#5 Monster Hunter

Monster Hunter was released in America in 2004.  It puts the player in the position of a hunter, who starts with small quests such as gathering raw meat and what not, but eventually working up to the main focus of the game, which is fighting large and powerful Wyverns, the most famous one being the Rathalos (Pictured below).

As the player goes on quests they can pick up items from the land or carve them off of creatures they kill.  Then they can use those items to craft better weapons and armor.  It’s interesting seeing everything you can collect when you start with nothing but an empty chest.  The Wyvern combat however is the main point of the game, and it is a lot of fun.  It can be frustrating at time, for instance when the Rathalos doesn’t stay put and flies all over the map.  However, learning the different attacks and mannerisms of the beasts, along with the unique (at least in my experience) of using the right thumbstick to swing your weapon is incredibly satisfying.  Fighting the Wyverns doesn’t get old, and I have logged well over a hundred hours on this game.

#4 Shadow of the Colossus

Shadow of the Colossus was released in America in 2005.  It follows the journey of Wander and his horse Argo’s quest to bring a girl named Mono back to life.  The player journeys across a vast, beautiful, peaceful landscape to find the great Colossi to defeat.  The creatures are massive, towering over the player, who is forced to climb them.  Each Colossus is a puzzle, and the player must find out how to reach the weak points on the beast and stab them.  For example, below is the second Colossus.

The player has to wait for this Colossus to rear up on its hind legs and then shoot the bottom of its foot with an arrow.  When it collapses onto its side the player can climb up its leg and to the rear of the body, where the first point is.  After stabbing it a few times, the player can make their way up to the head to finish off the beast.  After defeating all sixteen Colossi, the player can play again with time trials that, when completed, reward Wander with items.  This game isn’t the longest, but I played through it eight times, sometimes just riding across the beautiful world in wonder.

#3 Left 4 Dead

Left 4 Dead was released in America in 2008.  This zombie game is a cooperative shooter, with the best game experience coming from playing with other players online.  Playing as one of four survivors, the team takes to the streets and has to make it to the next safe room without being killed by the infected.  However, there are more than just regular garden variety zombies.  There are also the Hunter, Smoker, Boomer, Witch, and Tank.  These special infected are much more powerful and infinitely more dangerous than their regular counterparts.  The group has to stick together because if a hunter pounces on someone or a Smoker grabs someone, they’re helpless, taking damage until another survivor is able to rescue them.  The boomer can blur player’s vision and attract a horde of zombies.  The witch cries and doesn’t do anything, but if she’s startled she will make a beeline for the character who screwed up, taking them down in one swipe.  The Tank is a massive, well tank, that can smack players off of buildings and pick up concrete blocks and throw them.

The most fun part of this game is versus mode, where two teams of four play against each other.  One team is the survivors and the other is the infected.  The infected try to kill the survivors before they can reach the safe room.  Then they switch sides.  Whichever team has the most points at the end of the campaign wins.  I played versus mode for at least a hundred hours.  It really is a great feeling when you do something amazing, like grabbing someone with the smoker right before they get in the saferoom and slaughtering the survivors right when they thought they were going to win, or beating a hunter down when he thought he was going to pounce you.  And of course the possibility of playing a tank is always a good incentive to play.

#2 Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy VII is the most popular RPG (Role Playing Game) of all time.  It was released in America in 1997 and has over sold over 9 million copies worldwide.  This game contains an incredibly compelling story and characters.  It is driven by a fun, real time battle system that sticks to the original characteristics that made Final Fantasy great (so before all the weird action-rpg things).  The main story can take well over fifty  hours and if the player takes time to train, search for items, explore side quests and areas, and play the many different minigames, such as chocobo racing, the game can take well over a hundred hours to complete if not more.  This game is timeless, I myself began recently playing it again and every moment I spend playing it is time well spent despite the graphics that are now fifteen years old.

#1 Chrono Cross

Often overshadowed by Final Fantasy VII, Chrono Cross was released a bit later, in 2000.  This game has an incredibly detailed and captivating story, backed up by a massive cast of 45 playable characters.  There is an incredible amount of content in this game, and the plot is absolutely stunning and well thought out.  The characters are incredibly memorable and well characterized, some of the most notable ones being Lynx and Kid.

One of the things I like most about this game is that the characters mainly level up through boss battles, doing away with repetitive grinding.  Also, this game does not have random encounters, which is nice because anyone who has ever played a game with random encounters knows how annoying they can get.  The magic system is well done, having elements  that have different colors and levels and can be used once each battle.  Attacking is also interesting in that each character has a number of attacks they can use, and each time they hit they increase their element level, allowing them to use more powerful spells.  I played through this game three times, it operates on a new game plus system, meaning that you keep all of your elements, characters, and levels you’ve gained up to that point.  This makes the second play through much easier, but allows you to focus on other things.  Plus, with so many characters, it takes going through the game three times to unlock all of them.  This however, does not take away from the story.  It just adds more replay value.  The fact that there are so many characters allows you to create a party of immense diversity, as each character is unique.

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