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For this list, we will be exploring various video games that at one point or another, were up there with my favourite games - at another time (in some cases), might have even made it as favourites in the previous list. There may be a few titles on here to surprise people, but other will probably find a few of these entries quite predictable.

Now, I have a different set of rules with this one. For one, as mentioned in the title, there are 15 games instead of ten (not counting honourable mentions) because there were just too many for me to narrow it down only to ten, though this list was still pretty challenging to make, as I remembered certain games along the way that were applicable or re-thought their positions in the list itself. I will also stick to only one game per franchise, kind of like a few YouTuber Countdowns do, and I have also arranged them in a specific order, from games I am most likely to play again, all the way down to games I will never play again, nor any like them, with those in between filling a niche area of 'would play but either cannot or don't yet want to'.

So here we are, for Volcan's Gaming Discussion #2: The Top 15 Liked Games.

Number One

XCOM: Chimera Squad

-So here we have the first repeat game, first appearing as an honourable mention in the previous list. All of the honourable mentions for these lists will be games that were also considered for the respective spot, and this game is the same, coming behind XCOM 2 only because of being an all-around smaller game, but by no means inferior.

Taking place after the events of XCOM 2, when XCOM and humanity have successfully taken back their world and driven the alien Elders off-world, many of the aliens - no longer bound to their masters, are left behind with an uncertain future, eventually coming to live alongside humanity and helping them rebuild their world. Chimera Squad is a paramilitary special tactics unit, very much like a SWAT team, that seeks to keep the peace in City 31 (don't ask me why it's called that; I don't know) and uncover the truth behind a plot that led to the assassination of the city's mayor.

You command a team of operatives from all walks of life, both human and alien, each with unique abilities tailored to a specific playstyle, with you being the one to determine how to deploy them and when. You experience the dialogue between the characters, showing how their personalities bounce off each other, which makes for entertaining moments between missions, as you develop your team and technology as in the previous game.

While it is still a fun game, it did not make it onto the previous list because it is much shorter than XCOM 2, and does not have all of the features I loved from the other game, but it is still a game I loved enough to give it a spot on this list.

Number Two

Warlord's Battlecry 2

-This game and its prequels have been in my life since I was a kid. I was first introduced to Warlord's Battlecry when I was 9 years old when we got our first PC. The game and its subsequent sequels - as they were not all that different from each other, are RTS Fantasy titles, set in a world very similar to the Dragonlance or Dungeons and Dragons worlds with many of the same races. The world was known as Etheria, and it's set in the same universe as the Warlords series developed originally by Infinite Interactive and Strategic Studies Group.

The premise of the game is that you create a hero from a variety of races; in the original, there were eight races to make heroes from - Human, Dwarf, Undead, High Elf, Wood Elf, Dark Elf, Minotaur and Orc, though there were nine playable races with the ninth being Barbarian; the ability to create a Barbarian hero wouldn't be introduced until the 2nd game, which also introduced three more playable races; Fey, Dark Dwarf and Daemon. Once you created a hero, you then partake in various battles to raise their level and select a profession (Warrior, Rogue, Wizard, Priest) and Specialty which related to race and class; some races could not take certain professions - like Undead could not take Priest, and Minotaur could not take Rogue for example.

This hero was an elite support unit to your armies, and unlike games like Age of Wonders and WarCraft, where the heroes start at base level in each match, this hero keeps his or her levels and experience in each subsequent battle, becoming more powerful in their chosen profession and specialty as well as their four base stats which offered different bonuses; Strength and Dexterity benefitted your hero, and Intelligence and Charisma benefitted his/her army to summarize. As a bonus, the troops you build in the battle could also gain experience, allowing you to build a retinue of powerful units to take with you from one battle to another.

Truth be told though this game series is grossly outdated. I put it onto the list because I still play it despite its age, and I choose the 2nd game as my favourite of the three, even though there is a third game - released in 2004. I can no longer play the first or second games because even torrented or legal versions of the game from GoG.com will not work no matter what I try - even one of my tech-savvy cousins took a whack at fixing it and got nowhere.

The main reason I still play it is because it seems to be the only one of its kind; there are no other games built with this principle, and considering the franchise has gone the way of the dinosaurs I'm not expecting another anytime soon.

