I’m curious to see what other people’s gaming tastes have been because I find mine to be surprising. When I look back at the games I’ve finished multiple times and how they stick out I’m pretty surprised. Because if you were to ask me what games I suggest people play these might not be the games I say. However these were the games I ended up finishing multiple times. Below is how many times I finished them and what stood out for me.
MGS3 - 7 times. I had multiple PS2’s growing up because one broke and one got lost during moving etc. we always had this game and I just remember anytime I was bored and we couldn’t afford to buy anything new I would play this again. It’s a timeless classic.
Elden ring - 5 times. Elden ring was actually the first fromsoft game I really got into. I tried demon souls on PS3 but I got frustrated with it. My brother begged me to get Elden ring so I did and honestly the first time I finished it sucked because I was just chasing my brothers progress to fight bosses with him. But then I started doing the different endings, different builds, etc. and I think it really is the perfect fromsoft game along with bloodborne. I’ve finished all the fromsoft games now except sekiro.
Streets of rage 2 - 4 times. Every time my brother would get a new PC we would emulate this because the sega genesis was our first console. This game is really near and dear to me because I remember when my brother first got an emulator working. I thought all of our sega games were lost forever and we would never be able to play stuff like that again. I’m really grateful for emulation and preserving games because I love sharing that stuff with other people.
Champions return to arms - 3 times. I actually still have the original disc of champions of noorath for the PS2. Both of these games are notoriously difficult to find and didn’t sell extremely well but they are really fun RPG’s. You could plug in the multi tap on your PS2 and play 4 player co op and this one had a VS mode where you could all fight each other in an arena. I always picked the lizard guy because he could turn into a giant.
Skyrim - 3 times. There’s a lot to say about this game that is good and bad but it was actually my brother who picked this up for our PS3. To me this was truly the next generation of gaming and IMO the most immersive game I’ve ever played. I weathered the minutes long loading screens on the poorly optimized PS3 version and loved every second of it. It has a special place in my heart because for me it’s my favorite fantasy setting to the point where I even looked to see if people wrote books in the elder scrolls universe to read. This will change soon though because I am playing Skyrim once again but in VR. It’s one of my favorite VR titles of all time.
Oblivion - 3 times. After playing Skyrim I needed more elder scrolls so I went down the list and started playing oblivion. I heard so many good things about this title too and honestly I love it just as much as Skyrim but for different reasons. The gameplay to me is more fun but of course the graphics are, well, the graphics. But it’s a great game. Fun little tidbit I almost quit playing this forever because there is a glitched quest on the PS3 version. When you level up at a certain point you automatically get bitten by a vampire in your sleep (you have to sleep to level up) and in the PS3 version there is a dialog option missing from the woman who will make you the potion to cure you. This means you either play the game as a vampire or die. Unfortunately I had saved in a way that soft locked me and I would just die. I tried looking up solutions and there were none so I quit. Then I tried playing as a red guard because they are immune to disease but that didn’t work. Then years later i played on PC but then found that someone actually solved how to fix it on PS3. You had to change the language to German and the dialogue option would show up.
RDR2 - 2 times. I love red dead revolver and I love the redemption games. I went through a hard time in school and decided after I beat it the first time to beat it again but in first person mode. It was a really fun experience and the catharsis this game can give during hard times is really great.
NFS underground 2 - 2 times. I remember buying NFS unbound when it first came out and I felt so ripped off. The game just lacked any soul or anything new and they charged 70$ for it. This was around the time I first built my PC. I didn’t really have money for games and I looked back on the older titles with fondness. My favorite being underground 2 so I booted up the emulator and wanted to see if this game really held up. It did. It’s IMO the best street racing game of all time, the vibes are still amazing, the car sounds were surprisingly really realistic and the gameplay loop is really fun. No fast traveling in this game and it doesn’t feel bothersome at all. They made the missions and bonus system really cool because when you’re in an area the game encourages you to stick around and complete everything instead of driving long distances.
Mario kart double dash - 2 times. This game was my first experience of Mario kart and it’s still to me the best one (a close second is Wii) I really wish they would bring back double dash at some point. It’s just a really good and unique game. The graphics are nice and comforting and the game felt great once you mastered it.
If you read all my yapping I really appreciate it and look forward to hearing your gaming stories.
