What games are just objective masterpieces?
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Curious to hear what the criteria for "masterpiece" is, otherwise I think it is just peoples' subjective opinion of what makes a great game that they also think others might agree about being a great game. Genuinely curious, interested in discussion, not saying this to shut down any of the answers here.
In my mind a masterpiece video game can't be copied. Or at least if someone tried it would just be called a cheap clone of the original.
Then again everything can be copied but the more difficult it is to copy the closer it is to a masterpiece IMO.
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There are a lot of answers, mine will be drowned but... there it is. In no particular order :
- Final Fantasy X
- Clair Obscur : Expedition 33
- Baldur's Gate 3
- Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2 (but you had to be there when it came out)
- Metal Gear Solid 3
- Shadow Hearts : Covenant
- Kya : Dark Lineage (the bugs were a feature)
- Horizon : Zero Dawn
- Megaman (any megaman will do)
- Crash Bandicoot Trilogy
- Spyro Trilogy
- Pokemon Yellow/Crystal/Emerald
- Pokemon Jade (yes that bootleg version)
- The Last of Us (pt. I & II)
- Astroneer
- GTA : Vice City
- Unreal Tournament 2004
- CS 1.6 played in the most dirty lan at your disposal
- Control
- Tetris
- Neverwinter Nights 2
- Dragon Age : Origins
- Quake III
- Bomberman
Just started BG3. Fuckin mind-blowingly amazing.
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Okay, now do it all on a bell curve.
What's the most absolute medium game, to which all other games are compared to, and if worse, fail, or are better and pass?
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Spec Ops: The line
Basically the "committing war crimes isn't funny after all" game
This is your fault, god-damnit 🫵
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My Picks...
Deus Ex (So many games try to be this and fail)
Cyberpunk (This one eventually measured up)
Alpha Centauri (Innovation mixed with familiarity and setting)
Fallout 2 (they're all good. Fallout 2 is special)
Kotor (Star Wars story telling in a beautiful way)
Baldur's Gate 2 and 3 (I'm stunned that 3 was a worthy successor)
Homeworld (One of the World's truly beautiful games)
Phantom Liberty is where Cyberpunk becomes a masterpiece.
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Okay, now do it all on a bell curve.
What's the most absolute medium game, to which all other games are compared to, and if worse, fail, or are better and pass?
Oooooh I like that question. I feel like it would have to be some kind of Call of Duty, right? Some absolutely mediocre slop that still has enough mechanical satisfaction and mind-numbing explosion-and-cliché-filled story to keep you somewhat entertained, yet still remaining completely forgettable.
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SOMA was great
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I think Bioshock 1, Inscryption, Portal 1 & 2(I believe that 2 wouldn't be so loved if we didn't already love 1, I like to think of them as a set), Silent Hill 2, Resident Evil, Nier Automata, and Okami.
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Just started BG3. Fuckin mind-blowingly amazing.
If you really liked BG3 you might also like Neverwinter Nights 2 and DA:O. I heard there was a remaster of Neverwinter Nights 2 in the works, maybe give it a try when it comes out.
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Oooooh I like that question. I feel like it would have to be some kind of Call of Duty, right? Some absolutely mediocre slop that still has enough mechanical satisfaction and mind-numbing explosion-and-cliché-filled story to keep you somewhat entertained, yet still remaining completely forgettable.
The McDonald's of videogames.
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Metro 2033. Played it in the dark with good surround sound headphones on, and it's positively claustrophobic.
Last Light is good too, but at little too optimistic IMHO. 2033 nails that endless pit of despair feeling, with just enough lucky breaks that you might make it through.
I would absolutely put that game up high on the lists as it is a perfect piece of atmospheric gameplay of misery incarnate.
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Supergiant games' holy trinity: Bastion, Transistor and Pyre.
Also, the only Borderland games 1 and 2; don't believe the lies there are no more true Borderlands games and no there most certainly is no movie.
