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In this section for Volcan's Gaming DIscussion, I will be starting out with my top ten current favourite games. I'll also be including entries that could have made the lists, as sort of honourable mentions, though I will also go into brief detail as to why they did not make the cut. For this list, I will keep it simple by going in order of my most favourite game to the least favourite among them, and some of the honourable mentions you may see in the later lists but I will be making an effort to avoid that as I want to get as many games as possible onto this list. I will attempt to avoid spoilers if possible but I encourage you all to try these games yourself if you get a chance.

Some of you may notice a certain consistency with the games you see here - one or more traits shared by some of these titles. Even you don't notice it right away, there will be a footnote at the end of the list going into detail about what I mean. Do let me know if this discussion intrigues you to any of these games yourself, or if you see a title here you recognize and/or have tried out yourself and your thoughts on it.

I want to add, I am not particularly great at any of these games though that does not affect my feelings for them. I enjoy playing them regardless, for reasons I will go into detail for each entry.

Number One

XCOM 2: War of the Chosen

-This masterpiece by Firaxis is, without question, my favourite game of all time. I've done multiple playthroughs of it, both the vanilla game and the expansion packs. XCOM 2 is a turn-based strategy game leans heavily on squad-building and customization, with squad-based tactics as the main focus.

You lead a group of 4-6 operatives on missions against an alien occupation, developing your squad members, technology, and tactics as you play through the game, racing against the clock and facing overwhelming odds.

My love for this game comes from the squad-focused build and strategy of the game; outnumbered and outgunned, this game proves that an elite few can match the accomplishments of and entire army. Losses are permanent, making it necessary to plan your moves carefully (though, save-scummers will say otherwise; I'm not above using that tactic, I will admit, so this is not a call-out to people who do). Though my love for this game is unconditional, there are two drawbacks to it to be aware of.

The first is the rather schizophrenic 'chance to hit' whenever one of your operatives attack; you are shown a percentage of 0-100 showing the likelihood your operative has of making that shot. Sometimes, even at 90%+, you will still miss, and this is admittedly the biggest frustration of this game. While you can improve your odds with modifications - such as scopes or combat stims - to improve your operative's aim, they may still miss the target, and many times it will feel like absolute BS when it happens - seriously, some of the alien forces are the size of delivery trucks and yet you can still miss them.

The second drawback is that the game is somewhat poorly optimized. You will occasionally encounter freezes and lag-spikes that should not be happening in an offline, single-player game. This often causes weird bugs and even crashes, but most of the time these are uncommon, especially in the early game.

In summary, XCOM 2 is a masterpiece and I always look forward to playing it when the mood strikes me. Watch out, aliens; my sniper's got you in his sights. Time to die!

Honourable mentions:

-XCOM: Enemy Within/Enemy Unknown: The prequel for XCOM 2 was an obvious choice for a contender when making this entry. Much of the gameplay for XCOM: EU and XCOM 2 are very similar. Before this game, XCOM as a franchise was very different, but this was the game that moved it into turn-based strategy genre. XCOM: Enemy Unknown takes place before the events of XCOM 2, with 2 being the result in case you lose in Enemy Within; this is where you would be stopping the events of 2 from happening, and there are some enemies you face here that do not make it into the sequel game - or, have taken on completely different forms.

I recommend, on this game or the sequel, always have a sniper and a medic. Your team's survival may well depend on them.

-XCOM: Chimera Squad: The Sequel/Spinoff to XCOM 2 was another easy contender for this entry, having all the polish of XCOM 2 but with few optimization issues. However, it didn't make the cut because while it maintains the squad-based mechanics of XCOM 2, it removes the customization in favour of using pre-made characters, and though I love some of these characters I'm partial to being able to build my team up as I choose.

That being said, I love some of the characters; the tsundere Viper, Torque, the cheery ADVENT clone, Cherub, the veteran ex-cop, Blueblood and the dry-humour of Verge all make them memorable characters, and that's just to name a few of them, but it deserves the mention for these guys alone.

-Marvel Midnight Suns: Though not an XCOM game, it was made by the same developers as the other entries above. This is probably the newest game anyone will see on this whole list. But as it is new and still has some content to come, I couldn't put it at the top spot - also, my PC can barely even run it, suffering even more optimization issues and lag spikes while the processor constantly runs hot. That being said, this game comes with a viable option for creating a character of your own, known as the Hunter, who you can set on the path of Light or Darkness, or somewhere in between, while battling alongside Marvel's top heroes from the Avengers, the X-Men and of course, the titular Midnight Suns.

If you are a fan of XCOM and Marvel, this is the perfect game for you; just be mindful, the card-based system takes some getting used to, and you only get 3 plays; choose wisely.

