for them. In GSC, I could just trade with the older games, trade with friends, and probably need to go to a Pokemon event once for Celebi. Nowadays you have to trade with like a bagillion different games (Black, White, Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, LeafGreen, FireRed, Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald), which is more of an annoying process than it is challenging.

Oh, and Pokemon also introduced some early social gaming aspects between trading Pokemon and even the whole "friend battle" thing you could do once a week in GSC (where the game would remember the roster of the last friend you traded/battled against and you could fight them like once a week/day or something).

Oh, and I don't think they also ever brought back the day/night system, which I really loved. Waiting until it hit 6pm for the entire world to shift was a memorable part of my childhood. I'd always wait on starting up a new game to make sure I nabbed a Ghastly at Sprout Tower as one of my first Pokemon.

Oh, and the events based on time of day and day of the week are classic.

EDIT 3: Yes, I have a gigantic boner for Pokemon GSC.
 
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DS1

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(whoops, prowler wrote his addendum in the time I wrote this, so edit...)
I can't think of one because, like, perfection is absolute. If you think a game is perfect, that just means you have no imagination. The only games you could even consider being perfect are those which are self-contained (like Tetris or something), but even that can turn into a dumb philosophical conversation which eventually gets derailed by some idiot who is like, "Tetris isn't perfect because they don't give me enough line pieces!!!!".
 

chris888222

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I like to think no game is perfect, so it can have room to expand and improve.
I never really regard any game as perfect. Unless they are really so good that they really blow me out.
Alright, fuck the title perfect and just post games you think can't be improved. It really isn't a hard choice.
Okay... Well I do have one title in mind. Patapon 2 really blew me. Lasting storyline, awesome music, need I say more?
 

prowler

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DS1, I didn't get enough time to quote you before you edited but what the fuck was you on about.

If you think a game is perfect you have no imagination? What?
It's just games you'd play that you wouldn't get bored of, no matter what year or how old you are. Jesus, when someone throws the title perfect, people cry saying there isn't one.

GBAtemp - having the need to question everything instead of just posting god damn games.
 

Master Mo

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I would say the only two games I would call flawlessly perfect and have aged so well that I still have the same feeling for those are tLo Zelda: aLttP and Super Metroid. Those two games are imo the pinnacle of gaming as it is!

And that comes from someone who would say Shenmue is the greatest game of all time but that would be massively subjective, since the game has many flaws...
 

Nujui

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I think Persona 4 would fit in nicely, sure their are somethings that are annoying, but the story is nice, gameplays nice. All around good game. Super Mario Bros 3 is another classic example of a game that never gets old, I still play it sometimes whenever I can't find anything else.

EDIT: I would also add Half Life to near perfect games as well.
 

DS1

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Lol, well then write what you mean and don't flip out about it. My favorite game which I think is 'pefect' is Kaido Battle 2. Great music (you can even create your own soundtrack with the robust in-game music editing program), addictive gameplay, massive amounts of fanservice for car otaku, perfect physics, etc. etc.

Of course, every time my friend and I play it, after going on and on about how perfect it is, we say, "You know what would have made this game even better, if they could have got BMW and Ferrari licenses. Freakin' Sega... And you know, the S2000 doesn't handle all that well compared to real life.. I think they were pissed at Honda for BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH" and before you know it, the game is like... imperfect.

obligatory screenshot?
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AlanJohn

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Tetris.
By far, it is the most complex game I have ever played. It has a lot of action/RPG elements, where your decision depends on the entire storyline. It is so long, that I've never finished it yet! My playtime with it is about 1000-2000 hours. Best part of it, is that it has no minor or major bugs.
The developers obviously have put a lot of effort in this masterpiece.
 
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DS1

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Tetris.
By far, it is the most complex game I have ever played. It has a lot of action/RPG elements, where your decision depends on the entire storyline. It is so long, that I've never finished it yet! My playtime with it is about 1000-2000 hours. Best part of it, is that it has no minor or major bugs.
The developers obviously have put a lot of effort in this masterpiece.

My friend's mom beat Tetris, you're just doing it wrong.

More games I never get bored of playing, even though they are horribly flawed:
Mario 64
FFVII
SaGa 1
TWEWY
SFIII
Tekken 5
Gundam SEED OMNI vs ZAFT II+ etc.etc.
Style Savvy (actually pretty f'in close to perfect, when is the goddamn sequel coming out?)
 
D

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Tetris.
By far, it is the most complex game I have ever played. It has a lot of action/RPG elements, where your decision depends on the entire storyline. It is so long, that I've never finished it yet! My playtime with it is about 1000-2000 hours. Best part of it, is that it has no minor or major bugs.
The developers obviously have put a lot of effort in this masterpiece.
Dude, not cool, that's the game I wanted to mention.
Wouldn't have mentionned action/RPG elements, though.
 

chris888222

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After some deep thought...

Pokemon as a handheld game is REALLY fun. I don't really see much particular flaw. I seem to really enjoy the 'repetition'! :lol:

My opinion on Patapon 2 will not change. It's really good.

I'm trying hard to think of a console game... but I'm really more of a handheld gamer. :P
 

DS1

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edit: instead of reporting myself to keep this thread ontopic I'll just edit.

No man, it's cool, sorry about that.


After some deep thought...

Pokemon as a handheld game is REALLY fun. I don't really see much particular flaw. I seem to really enjoy the 'repetition'! :lol:

That's the one game for years I gave a 10/10 to. It really is perfect, and yet they keep expanding and expanding on it! Same with the Inazuma Eleven series. edit- key to good games is lots of unique characters/items/clothes you can collect, hahha... I think the SMT games are good in this respect, except some of them are really brutal in their lack of freedom (like get stuck in a room, no save points, underleveled, wrong demons = instant death)
 

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