So, while WB2 is my entry for this list it is WB3, the last of the entire Warlords series, and is the one I still play to this day.

Honourable Mentions:

Warlord's Battlecry: The original title set the foundation of what the following two games would be, and was the only one of the three to have a story mode, which was quite engaging given how minimal the games were as a whole. Unfortunately, in addition to not being able to play this game anymore, the story campaign could only be played with a Human hero and none of the other seven available.

Warlord's Battlecry 3: Unlike the 2nd game, this game brought back a playable story campaign, whereas 2 had Conquest of Etheria. Unfortunately, the game isn't as good as its predecessors, as it removes the profession/specialty system the previous games were built on, adds 4 new playable races that were rather lackluster and does nothing to improve or polish existing game mechanics, which overall made it a rather poor excuse for a sequel.

Number Three

Armello

-Developed by League of Geeks, I find this to be a nice quick kind of party game where you can just bring your friends together and have at it. The concept is quite simple; take the throne of the Kingdom of Armello for yourself, but it is up to you to decide how you do it.

You choose a hero from one of four playable races - six if you have the DLCs, and they are all anthropomorphic characters with their abilities and talents, some of which are geared toward a specific one of the four victory types, which are Kill the King, Spirit Stone, Rot or Prestige, utilizing cards and combat stats as well as dice rolls to win the game.

While this didn't make it into my favourite games, it was close. The game's downside is that everything is up to chance; you can't get any of the victory types without drawing the right cards or finding the conditions on the map, making it necessary to usually pursue two victory types simultaneously - usually, it's a safe bet to pursue Kingslayer and Prestige at the same time, but you can't pursue Spirit Stone and Rot together.

My favourite part of this game is its depth; while it seems like an electronic board game, all of the characters have their backstories and books that tell them, which you can find for free on the game itself. I could see this becoming a television series too - one I would totally watch.

Number Four

Super Smash Bros Ultimate

- Well, here's a game series I'm sure needs no introduction, but for those who haven't had the chance to check this one out yet, say hello to the biggest Smash Bros game to date, featuring the largest library of playable characters in any fighting game I've ever heard of.

One could argue that perhaps... Too many. The game has variety going for it in spades, without a doubt, offset only by maybe introducing more choices than anyone can make. Just the same, it has all the things players enjoy from the previous games and even brought back a playable story mode, though not a very engaging one. This is one of those types of games you play with your friends, get together on a weekend to blow off some steam.

A new Smash Bros comes out with every new Nintendo Console, but I have no idea how Sakurai and his dev team intend to top this one.

Honourable Mention:

-Pokken Tournament: When considering a fighting game for this list, this was another one that crossed my mind - a Pokémon fighting game featuring a system very similar to the Tekken series, hence the name. However, as I don't play this one very much anymore - nor does anyone I know, it wasn't chosen for the list.

Chapter Five

Cities: Skylines

-I don't just enjoy Empire Builders, I enjoy city builders too. Cities: Skylines, once more by Paradox Interactive, is a pretty simple game to understand, but a difficult one to master. You build a city, and that's about the long and short of it.

What makes this game stand out is the number of things you can do for building your city; you can grow its industry by taking advantage of the natural resources available to you, and in the many game expansions - in true Paradox fashion, build massive schools/campuses, tourist hubs, natural parks - etc; the possibilities are vast indeed. While this didn't make it onto my favourite games list, this is one I still play whenever I want to wind down or the mood strikes me.

My only issue is that I sometimes find difficulty in managing money, the environment and satisfying my population's needs, as well as managing the city's waste, pollution and traffic. I know the methods for preventing these but sometimes I fail to implement them before they become a problem. Also, I get bored with my city's shockingly fast and regularly start new ones; I can't help it, lol. Still, I will continue to enjoy this game, as well as the first of the honourable mentions here.

Honourable Mentions

-Stardew Valley: The decision between putting this game or Cities: Skylines on this entry was a hair's breadth, with my ultimately deciding on the game that is bigger overall, even though I play this one way more, especially when I need a bit of stability in my life. You play the role of a farmer for a small community, and the game also adds the elements of a life simulator game. Like the entry above, this is one of the types of games I go to when I need to wind down.

-Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life: Though I play Stardew Valley now, I used to play this game back in the day, and I had fun with it so I felt it was worth mentioning. Unfortunately, compared to Stardew Valley, despite having 3D graphics this game offered far less overall.

-Sim City (SNES): The very first city builder game I ever played; I loved this game when I was a kid and spent countless hours on it. Right next to some other entries you will see in my nostalgic games list when I make it, this was probably my favourite SNES title at the time.

Number Six

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

It-Probably one of the few games not to be ruined by Electronic Art's greedy bull**** for the past decade or so, despite being produced by a company owned by them. Fallen Order is a Souls-like game set in the Star Wars Universe, and just like any Souls-like, it's challenging, but not overwhelming if you play your cards right.

You play the role of Cal Kestis, a former Padawan who was driven into hiding after Order 66 and the Jedi Purge and suffered a traumatic event that caused his connection to the Force to become weakened. You're rescued by a former Jedi Knight, who like you has lost her connection to the Force, and while helping you find your way you're hunted by the Inquisitors, including the Ninth and Second Sisters.

The Inquisitors are a fascinating addition to the Star Wars lore, I've always thought; ever since witnessing the Grand Inquisitor on Star Wars: Rebels, I wanted to see more of them. Not quite Sith, but no longer Jedi, and made just strong enough to be a threat to Jedi survivors, but never to Darth Vader or the Emperor; the Inquisitors are weak in their use of the Force, but display adequate lightsaber duelling skills and even wield custom-made lightsabers to help them in their goal of hunting down surviving Jedi.

I guess my only gripe with this game would be just how hard it is, but that could apply to any Souls-like title, and I am looking forward to the sequel coming out this April.

Honourable Mentions

-Star Wars: Squadrons: I almost gave this one its own entry, but I'm trying to keep a sort of one-per-franchise rule like the Green Scorpion and Joshscorcher on YouTube do. Squadrons, though also a Star Wars game, is nothing like Fallen Order in that you play as a pilot rather than a Jedi, taking place after the events of Episode VI when the Empire has broken, and the Rebel Alliance has become The New Republic. You can fly for either side using a variety of starfighters.

The reason I didn't end up choosing this game is that while it was tons of fun, the novelty of it wore off for me. It was highly competitive and PvP-focused, and after being away from it so long, even if I picked it up again I'd probably get my arse handed to me.

-Star Wars: Battlefront 2: Despite a disastrous launch marred by EA's terrible business practices, this game - in the end, wound up becoming one of the best shooters I've ever played and even had a Starfighter mode that wouldn't be beaten until the release of Squadrons. But, I didn't put it on the list because it suffers not only from the loot box craze, but also from some serious balance issues and an excessively competitive player base. Still, this - like the other games above this entry, are all titles I would consider going back to with the right incentive.

Number Seven

Soul Calibur III

-I have been told before... That I have an obsession with character customization. Some might say, an unhealthy one; to me, building my own character from the ground up is the most enjoyable part of the experience, both in video games that offer such a thing and in my work as a writer. A story is only as good as its hero, after all.

Well... You can blame this game, as well as the next entry, for that! Soul Calibur III was the third entry in the Soul Blade/Soul Calibur franchise by Namco, a medieval fighting game taking place in the era of the Holy Roman Empire, with the plot centred around a demonic sword known as Soul Edge, and a spirit sword known as Soul Calibur - the namesake of the series from the second game onward.

The third game was the first of the series to introduce the ability to create a custom character, as well as a playable story mode for said custom character(s) known as Chronicles of the Sword. I spent countless hours playing this game, both the regular story and the Chronicles, unlocking every character's ending, every weapon and every piece of armour/clothing you could give to the custom characters. This was my favourite game of all time back in the day... Which begs the question, why is it here and not on the previous list?

There are two reasons for that, which is why it was listed after number five. The first reason is that I can't play it anymore; this game, unlike its prequels and sequels, was exclusive to the PlayStation 2. The second reason has to do with its sequels; the franchise tanked after this game, with the fourth game jumping the shark by introducing Star Wars characters as guest stars, and five centring its story mode on only two - frankly mediocre characters which led to a soft reboot of the franchise just to erase the pit stain left by these two.