Number Two

Stellaris

-The galaxy-sized grand strategy game by Paradox Interactive is one of the games I have sunk the most hours into in total, exceeded only by the next entry on this list.

After laying the foundations of your own interstellar empire, you are set out into a galaxy of unknown dangers; you never know what you will encounter out there, and no matter how many games you play, you will never have exact the same game twice, which in my opinion gives this game endless replayability. Also, building empires is not limited only to the one you will play as - you can also build the ones you will fight, from prosperous, unified democracies to evil, despotic monarchies to savage, fanatical purifiers, ravenous hive minds or machine assimilators - all of whom will be out only to destroy you... Or, if you pick one of these yourself, you will be out to destroy them.

Your methods of victory will vary. Pursue the path of diplomacy by becoming the leader of the galactic community, or strive for galactic supremacy by conquering everyone who opposes you. Customize and build your ships, raise your mighty armies, defend your borders and allies; build a mighty federation or stand against the entire galaxy on your own. There is no limit whatsoever to how you can play this game.

Unfortunately, there are - as with the previous entry, two drawbacks I must point out to this game. The first has to do with Paradox themselves; this game is constantly receiving updates and expansions, some of which can change the game so drastically, you feel like you need to relearn it all over again. The second is a sort of unknown factor; while you can see if your relative power to your rivals is comparable, you can't know for sure if you are actually stronger than them, and the AI in particular has a tendency to doomstack their fleets and concentrate their attacks in one place. This makes it difficult to know where to focus your defenses as you can't always know where they are going to come from or respond in time, which can be frustrating - albeit not game-breaking if you're able to persevere.

There is too much to this game to go over without making this entry a wall of text, so I will conclude it with this. There are no honourable mentions to follow up this game, as it was my first venture into grand strategy and of the few other titles fitting that bill I've played, none of them can compare so this is the only entry that has no Honourable Mentions

Number Three

Sid Meier's Civilization VI

-Currently holding the spot as the game I have put the most hours into playing, I have a complicated relationship with Civ 6. To be honest, this falls into the category of games I enjoy playing... But I am not actually that good at.

In this large, turn-based strategy game also developed by Firaxis, you play as a historical nation and as one of their leaders. There are many to choose from, including archaic civilizations such as the Babylonians or Sumerians, to modern powerhouses such as the United States of America or Canada, led by the most famous leaders of these great nations. This game is historically educational, not only teaching you about these leaders but also containing entire encyclopedias (Or, Civlopedia as it is called) of the leaders, the unique units, the nations themselves and the crown achievements of each. This is one of the reasons I became fascinated with history, and this game has taught me about many people and nations alike I never even knew existed! Between that, and the random chance of encountering different leaders and city states and natural wonders with every game you play, this game has a lot of replayability as with the previous entry, and if you love history, can also tickle that fancy too.

You have 5 victory types to choose from; Score, Science, Culture, Faith or Diplomacy. You must build your empire and its economy to stand the test of time, and each civilization and/or leader is built with one of these in mind. For example, Gilgamesh - introduced at game release, leads Sumer and is slightly focused on Science and Culture, as well as having a bias to settling on rivers, but there is also Menelik II, leading Ethiopia, who is heavily focused on Faith and only slightly focused on Science and Culture. Depending on how you play, you can fall far behind the other players (human or AI) or skyrocket ahead of them.

Of course, I must mention this game has a concerns worth mentioning. The first is with its optimization; the game suffers multiple crashes, especially when you play on large maps, and learning to play as the different civilizations involves a lot of trial an error - you can play for a hundred hours, and still maybe not find your best playstyle. In my case, I try playing as Canada - because I AM Canadian - and it is one of my worst civilizations because I'm really not good at Cultural endeavours, lol.

I have put a lot of time in this game alongside my buddy AvianBritish, to whom this is probably his favourite game of all time... At least until the next one comes out, hehe.

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Honourable Mentions:

-Humankind: Developed by Amplitude Studios and built with a similar principle in mind, being turn-based and historical by design, Humankind VERY NEARLY took this spot from Civilization VI, as it has a simpler meta game; easier overall to understand... Until a recent update added new features I am still struggling to understand, including a World Congress system which was one of the things that made me actually like this game more than Civ, as I find the World Congress distracting and has a tendency to break the game's flow.

Still, I would recommend this game for the same reasons I'd recommend Civ, but remember; the AI in this game is a lot more aggressive than its Firaxis counterpart; if they see an opportunity to do so, they will attack.