There's also one other, but you'll need a crowbar or a gravity gun in hand for me to tell you about it.
You are wrong about borderlands as there is one more and it is pretty muc h perfect.
Tales from the Borderlands.
Shame they never made a sequel for it but the artistry, music and story are all so well crafted. Someone loved Borderlands making that. -
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There is no game: wrong dimension
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This post did not contain any content.wrote last edited by [email protected]
Immersive sims: Prey, Dishonored, Deus Ex
Story-driven: The Last of Us, Horizon Zero Dawn, Halo, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Uncharted, HL2, Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, Splinter Shock, The Walking Dead
Platformer: Braid, Ori and the Blind Forest, Mario 64, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Limbo
Action/roguelike: Bastion, Hades
RPG: Fallout: New Vegas, Mass Effect
Puzzle: Lumines, Puzzle Quest, World of Goo, You Must Build a Boat, Reigns, Threes, Meteos
Other: Desert Golfing
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This post did not contain any content.wrote last edited by [email protected]
So I think it's actually really important that the games that would be considered objective masterpieces would have to overcome any language barriers and be an experience approachable by anyone. You can learn the mechanics to enjoy the gameplay without words
So:- Portal
- Journey
- Binding of Isaac
- Shadow of the Colossus
- Metro 2033 (which I have sat on and I believe even if it was entirely in Russian you would still get it )
- DOOM (original you don't need words you shoot)
- Super Mario Bros. 3
- Katamari Damacy
Then there are dialogue option stories that are fantastic stories that I could consider greats but shareable masterpieces is hard to say as they rely on you speaking the language both literally and then gameplay wise:
- Stanley Parable
- Outer Wilds
- Tales From the Borderlands
- To the Moon
- Talos Principle
- Golf Club Wasteland
- Dead Space
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Immersive sims: Prey, Dishonored, Deus Ex
Story-driven: The Last of Us, Horizon Zero Dawn, Halo, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Uncharted, HL2, Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, Splinter Shock, The Walking Dead
Platformer: Braid, Ori and the Blind Forest, Mario 64, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Limbo
Action/roguelike: Bastion, Hades
RPG: Fallout: New Vegas, Mass Effect
Puzzle: Lumines, Puzzle Quest, World of Goo, You Must Build a Boat, Reigns, Threes, Meteos
Other: Desert Golfing
I always forget how absolutely awesome Escape From Butcher Bay is until I'm reminded of its existence and its shockingly unfair to that game.
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Okay, now do it all on a bell curve.
What's the most absolute medium game, to which all other games are compared to, and if worse, fail, or are better and pass?
Pong.
It's that or tetris
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Out of recent ones, Blue Prince
It's such a good puzzle box but I don't think I would call The Room, a masterpiece while it's still yet another great puzzle box game.
They are masterpieces in puzzles but maybe not games? I dunno why I don't consider them.
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Disco Elysium is definitely closer to the visual novel spectrum of video games than it is to something like Tetris. But make no mistakes, its narrative and impact would be much lessened were it delivered in any other medium. It is absolutely a perfect example of how you use video games to make art.
How do you even begin to care about anything in that game when you are basically mashing buttons for hours and just listening to people complain about how shit life is?
I get its an art piece of living the existence you are thrown into but it feels like a confusing mess even gameplay wise for the starting hours that people that have finished it I feel miss how unfun it is at first.
I didn't even know why I was now stuck on the other side of a wall in a union dispute and I just couldn't be bothered to restart the game to try something else after how long it took to get dressed the first time.
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This gets trickier with games, because an experienced game designer can, for instance, look at the UI design and graphics programming of a Ubisoft open world slopfest, and say those parts were masterfully done (even if the overall game isn't so fun). And, even the best of video games have bits of them that weren't as good.
Right... So what game gets the most of those bits the most right?
That's how you start to separate out the best. Not that complex.