I haven't had the chance to play Soul Calibur 6 yet, and I don't have much incentive to do so; the character customization after 3 fell hard, with four adding a stat system that made it hard to make your character look the least bit like you wanted to without them being a total wimp, and worst of all both games made it so that you can only give the character you create a fighting style of the game's current cast, and not even of the guest stars either.

This entry is getting too long, so let's leave it at that by saying, I think this game is where the series peaked, both for the regular game and the character customization...

Number Eight

Lego Racers

-In the previous list, I mentioned Paper Mario as a game that I was at odds about with my brother; we'd go to the video store looking to rent a game for the weekend, and we wouldn't agree on which one to get. He wanted Paper Mario, but I wanted this one.

Eventually, I managed to procure a copy of this game from my school, buying it from one of my teachers, and I was just as obsessed with it then as I was when I was a kid. Like Soul Calibur 3, mentioned before, this was another of the games that got me really into customization, not only of my character but of my car - see Need for Speed: Most Wanted on my previous list, in which the character is never seen but you can customize your car's appearance as well as performance.

As a concept, I loved this game to death, taking on the seven champion racers in a series of racing circuits, unlocking their car sets (if you finished first in each cup) and receiving all kinds of car designs and character pieces to make my Lego cars and characters. There is even at least one character you can race against who's from actual Lego sets; Johnny Thunder, who's sort of like a Lego Indiana Jones if I remember correctly. The others, I don't know if they appeared in sets of their own but they're still a colourful cast all in all.

If I had to say I had any gripes with this game, it's that the developers didn't go further with it; I understand technology was limited back then, but there were only a total of 12 playable tracks that you play through battling the first three champions, and then repeat them against the second three - only mirrored, and only one track against Rocket Racer, the top champion of the game - a long track, but still only one.

Now, only when making this entry did I find out there was a sequel to this game, which I never knew about until then, so I may have to look that up and see if there's still a way to get it, especially when I wore out my disk copy of the game... Doubt it'd work on my modern PC regardless.

Number Nine

Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor

- Though not part of the canonical lore of the Lord of the Rings (at least as far as I am aware; feel free to correct me) this was a _fun_game back when I played it. Like Alien Isolation, this is a game that encourages you to play smarter, and while it draws some inspiration from other titles I will mention below, let's start with this one.

You play as a Gondorian Ranger named Talion, who has become a sort of wraith - not like the Naz'gul who probably scared more than a few people in the original movies, but more like the undead in Dark Souls that rise again every time they die, and also host to the spirit of the elven ring-smith, Celebrimbor. While playing through the game, you encounter orc warriors known as Captains or Warlords, who using the wraith-like powers of Talion and Celebrimbor, can take control of them, and build their orc army within the very ranks of Sauron himself.

This game combines the parkour of Assassin's Creed with the combat of the Batman: Arkham games, but stands out by the inclusion of the Nemesis mechanic. All of the Warlords and Captains have rivalries with one another, as well as strengths and weaknesses which you use to build your strategy around for defeating them, either to promote your puppets to take their place or just to mess with the power hierarchy of the Mordor armies. A Captain or Warlord who kills you becomes your nemesis and advances through the ranks for that achievement.

I remember this one Warlord that I could not defeat; he was immune to every kind of attack, with only one weakness; his love of drink - Grog, by name. So I poisoned his drink and he went to a cliff to vomit. I snuck up on him and kicked him off the cliff. This Warlord, having killed me seven times at least, ultimately fell the way of a Disney Villain. I felt very satisfied with this one, and that satisfaction carried me to the end of the game.

This is very likely a game I will play again; I haven't tried the sequel, Shadow of War, yet, but I've considered it.

Honourable Mentions:

-Assassin's Creed: Black Flag: Like many people, I tried out the Assassin's Creed games during their golden years, with the Ezio Trilogy being where I started. Eventually, I worked my way up to Assassin's Creed II/Liberation, but Black Flag was where the series hit its peak, I'd say, playing as Edward Kenway, a Welsh Pirate who isn't actually part of the Assassin Order but wears their robes nonetheless.

I was a little disappointed when I couldn't upgrade my weapons and/or armour to the same degree as I could with Ezio or Conner (AC3), the sailing mechanics and the pirate-like theme more than made up with; I dare say, this is the best_pirate-like game ever made, and it's not even meant to _be one!