-Sid Meier's Civilization V: The prequel to Civ 6 was an easy choice as an honourable mention but didn't really have a chance to beat its successor on this list. Not to say the fifth entry in this franchise is a bad game; it uses the same principle of bringing historical nations and their leaders into a turn-baxed strategy game, but is a little clunkier than the sequel.

It was ironically through this game how I first met AvianBritish, and I enjoyed many hours of it with both him and silverwingcid, earning it a spot here.

-Age of Wonders 3: In stark contrast to the aforementioned games, AoW3 is actually a fantasy game, using the same hexagonal, turn-based setup but set in a fictional world with less focus on empire-building. Create a hero from a variety of playable races and classes, each bringing their own strengths and weaknesses to bear on the battlefield. There is a great deal of variety to explore with this game, both for your strategies and ways to play. Choose from the simple Warlord class, the powerful Sorcerer or Juggernaut, the holy Theocrat, Arch Druid, Necromancy or Rogue - all of which can be played by any hero of any one of multiple playable races, giving the game an admirable amount of replayability.

With that being said, I couldn't give this spot to AoW3, because of 3 major flaws. It is grossly unbalanced IMHO, with some hero classes and races not mixing well together or mixing too well, resulting in overpowered builds. The imbalance also continues with the AI difficulty setting as the higher the difficulty level, the more aggressive the AI plays and the greater the bonus it receives, including being able to produce units with terrifying speed, but this bias is seen most of all in the random chance mechanics of the magic your heroes can use; the AI seems to always have a better chance of succeeding with its spells, and inexplicably manages to build a high resistance in its own soldiers making your own magic far less effective. The last drawback goes again to the unbalance, but this time with units, as some units - such as the Shadow Stalker, are grossly overpowered, being very difficult to injure and capable of massacring your troops with ease; fortunately there are a lot of mods to fix some of these flaws, but I'm of the mind that if you need to mod a game to make it enjoyable, it was a mediocre game to begin with. Still, I get some joy out of playing this with my friend silverwingcid, but if I was forced to choose between them, I would have to pick Civ 6 or Humankind over AoW3.

Number Four

Company of Heroes 2

-In addition to also tickling the fancy of the history nut in me, this is also one of the most exhilerating games on this list and a good way to blow off steam, which I frequently enjoy with silverwingcid

Set in World War 2, I was at first skeptical of playing this game as, at the time, I was sick of studying WW2 - my school kinda kept forcing it down our throat, but never really covered the parts most people would find interesting - I'll save that as a discussion for another time. CoH2 allows you to play a choice of five factions; the German Wehrmacht and Russian Soviet Union, both of which were playable when the game was released, along with the United States Forces, the United Kingdom Forces and the Oberkommando West - who I had never even heard of before playing this game. Each faction has a particular strength over the others; my personal favourite is the UKF, who focus mainly on defense with various emplacements, highly effective team weapons (Mortars, Anti-tank Guns, Vickers machine gun) and a combat bonus to infantry when fighting from cover. I've always been a bit of a turtle.

The game's only real drawback is that it suffers a bit of a bias toward its AI. Enemy computer players will be able to kill your units with anti-tank guns, which would normally not be effective against infantry, and seems to have laser-guided indirect weapons (like mortar teams) that can wipe out the whole squad it strikes under certain conditions. This is only made worse by playing on higher difficulties - on expert, the AI outright cheats in additional units, confronting you with a seemingly endless sea of infantry, armour and weapons - the main reason I enjoy the UKF as they can stand against this flood.

This a minor drawback in an otherwise great game, and I have high expectations for its sequel set to come out this month.

Honourable Mentions:

-Age of Empires 2: Developed by Ensemble Studies in 1999. While also being a real-time strategy game, it does not give me the same kind of excitement and tension as I get from CoH2. While it is also something that tickles my fancy as a history nut, the AI is far less tactical and the resources less simplistic. Not to say I would ever look down on this classic, which I still enjoy playing from time to time, but it is unfortunately a product of its time and has been surpassed. Still, it is worth mentioning as not only has this game had several remasters that have improved it over the years, it is also STILL receiving content! If you like history and RTS, this is always a good game to start with.

-Age of Mythology: Also developed by Ensemble Studios, but in 2002. As with AoE2, this is another RTS title I put a lot of thought into for picking entries for this list, but also like AoE2 it is a product of its time and does not have a simplified resource system, as well as being somewhat unbalanced with the Titans expansion. Still, this game covers both a love of history as well as mythology, so it is still a title worth considering if you love RTS titles.

