You can't call yourself a gamer if you haven't played...

primesuspect

Inspired by Gnome Queen.

She said to me that Spencer has never played HL2 and thus cannot call himself a gamer. I called BS on her, because HL2 is the ONLY game she's played on a list of games I would consider "critical" for the pastime.

So, that said: What games would you consider absolutely imperative for any self-respecting gamer to have played and beaten before they can truly call themselves a gamer?

GnomeQueen

I was going to post this myself, but it appears that Mr. Primesuspect has beaten me. So, what games must you have played to call yourself a gamer? Brian submits:

DOOM
Quake 3
Beyond Good & Evil
Command & Conquer
Wing Commander

Thrax

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic I & II
Dragon Age: Origins
The Mass Effects
Fallout 1
Any Final Fantasy (Preferably US VII or Japanese III)
Sim Tower
Sim City 2000 (or newer)
Super Mario Brothers 3
StarCraft
Warcraft 3
Diablo II
The Elder Scrolls IV
Any Commander Keen
A classic FPS (Blake Stone, Corridor 7, Rise of the Triad, DOOM, whatever)

//EDIT:
Pokemon (Any)
Kirby's Dream Land
Donkey Kong
Sonic the Hedgehog (Any)

primesuspect

On a side note: That's not my full list, that was me giving her some quick examples in gchat. I'll have a full list soon.

I like Thrax' list, but some of the newer games like Dragon Age and Mass Effect are... well, too new to be considered "must played" to call yourself a gamer.

NiGHTS

Thrax wrote:

Sim Tower

"SHOPS ARE TOO CLOSE"


...are you kidding me? They're 8 floors away! Give me my damn rating already!


To keep from repeating the above, two new contenders:
Marathon
Spyhunter

Thrax

primesuspect wrote:

On a side note: That's not my full list, that was me giving her some quick examples in gchat. I'll have a full list soon.

I like Thrax' list, but some of the newer games like Dragon Age and Mass Effect are... well, too new to be considered "must played" to call yourself a gamer.

Hear me out. I know they're new, and I was very hesitant to put such new games on a "classics" list, but I have absolute faith in the fact that they are amongst the best RPGs in the last 10 years. BioWare has truly elevated the genre with amazing voice acting, compelling plots and great dialog.

Ten years from now, I don't think anyone would question whether or not they're classics.

primesuspect

Any classic Super Mario Brothers (NES)
TMNT Arcade (or any of the four-player, quarter-destroying beat-em-ups in arcades, like the Simpsons or Battletoads, etc.)
Chrono Trigger (SNES)
Final Fantasy VII (PSX)
Any 2D fighter (Super Street Fighter and its ilk)
DOOM (single player FPS)
Quake III (multi-player FPS)
Diablo or Diablo II
Star Wars: KOTOR (either)
Half Life 2
Duke Nukem
Oblivion
Fallout (II)
A "Gold Box" AD&D game (Secret of the Silver Blades, Pool of Radiance, Champions of Krynn, etc.)
Something "Sim"
Beyond Good & Evil
Any classic RTS (Warcraft, Starcraft, C&C, Age of Empires, etc)

//EDIT:
Sonic the Hedgehog
Altered Beast
Golden Axe
Any SRPG (Ogre Tactics, Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy Tactics especially)
Metroid (any)
Mario Kart
Mega Man (any)
Zelda (any)




I'm basing this list on stuff that will give you the background you need to speak intelligently about gaming to other gamers. Like, if you've never played Duke Nukem, you really don't have a connection to why DNF is such a big fucking deal right now. Or why the upcoming Old Republic MMO is so highly anticipated. Or why Diablo III is making people change their graduation plans.

And I firmly believe that FF7 is absolutely a must play for anyone who considers themselves a gamer. If you've never been to Midgar, you don't know why [redacted] is so important.

Myrmidon

Midgar.