-Batman: Arkham City: The Batman Arkham games are a trip and a half, with the best combat system out of many of the similar titles that came out around this time. But for me, City was the best of the four titles, letting you play as both the titular Batman as well as Catwoman, and in the extras mode, you could even play as Robin (Tim Drake) or Nightwing to achieve high scores in a variety of gauntlet-style missions.

Though I never fully completed City or any of the games; I never finished any of the Riddler Missions because they were little more than glorified collect-athons for my least-favourite Batman villain. Still, despite not making it as the entry for this list, this was the only game I played through to the end more than once.

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Number Ten

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

-As with Smash Bros, I don't imagine this game needs any introductions. It's only been twelve bloody years since it was originally released and has since been re-released multiple times, with no sign of the next game in sight.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim takes place two hundred years after the events of the previous game, TES IV Oblivion, and introduces a wide-open world set in the cold home of the Nords. In the time since the previous game, the Tamriellic Empire has fallen into disarray; Skyrim is consumed by a civil war between the Empire and a rebel faction known as the Stormcloaks, named for their leader, Ulfric Stormcloak. As if that weren't enough, around this time, Tamriel sees the return of the dragons, and the game's main villain, Alduin the World Eater.

At one point I might have considered putting this game as one of my favourites. I love the lord of The Elder Scrolls games; first introduced back with the third game, Morrowind, and I even spent a little time playing the MMORPG, The Elder Scrolls Online (more on that later). I find the many diverse races you can play as fascinating and would leave to see more of this world that has been built up over these games.

But Skyrim itself is old by now; there is little to nothing left for it to offer, beyond the ease of messing with it; the modding community still releases all kinds of content for this game but Bethesda Studios and their parent company, Zenimax, now focus all their attention on the MMORPG and Fallout 76 - again, more on those later, and do not seem intent on releasing a new game for this series anytime soon.

Hopefully, with Microsoft now the owner of both companies maybe we'll see a bit more attention to quality if The Elder Scrolls VI is ever released... But I doubt it.

Honourable Mentions

-The Outer Worlds: Another game by Obsidian Entertainment, when Bethesda refused to let them continue making games for Fallout. Honestly, this was a pretty good game, and I might one day replay it again, but unlike the games listed above I haven't had much incentive to do so; the game was rather sparse on content the last time I played it, so I can't give it a higher spot given the impressions it left me. One thing I loved about it, I was able to complete the game without having to resort to violence; I talked my way through it, having built a character with high charisma. This is something that the Fallout and Elder Scrolls games don't even give you as an option most of the time.

-Fallout 4: This was the first runner-up for my pick on this list. Although I never managed to complete the game before I was growing tired of it, I was quite addicted to this game for a while, with the addition of its settlement-building mechanics - something I spent so much time on; probably 70% of the hours I spent playing this game was spent just building settlements. Unfortunately, although this game is slightly more developed than Skyrim, the characters - including your own, are just... Dull, and despite having so many factions involved in the main story, nothing you do matters in the grand scheme of things, not like in Fallout: New Vegas, which by the way...

-Fallout: New Vegas: Arguably the best game in the series, and it wasn't even developed by Bethesda who owns the right to the franchise now; it was developed by Obsidian Entertainment, who succeeded Black Isle Studios - the original developers of the franchise and likely having some of the dev team who worked on the original games - though, don't quote me on that. So, why didn't I score this one above Fallout 4, despite being a better game overall than both Fallout 4 and Skyrim?

...Unfortunately, unlike those games, I can't play them anymore. I originally played the game on my brother's Playstation 3, before I got my copy on PC. For some reason, every time I've installed it after I have run the game for a while, I can no longer load my save files - as soon as I try, the game just crashes to the desktop, without even an error to show and I can't figure out why. So for technical reasons, this one only gets a mention.

Number Eleven

Alien Isolation

- I have a very strange relationship with horror games, in that I don't enjoy playing them that much - I more enjoy watching others play them. A prime example, I've watched Markiplier and Jacksepticeye play games like Five Nights at Freddy's, but never really wanted to try the games myself. Just seeing how they play I feel they'd annoy me more than I'd have any fun with them.