-Stronghold Crusader: Developed by Firefly Studies in 2002, this game was once my favourite RTS castle sim of all time. Unfortunately, it suffers multiple drawbacks such as heavily confined maps and un-challenging AI opponents - even the hardest of them don't provide much of a challenge once you master the game. There was sequel to this game that came out in 2014, but it is an honestly mediocre game despite being 12 years newer, which is why I mention the original Crusader over its sequel. Despite its dated mechanics, the Stronghold franchise has a large library of games to choose from, and Crusader is still a fun game overall, just a short-lived one.

-Heroes of Might and Magic III: While not an RTS title, being turn-based instead, this game was released in 1999 by New World Computing, who sadly no longer owns the rights to the franchise. I could not give this spot to HoMaM 3 because it is, sadly, I highly dated game and lacks the polish of the other titles mentioned here. That being said, it introduces far more variety in terms of playable races, heroes and magical spells to employ, giving the game tons of replayability, albeit offset by a somewhat imbalanced game meta that sadly never got the chance to be polished. While this franchise is still around - now simply called Might and Magic, it has gone through multiple developers - none of whom can capture the same thing that made this game enjoyable, I could not give it this spot over CoH2 or the above games.

Number Five

StarCraft 2

-Developed by Blizzard Entertainment and released 2010, before the buyout by Activision and the controversy surrounding the company today, StarCraft 2 is the long-awaited sequel to the original StarCraft released in 1998 - which I played obsessively back in the day, and was overjoyed when I learned of the sequel game, which remains one of my favourite RTS games of all time.

As with the original, you play from one of 3 playable races - Terrans (humans), Zerg, and Protoss, each with their own strengths and weaknesses and characteristics unique to them, leaving a variety of playstyles available to players and letting you change your strategy on the fly. This is one of the only games I actually tried to play competitively, and I actually did fairly good for a while, but it is not the competitive play I loved most. The most compelling portion of both this game and its predecessor have to be in their story modes, with a variety of characters and plots that are too engaging not to love. James Raynor remains one of my favourite sci-fi characters to date, and is further explored in published books that I have read, taking a center-point in both the Terran and Protoss stories in the original game, as well as all 3 stories in StarCraft 2 and its expansions, all of which made the game just THAT much more enjoyable, as the ability to develop the Zerg or Protess in a matter of your choosing adds freedom of choice and great replayability value to the campaign/story mode.

This is one game I dare say is pretty close to perfect, as there are no drawbacks to it that I can think of... In the game itself, I mean. Unfortunately, the company developing it has gone completely down the tank, though that is a discussion that I will not have on this list as we are here to discuss the games. I had to put SC2 here as with the uncertain future of Blizzard Entertainment itself, I am uncertain to the future of this franchise either. At least, if the Legacy of the Void expansion is to be the last entry to this franchise, it is an excellent place to end the legacy of StarCraft itself.

Honourable Mentions:

-WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos/Frozen Throne: You can't mention StarCraft without talking about the successful RTS titles that ran parallel to them, utilizing very similar game mechanics but taking on a fantasy spin over science fiction; choosing between the games boiled down to taste rather than function as at their core I find these games were virtually the same. Just like StarCraft 1 and 2, WarCraft 3 introduces multiple playable races - four instead of three, with compelling storylines centered around each one, and unforgettable characters. Unfortunately, as WarCraft - as a franchise - went in a completely different direction after this game, StarCraft 2 is the better title in terms of function and polish, and we'll discuss my thoughts about the 'new direction' in detail...

Number Six

Pokémon: Sun & Moon

-It is _ extremely _ difficult to narrow down a single pick to what is one of the longest running, not to mention the best-selling video game franchise in the entire world. I had to think, long and hard, considering favourite mechanics over favourite Pokemon or favourite storylines, to find which one struck the best chord with me. In general, I enjoy Pokemon for the worlds it gives us to explore, and the experiences along the way, while consistently maintaining the mechanics that it was built on, including a team-building focus that can be decided by your preferences and strategies - much like XCOM 2; build the team you want, with absolute freedom of choice.

In the end, Sun and Moon, the Generation 7 titles, won out, and I'm talking about the originals, not the spinoff/sequel games, though they did add a teensy bit more to the game at their core they were pretty much exactly the same game. Sun & Moon (Moon for me) was where the franchise took a step in a new direction, while keeping mechanics from previous generations players grew to love such as Mega Evolution, and adding a few of its own such as the Island Challenge - rather than the standard Gym Challenge, and the introduction of Z-moves; love or hate them, they were still pretty cool. On a personal note, this is also where my favourite Rock-type Pokemon, second to none, was introduced; Lycanroc, in all of its forms, and I still use it in my battle teams - which form depends on the strategy each team is focused on.