Also, this is kind of tough. I mean, this sort of thing is going to get into 'my favorite game needs to go on this list!' Like, I'd agree with Super Mario brothers and a River City Ransom type game, but Duke Nukem? The original Duke Nukem was a side-scrolling platformer with guns - and that shit had already been done. Commander Keen, or Metroid.

Furthermore, then you have to decide why to include both Chrono Trigger AND FFVII. I mean, I loved both games equally, but other than graphics, these were cut from the same (mesmerizing) cloth! Why both? Why not just one? And if KOTOR and the Mass Effects are so similar, why both? See what I'm getting at?

By both of these lists, I can't be considered a 'true gamer.' But come on, baby! I grow tired of these disingenuous assertions: off course I'm a bad enough dude to save Princess Angelica for great justice on any given red letter day!

u c wut i did thar?

primesuspect

I'm gonna pull a Thrax and say that was a typo

Myrmidon

primesuspect wrote:

I'm gonna pull a Thrax and say that was a typo

You know I love you, baby.

primesuspect

I'm not saying you have to have played EVERY game on the list, but in order to speak the lingo, you need to know the history; and yes, any gamer would be able to get a laugh from your clever sentence

New criteria: If Myrmidon's sentence makes sense to you, you're a gamer

primesuspect

And I don't think this is a list of "my favorite games" either. I don't particularly like a lot of games even on my own list; I'm saying it's important to be familiar with them.

Thrax

I like a lot of the games on my list, but only a few of them are my favorites. In fact, most of what I would consider my favorites aren't even on the list.

You've probably never heard of them.

portzebie

Pac-Man
Donkey Kong
Zelda (original and Link to the Past)
Super Mario Bros. 1 & 3
Sim City
Monkey Island
Street Fighter 2
Mortal Kombat 2
TMNT or The Simpsons arcade
Final Fantasy VI
DOOM
Duke Nukem 3D
Warcraft 2
Half-Life

ZenMode

Final Fantasy (NES)
Final Fantasy IV (SNES)
Final Fantasy VI (SNES)
Secret of Mana (SNES)
Bionic Commando (NES)
Ghosts & Goblins (NES)
The Legend of Zelda (NES)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)
Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)
Final Fantasy Tactics (PSX)
Xenogears (PSX)
Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall (PC)
DOOM (PC)
Warcraft II (PC)
Shining Force - Any (Genesis)
King's Quest - Any (PC)
Base Wars (NES)
Descent (PC)
Discworld - Any (PC)
Duke Nukem - Any (Multi-platform)
Star Wars: Dark Forces (PC)
Street Fighter - Any (Multi-platform)
Diablo (PC)
Diablo II (PC)
Starcraft (PC)
Balder's Gate - I or II (PC)
MechWarrior - Any (PC)
Sim City - Any (Multi-platform)
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PSX)
X-COM UFO Defense or Terror from the Deep (PC)
Half-Life (PC)
NetHack (PC) - Not necessarily beaten, but played at the very least
AD&D: Stronghold (PC)
Dungeon Keeper (PC)
Theme Hospital (PC)

I wouldn't say that one would have to complete all the above games, but at the very least they would've played or observed them at one point for some extended period of time.

Also, I agree with Rob's assessment of the newer titles on his list - they've definitely contributed something big to gaming as a whole, just like many of the older titles did when they were still fresh.

Myrmidon

I just realized I didn't post a list. Might as well put mine out there if I'm going to critique other lists, right?