This game, however, proves that with any rule, there are exceptions. Taking place after the events of Ridley Scott's masterpiece, Alien, starring Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley - probably the best strong female lead in movie history, you take the role of the main character's daughter, Amanda Ripley, an engineer with the Weyland-Yutani Corporation whom her mother used to work for. She travels to a decrepit space colony known as Savastapol, seeking answers about her mother's disappearance, and encounters one of the same alien monsters her mother faced - affectionately known as the Xenomorph.

The reason I love this game over other horror games is that you need to play smart. You can't kill the alien, and because it uses two different AIs, it is learning as you fight it - eventually, if you rely on the same tricks too often, it's going to get wise to you and find you. The game gives you a variety of ways to protect yourself, but the terror that the alien brings with its presence is palpable. You never really know where that hissing monstrosity is going to pop out, or when.

Though I ranked it fairly low on the list, this is going to be one of the few horror games I've played that I have many positives to say about.

Number Twelve

Dragon Ball: The Breakers

-I will say that I am the first person who will admit I am not a Dragon Ball fan - or most anime in general, so I am not a big follower of Dragon Ball or its subsequent shows or games. But, over the years, I have owned a couple of the games, and for what they were I didn't dislike them. This game is the most recent one I've acquired, and it breaks away from the norm.

Instead of a fighting game playing as various Dragon Ball characters, which is what I came to know the video games for, you play as an ordinary, earthling survivor, stuck in these time distortions that bring you to face to face with the deadliest villains of the franchise - Frieza, Cell and/or Majin Buu. Your goal? Besides surviving, you must find a way to escape the distortion, either by bringing forth a time machine that will get you out, or defeating the villain - the Raider. Neither of these are easy to accomplish; ultimately, the Raider can win the game either by wiping out you and all the survivors, or by forcing you to escape in an emergency time machine, and they get stronger with every kill they make, becoming that much harder to take down.

Though the game is somewhat repetitive, the challenge of it is still appealing enough that I enjoy it alongside Korban so I keep playing it.

Number Thirteen

Killing Floor 2

-From the overblown genre of 'zombie shooter' games, comes this surprisingly challenging and enjoyable first-person shooter that pits you against these genetically modified clones known as ZEDs, which are not 'technically' zombies in the sense that they are not actually dead, but they behave much like them.

The story of the game follows a post-apocalyptic event in London, England, centred around a crisis originating from the genetics labs of Horzine Biotech, which it seems was developing these creatures as a military-commissioned project. As is usually the case in these kinds of plots, something goes horribly wrong; the ZEDs, seemingly infinite in number, escape their containment, overrun the internal security forces of Horzine and reach the city streets, consuming everything in their path, and more clones continue to stream out from the laboratory, and the London Police are powerless to contain them.

You take on the role of either a British Army soldier or a Special Police Officer, and join a ragtag team to combat the crisis, surviving wave after wave of the unending ZED horde until you eventually come face to face with the boss monster; in the original game, there was only one boss, known as the Patriarch - who is none other than the creator of the ZEDs, Dr. Kevin Clamely, but in Killing Floor 2, additional boss monsters are added with a random chance to encounter each one at the end, and each of them is as dangerous as the other.

While I enjoyed this game at the time, I kind of fell out of touch with zombie shooters as I got older, and Tripwire Interactive, the developers of this game, started taking up some sketchy practices. So that's why I couldn't put this game higher on the list, but it is still a great game if you like wave survival horror. Hell, I even made fanfiction based on it, which I think may still be in the scraps second on my FurAffinity account. It's grossly dated by now, but I still look back on it fondly for the time.

Honourable Mentions

-Left 4 Dead 2: Before I fell out with zombie shooters, I played this game right alongside Killing Floor 2, and the latter made it onto the list as just being the more interesting and engaging game; neither game gives much backstory on the playable characters, but the lore of Killing Floor 2 has a bit more depth than this game.

-Divinity: Original Sin 2: While this game is in no way similar to the titles above, I put it here because this was going to be my original Number Thirteen. However, I found that I could not remember very much of the game, let alone enough to give it a proper entry, so I changed my decision to a different game and genre entirely.

Number Fourteen

The Sims

-As some of you may have noticed, character customization matters a lot to me, and in this game, there are more possibilities than probably any other title that will make it onto these lists. For here, I'm going with the first game, since it introduced me to the franchise - specifically, the Sims on the Nintendo Gamecube, which while much more limited than the titles on other consoles and _especially_PC, was still a lot of fun for me and my favourite game to play after school.