So why is it more than halfway down the list? This is in large part due to the successor games. Sword & Shield, while adding new mechanics of its own and taking the franchise into open world - something it really has benefitted from, it cut the mechanics from Sun & Moon that makes it my favourite in the franchise - the aforementioned Mega Evolution and Z-moves in favour of Dynamax, and the ability to challenge the Battle Tree (or similar locations) alongside a friend, and the Battle Royale matches - a nice one-off that I know not everyone enjoyed by I loved them. The Battle Tree being removed bothered me most of all; sure, we got the Battle Tower in Sword & Shield, but you can only challenge it single-player - you can't bring a buddy, and in the recent games, Scarlet & Violet, you don't even have that either, as well as Dynamax being cut now for a rather... Odd gimmick taking its place.

Sun & Moon struck the balance between new and old, introduced us to a surprisingly relatable villain team and some of the best designs for Pokemon we have seen to date. With 1008 Pokemon now to choose from, there is pretty much something for everyone; even if you don't play the games you will find a favourite Pokemon if you look, but for me - as someone who does play them, this has to be the one I pick as my favourite game.

Honourable Mentions:

Side note: Sorry that a Mystery Dungeon game didn't make it onto here; I've only played 2 of them and neither one was one I'd have considered to be a favourite game.

-Pokemon: Scarlet/Violent: Despite my above mentioned issues with the games that came after Sun & Moon, Scarlet & Violet are still worth mentioning, because the Gen 9 games have the most compelling story the franchise has seen since Gen 5. While the main focus is around the Academy that is the center point of the game, there are 3 different sub-stories to pursue, such as the classic gym challenge, the Team Star missions (operation Starfall) and seeking out the medical herbs to save the partner Pokemon of one of your classmates, culminating in a truly epic finale. Story-wise, this game beats all the others in my opinion, but the removed mechanics, the DLC still to come and the multiple reported bugs this game still suffers from, I couldn't pick it as a favourite.

-Pokemon: Sword & Shield: This was the game that brought the franchise into the open world aspect for the first time. While I will admit there are a lot of things it could have improved, such as filling said open world with more features, I like to think they were playing it safe since this was a first time for them, and they did a lot better when the next game came out; Pokemon Legends: Arceus also utilized and open world, but more on that in a second. Sword & Shield also introduced many new Pokemon that have become some of my favourites, such as Cinderace rising to be second to Blaziken as my favourite Fire-type, and Inteleon my favourite Water-type. Furthermore, this game also introduced the most terrifying Legendary Pokemon opponent the franchise has ever seen, and has still yet to be surpassed; Eternatus, especially in his alternate form, which even by the fandom is considered way too powerful to be used.

-Pokemon Legends: Arceus: As mentioned with Sword & Shield, this game continued to utilize the open-world aspect, while also showing us the history of one of the game's regions, a variety of amazing regional forms - such as the scary and rather deadly Hisuian Zoroark, one of the few Pokemon in the whole series to have only one weakness, as well as an engaging and intriguing story to follow. Though this was the first time I came close to actually completing the in-game Pokedex, which you need to do to unlock the true final boss, I never quite managed to do it, and I find this game is not as replayable as the other games, which is why I only give it a mention.

That being said, as an add-on, the concept of this game has HUGE potential; stories set in the distant past of each region, given the variety of places the series has built up. We could have places like an Old American West (old Unova), Victorian-era Galar (Victorian UK) and edo-period Japan (the first 4 regions of the franchise are all based on areas of Japan; this is a no-brainer!). So I for one look forward to seeing what else they do with this.

-Yu-Gi-Oh: Duel Links/Master Duels: I put this game here because, between Generations 2 and 6, I fell out of Pokemon for a while and didn't get back into the games until lampshadeheadman gave me a 3DS and a copy of Alpha Sapphire, which was when I got back into it. But during that time I was away from the franchise, barring getting an emulator of Pokemon Ruby for old-time's sake, I was more into Yu-Gi-Oh; I watched every episode of the original anime, GX and 5D's, as well as some of Zexal - which I couldn't sit through because I thought Yuma was a complete tool. I played many of the games that came out during that time, and still play Master Duels with :lampshadeheadman: from time to time. But come on, as a franchise, Pokemon is just better, with Yu-Gi-Oh plagued by a constantly changing meta where even beginner decks don't stand a chance against even a mildly viable deck, which is why I couldn't pick it over Pokemon nor give it a spot on the list outside a mention.

Number Seven

Mario Kart 8

-The Mario Kart franchise has been running since the SNES/Super Nintendo days, all the way back to when I was just a wee lad. Mario Kart 8 - specifically the Deluxe Edition, is the peak of the franchise, keeping everything that made the previous games good and adding so much more - so much variety in characters and karts alike, being able to customize what you take into the race - lots of trial & error means lots of replayability.