Tetris. At least once.
Pac-man. At least once.
Super Mario Bros (pre-N64)
Zelda (pre N64)
SMB OR Zelda (post N64). I feel it's important to have witnessed their evolution, but that the real evolution of both can be exhibited in just one specimen.
Sonic the Hedgehog
One of the Final Fantasies (pre- FFVIII). Alternatively, Chrono Trigger. If you played it and stopped because you didn't like text, that's MARGINALLY acceptable.
Battletoads.
Contra - or at least know where the konami code came from.
Any Gradius-type game. Life Force, whatever.
Any space simulator. X-wing, TIE-fighter, Descent, whatever. Note this applies to PC gamers only (there was a whole gaming ERA of space sims, ffs! YOU HAD TO EXPERIENCE IT).
Any mainstream WWII FPS. The genre is old and tired, but it caught on so well that to have missed this is to have missed a LOT of the gaming industry in the 2000s.
Half-Life 2.
One of Blizzard's RTS games. Warcrafts I-III, Starcraft.
Any Sim game (simcity 2000 or earlier, I would suggest).
One of the games that really broke ground with the 'pseudo-sandbox' barrier: something like Mass Effect or Oblivion. Should I include KOTOR here?

I'm missing things. I want to say things like 'pokemon,' but I think I can find something a bit more encompassing in what pokemon established.

Also, I need to play Beyond G&E. I won't even argue that point.

djmeph

OK, here is a list of all the games I have played. You tell me if I'm a gamer or not.

Wolfenstein 3D
Duke Nukem 3D
Descent
Doom
Doom 2
Lemmings
Sim Tower
Sim City
Sim City 2000
Super Mario Bros
Kirby's Adventure
Tetris
Halo
Halo 2
Counterstrike
Half-Life 2
Warcraft 1-3
Age of Empires

AlexDeGruven

Thrax wrote:

I like a lot of the games on my list, but only a few of them are my favorites. In fact, most of what I would consider my favorites aren't even on the list.

You've probably never heard of them.

Thrax: Gaming hipster

I think the original Donkey Kong needs to be on this list, as well as HL1.

Myrmidon

Oh man, I can't say straight "yes" or "no" to a list like that. This is hard.

Also, wouldn't you say it's acceptable to say you must have sought out and played a game labeled "indie?" I mean, hipster cred aside, that DOES go a long way to say you're interested in the subject matter...

A really interesting list would be what games you must have played to be a gaming hipster. "The Void," anyone?

djmeph

I spent a lot of time playing Bible Adventures for Nintendo. That game wasn't even sanctioned by Nintendo and it was the buggiest shit ever.

CB

Thing is: to 'get' a lot of those games, you had to have played them in context. If you try to go back now and play Duke Nukem 3D, for example, you won't get. You had to play it in its own time.

Winfrey

Commander Keen, motherfucker!

Myrmidon

CB wrote:

Thing is: to 'get' a lot of those games, you had to have played them in context. If you try to go back now and play Duke Nukem 3D, for example, you won't get. You had to play it in its own time.

That's a really good criteria for games on the list, right? They gotta be timeless. You can go back and play Super Mario Bros. and still have a damn good time. And make a drinking game out of it. Same with the Final Fantasies or Battletoads. Believe it or not, I would argue that something like Doom, while unforgettable, isn't timeless. You can't get the same 'holy shit' factor playing it that you used to get back in the day.

djmeph

I would disagree with you about Doom. I still love that game. I think it's the music and sound effects though, for me.

cola

I believe that, to be considered a gamer in any sense of the word, you must have played at least one of the Zelda games for the Phillips CDI, Crazy Taxi, Superman 64, and own multiple hats in TF2 (regardless of weather or not you've bought TF2).

Myrmidon

djmeph wrote:

I would disagree with you about Doom.

Heh, I figured it'd be an unpopular stance.

djmeph

Also, there was a file in Doom called DWANGO

RootWyrm

djmeph wrote:

Also, there was a file in Doom called DWANGO

Smashing Pumpkins Into Small Piles Of Putrid Debris.

wax

where are the adventure games!!??!!
no monkey island?
no kings quest, space quest or leisure suit larry?
what is wrong with you people!?

djmeph

I know this isn't the case for a lot of people here, but I never got into RPGs, adventure games, etc. Not even Zelda.

fatcat

didn't see either of these on anyone's list, and therefor y'all ain't no gamer

Pitfall
King's Quest

exception: wax