The premise is pretty simple - it is a life-simulator game, hence the name, where you play as a simulated character that you build from scratch. Build a house, get a career, start a family - the whole nine yards. When I got around to trying the PC games, it was well after the Sims 3 came out; the games are so different between platforms it's crazy. Unfortunately, Electronic Arts - as they are so prone to doing, killed the original developers - Maxis, and took the reins of the franchise for themselves... And proceeded to butcher it like they do everything with their greedy practices.

Unfortunately, this game is not on the favourites list, because the first Sims is just too outdated by now, and Sims 3 - the last one I played- gave me plenty of trouble. I got the game originally on Nintendo Wii, and it was glitchy as hell, so I tried PC instead; I had to get a pirated version to unlock all of the content as there are just too many freaking expansions, but it was extremely unstable - which is not unheard of for pirated games, especially ones this big.

Sad to say, my days with this franchise may be over, but if EA gets their **** together, I would still pick these games up again. I'm just not going to hold my breath.

Number Fifteen

Champions Online

-When it comes to MMORPGs... I am probably the hardest critic of them that anyone will ever find. I find them overrated, exceedingly boring and extremely repetitive with no real replayability. But, as with my entry about horror games, there are _some_exceptions.

Champions Online was a game with more customization than probably any other game I have played in my life. The possibilities were damn near endless, with how you could customize your custom-made superhero character. I was even able to make a fairly accurate depiction of many of my own original characters, especially my feathersona, Volcan MacAingeal. You cannot name any other game, by anyone else, that let me do that - they simply don't exist.

And if that wasn't enough, later in the game I was even able to create my own nemesis, and there was nobody better for that role than Volcan's own nemesis, Calhoun Demonfire. Sadly, I only got to face off against him the one time in his introductory missions - it seems like he never appeared again after that. I also started to find the game somewhat repetitive, as I do with MMOs in general; the character creation options kept me hooked for a while, but even that wore out with me eventually.

I doubt there will ever be another title like Champions; the company that made it, Cryptic, is still around, but they don't seem interested in continuing with this idea. Still, if another Champions Online ever came along, that might be the one thing that could get me interested in MMOs again.

Honourable Mentions

-Star Wars: The Old Republic: Only left out because of my one-per-franchise rule, this was the MMORPG that kept me hooked for the longest time. Taking place in the same timeline as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic one and two, there was a vastly more expansive world to play around in than we get with the modern games today. You could play a variety of character races and classes, the latter each having their own unique story, and you could fight for either the Republic or the Sith Empire; there was even a Galactic Starfighter game mode. All in all, this was the first and one of only a few MMORPGs I truly loved.

-The Elder Scrolls: Online: Once again missed out due to the one-per-franchise rule, but also because this is the last of what we have received relating to this franchise, not counting a few lacklustre books. All of Bethesda and Zenimax's attention seems to be on this, or their other MMO, Fallout 76, which I never even bothered trying because I knew they'd screw it up. This game kept me hooked for a little while - enough that like with The Old Republic, I played through the story mode to the end, something few other MMO titles manage to get out of me. but eventually continued to suffer that same drawl that all other MMORPG's give me; just the same game, endlessly. Forever grinding, forever doing the same things, and finding out in your first PvP game, that your stats that served you well in the vanilla game, are completely f****** useless, and it's too late for a do-over.

-Final Fantasy XIV: I have never been big on Final Fantasy games, but I did give this one a fair shot. I'll admit, the 'Realm Reborn' base game is one of the stupidest messes I've ever played, BUT! It did redeem itself with the Heavensward expansion, introducing a much more compelling story, better pacing, and an expanded world to enjoy. As such, I actually played through to the end of both the base game and the expansion, but this was another game I felt no replayability and just got repetitive all over again.

-Warframe: It can be debated if this counts as an MMO or not, but when you visit planets, you can encounter other players, and the worlds are big with daily missions and crap to do - like every other title of that genre, so, I count it as one. I only played this a few times with a friend, and I did enjoy it somewhat... But it suffers from that same endless grind, endless drawl, and same-y-ness I feel from every other MMORPG. Even if it isn't technically supposed to be one, it feels like one, so I put it here.