The game is beautiful, and so much fun - it brings out a silly side of me you will never see anywhere else, where I spout shit like "Beware! I'm armed with a turtle shell and a history of poor life choices!" - the first time I said that, my friend Paul exploded into laughter. This is probably the only game ever that I actually enjoy playing with a full group. I normally prefer not to play with too many other people - one, maybe two, but this is one I think can be best enjoyed with more people, which makes this the perfect game to have at parties and get-togethers - if you're into the sort of thing, lol.

I can't really say there are any drawbacks to this game, beyond the trial and error - once you have your favourite kind of build all you can do is experiment! Every race and every grand prix is an adventure in and of itself.

Honourable Mentions:

-Mario Party 2: Yeah, we've all heard of this game franchise ruining friendships, but as I was talking about party games I have to mention the game that literally has 'party' in its title. This game introduces a board game style of play and various mini games to play that only got better with each entry to the franchise, but I chose Mario Party 2 because it was my first one and it is the only one I still get to play, since it's out on the Nintendo Switch virtual console. No online multiplayer though, so if you wanna play this with friends you have to do it the old fashioned way of inviting them over to your place, or bringing the Switch to them - after all, it's quite portable.

-Mario Kart: Double Dash: I had to mention this game, since it was my favourite in the Mario Kart franchise until 8 came along, and - believe it or not, it was the last one I played until 8 was released on the Wii U. I never played any of the other Mario Karts between this and 8, never having the opportunity to do so. I do fondly remember playing this game many times with my friend Paul, with me as the driver and him throwing the items; we made the perfect team. I do hope this game gets a remaster someday...

Sonic Riders: Less of a party game, but I had to mention it since we were talking about a racing game. Sonic Riders was fun for its time, combining some high octane action with a fun variety of characters, ways to play and a surprisingly interesting story, which carried over into its sequel, Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity. Unfortunately, the third entry, Sonic Free Riders, I never got to play - and from what I've heard, I'm not missing much, so I could only give this game a mention, though I hope it sees a remaster or even a new entry sometime - but given Sonic Team's kinda schizo method of developing games, I'm not holding my breath.

Number Eight

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door

-When it comes to the Mario RPG games, this one is the peak of them all to me. I only played a bit of the Superstar Saga, but not many of the other games. I was first introduced to Paper Mario when I was a kid, and my brother was obsessed with it. I however, didn't like it; at the time, when video game rentals were still a thing, I was fixated on two other games that my bro was not fond of.

Overtime though, Paper Mario grew on me; I started to like it, to the point I actually beat it! Something I didn't really do back then - I never finished most of the games I played as a kid. But this one I did, and when we got our Gamecube, this game was on both our lists when we heard about it coming out, and it was worth the wait - this game is a masterpiece! Surprisingly, it doesn't have the elements I usually look for in 'favourite games', but this one still manages to win me over with its compelling story, colourful characters, and having a multi-dimensional plot in what is literally a one-or-two dimensional world.

The reason the Mario RPG games are so successful, right alongside the regular Mario games, is because they break away from the established norm while still capturing what made the original games great - this game came out on the same console as Super Mario Sunshine, but outperformed it even though both games stepped out of the norm. Sure, Princess Peach is still taken captive in both games, but in Paper Mario: TTYD, it's not Bowser who does it, and when you get to the ending... Well, you will see exactly why this game did it better, but do not wish to spoil it because it is just too good~. Play it for yourself or watch a Let's Play; either way, you won't be disappointed.

Honourable Mentions:

-Super Mario RPG: You can't talk about Mario RPG's without talking about the very first one - unless you were born after it was released, then it's understandable. Developed by Square Enix, when they were still just called Square, Super Mario RPG utilized a similar combat system to Final Fantasy (we'll discuss that on a later list), Square's crown glory, and actually did it pretty well. The story is engaging, even if the variety is lacking, and the characters Geno and Mallow, who have yet to reappear in any other game (spirits in Smash Bros Ultimate don't count!) are STILL wanted by fans to make a comeback. The main villain of the game, Smithy, is also a much more intimidating villain than Bowser if you ask me, so much so that Bowser actually HELPS you fight him, and this was the first game we see a team-up between him and Mario ever occur.

-Paper Mario: Have to mention the original game, of course. As I detailed above, I was not willing to give this game a chance at first, but overtime it grew on me, and is a game I still enjoy revisiting from time to time - hell, I JUST beat it again on Switch, since it came out for the N64 virtual console library, and it still has a compelling story and colourful cast just like The Thousand Year Door; the sequel, to me, just ended up doing it much better. Still, I would go so far as to declare this game a classic, and a staple for anyone who enjoys games from older console generations.

The REAL One

Number Nine

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

-Though it has been a while since I had a chance to play this one in particular, like any other Nintendo-dork, I grew up with this franchise right alongside the Super Mario Brothers. I have played nearly every game that has been released under this name, save for the original NES games and the Oracle games for the Game Boy. The first one I played was A Link to the Past, and the most recent one I played was of course Breath of the Wild, the sequel of which I'm eager to play next~.

As for why I picked Twilight Princess over many other possible titles, well, I am an avid reader and writer of Dark Fantasy; it is undoubtedly my favourite genre in recent years, and I think that started with this game. Sure, you could say Majora's Mask was the first venture into 'dark' fantasy that the franchise took, and I'd agree with you, buuuuut I never got very far into Majora's Mask back then. We could only find it as a rental, and it was always out of stock no matter what store we went to; on the rare occasions we did get it my brother would never let me near it, so though I have played Majora's Mask since then, I still haven't completed it.

Twilight Princess was a beautiful game on release, and would probably be one I'd choose to replay if you placed all of the games before me and asked me to pick one. While it does have a lot of cut content and suffers from having an inventory full of items you will rarely ever use again... Let's be honest, which Zelda game doesn't do that XD? Maybe Breath of the Wild, but there are plenty of items to find there that you could say are pretty darn useless. This game introduced Wolf Link, who is fun to play as, and the ability to switch between this form and Link's regular form is just lots of fun. There's also the Hero's Shade, who - for the sake of avoiding spoilers, is a much bigger figure than players will realize at first, and it gives you the BEST final boss battle against Ganondorf of any other game in the franchise; four rounds with the King of Evil in four different forms (again, spoiler, so I won't detail them) that just cements the reason why Ganon is such a tremendous threat to this world, and doesn't hold back in showing it.

Honourable Mentions:

-Breath of the Wild: At the time of making this list, list is the most recent entry to the main line of games- with Tears of the Kingdom well on its way (although there is also the Link's Awakening remake to consider but, I haven't played it yet). While still capturing the essence of Legend of Zelda, this game also expands by adding survival elements, making it necessary to craft your own food for healing and bonuses, as well as being aware of the elements which can still harm you. It also introduced voice acting, a first for this whole franchise, and built a HUGE world with so much to explore, so many people and creatures to see, and an epic quest to undergo.

But as for why I didn't pick it over Twilight Princess, three reasons. The Shrine Quests; they get really freaking same-y overtime - you can only do so many of them before it starts to drawl and you're on auto-pilot. Some of them are pretty fun and a nice challenge but there's just way too many. The second, equipment - not just the brittle weapons you get but also the very limited space which you keep them, adding a second same-y and rather time-consuming quest to find Korok seeds and locating the maracca guy to expand your inventory, and only one inventory at a time; weapons, bows or shields, not all 3 at once, adding a really annoying fetch quest.

But third, definitely because of the bosses; the Blight Ganons. While somewhat challenging, I find really they lack the imagination of the previous games; Calamity Ganon is a terrifying opponent but if you take the time to beat the Blight Ganons, you already know how to beat him, not to mention you make the fight much easier by doing so. But that is without mentioning the two biggest disappointments of all; Master Kohga, the only boss who isn't a 'Ganon' (until Monk Maz Khoshia was introduced), but rather than being a deadly ninja master, he's a complete, bumbling imbecile who isn't that hard to beat, and don't even get me started on Dark Beast Ganon. That had to be the worst final boss the entire franchise has ever had.

All in all, BotW is a beautiful game, and despite my issues with it I have replayed it once before. But I can't make it a favourite because of the flaws.

-Ocarina of Time: I already committed blasphemy by forgetting to put a Legend of Zelda game on this list originally, I'm not going to commit it again by not mentioning this game, lol.

I think we can all agree this was a turning point for the franchise, introducing not only separate timelines that connected all of the games (too long a discussion to have on this list) but giving the games their first push into the realm of 3D. This was definitely Link's most epic adventure to this point and this game remains a favourite to many fans of the Legend of Zelda. It also has the best boss monsters of all the games aside from Twilight Princess; that was the main reason I picked TP over this one. Twilight Princess keeps the core mechanics introduced by Ocarina of Time, but it was TP that first let me fight from horseback with bow as well as sword, and again, Twilight Princess just has a better final boss fight than this or especially Breath of the Wild.

-Wind Waker: Though this was introduced long after Ocarina of Time or Majora's Mask, this was actually the first Legend of Zelda game I ever completed; I never beat Ocarina of Time all the way through until well after I beat WInd Waker, and I still haven't beat Majora's Mask or Link to the Past (the latter being my introduction to the franchise). This game took away the element of horseback riding introduced in Ocarina of Time and perfected in Twilight Princess and replaced it with travelling by a sail boat instead. Not a bad concept, mind you - I enjoyed it, but I've always loved horseback riding in and out of video games. That however isn't the reason I didn't choose Wind Waker for this entry.

Wind Waker has a very large library of cut content, as most of these games do, but the sheer volume I think is at its highest in this one, especially in the late game; all in all, Wind Waker was poised to be so vast, it wouldn't be surpassed until Breath of the Wild came out YEARS later. But, it didn't end up like that, and I've always felt robbed because of it. Nevertheless, this game is still a masterpiece of its own. and brought us not only Toon Link, but the Rito and a satisfying adventure overall.

.......The Ghost Ship still scares me a bit >.>

Number Ten

Need for Speed: Most Wanted

-I want to start by clarifying, I am referring to the game released in 2005 for the Playstation 2, Xbox and Gamecube, now the game of the same name that came out in 2012 - that game is vastly inferior in my honest opinion, its only upside being that it's free to play. Which knowing EA, probably means there's a catch - correct me if I'm wrong.

This was the first Need for Speed game I ever played, and while I am not an avid follower of the franchise, I must have played through this game four times! I had so much fun with it when I was younger that it made me a minor automotive enthusiast and even led to me developing a street racer character here on FA, though I don't use him anymore. The challenge of beating fifteen boss racers and evading the police, working your way up to becoming the 'most wanted' racer in the fictional city of Rockport. Pick your favourite car, power it up, customize it to your liking and race through the streets to be the top dog on the blacklist. It really brought out the bad boy in me.

As for why I picked this game and not subsequent titles, some I'll mention in honourable mentions below, this would be my first pick if I had the chance to play any of the ones I've checked out again. Some games just leave a much better impression than their successors.

Honourable Mentions:

-Need for Speed: Payback: This is the most recent game of the franchise I've played, and for a while I was really enjoying it. It had all the same features I loved in NFS: Most Wanted, with greater variety and a much bigger world to race across, utilizing a card system instead of the simplified method of upgrading the engine to different tiers. But I couldn't pick it for the list, because of EA; this game is still corrupted by microtransactions, trying to nickel and dime players, and while you can get through most of the game without them, when you get to a certain point the difficulty of the game spikes to the point that now, you NEED to get better cards to win, which comes down to luck, and in typical EA fashion, being 'lucky' means spending tooooons of money on random chance. I.E, their controversial 'surprise mechanics' that we know is just gambling.

-Need for Speed: Carbon: A direct sequel to Need for Speed: Most Wanted, this game brings in all the same features as was in Most Wanted, but introduces a new feature, differentiating between Muscle, Exotic and Tuner-type cars, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. It was a close pick between this game and its prequel, which I only chose the latter because of some lazy development between the games - such as police dialogue clearly having been brought over to cut corners; they mention one of the Blacklist racers you beat in the prequel by name, even though he never appears in it, and the game is also in a perpetual night scape which could get somewhat hard on the eyes with prolonged playing. If those two things don't bother you, then if you like Most Wanted, you will like Carbon too.

-Grand Theft Auto: Online: This one, going to a completely different franchise, but I got into it for the same reason as I liked the above-mentioned games. Your character was of course a criminal, but you had the freedom to choose what kind of criminal; from petty theft, to street racing, to a deadly killer to even taking part in big, glorious heists. However, this game suffered from a very stunted progression system - you had to level up before you could enjoy certain features, which would normally be fine, if you didn't level up so freaking slowly, and the servers had a big, big, big big big BIG problem with hackers, constantly breaking the game and making you wonder whenever you landed in a non-private server how long you had before you got blown up by a jet fighter, or attacked by an asshole with aimbot and invulnerability, which Rockstar refused to fix.

I have more I could say about this game, but I'll save it for another list. To summarize, I got into this game for more street racing, I stayed with it for everything else it allowed you to do, which is why I put it as a mention.

SO! That's my list for my favourite games of all time. Are there any here you recognize? Feel free to comment about them and share your thoughts!

Now, did you all notice the common feature across most of these games? If you determined that a big part of choosing games I like was replayability and freedom of choice... Well, you got it! That pretty much sums up how I decide which games I love, and every one of these games emphasizes both of these to some degree - even if only slightly, but if it doesn't have any of these it likely won't land as a favourite title. Another element I enjoy is customization, which is also an element of 'freedom of choice' I suppose.

Next list: Top 15 Loved Video Games