Psychonauts 1 and 2.
Some of the most imaginative big budget games in existence, from themes to art style to level design
What games are just objective master pieces?
Submitted 10 months ago by weirdbeardgame@lemmy.world to games@lemmy.world
Comments
afaix@lemmy.world 10 months ago
charonn0@startrek.website 10 months ago
Left4Dead2 (also L4D1)
hank_the_tank66@lemmy.world 10 months ago
EXCEPT…for when your computer teammate jumps in front of you while you’re shooting and accosts you for it, then a second later they literally mow down a bunch of infected by shooting through you with no consequences.
So I have to knock it down to a 9.9/10
richardwagner@lemm.ee 10 months ago
- dark souls
- elden ring
- bloodborne
- sekiro
- outer wilds
- doom 2016
- binding of isaac
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
Someone likes a challenge. :)
Radin@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Hades. Transcends the rogue-like genre through incredible writing, art direction, and music. The gameplay is some of the most addictive I’ve ever played. I’m at over 200 hours logged and I still get lost in it.
Sophocles@infosec.pub 10 months ago
Heres a list of some favorites:
Imperfect perfection: Morrowind
Perfect perfection: Starcraft Brood War
Objective perfection: Plants vs Zombies
Subjective perfection: Knights of the Old Republic
Perfect for its time: Gauntlet IV
Perfect timeless: Sonic 2
Perfect for its genre: LOZ Minish Cap
Perfect All-in-one: Shenmue II
SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 months ago
Glad to see some love for Shenmue
pdqcp@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 months ago
Minish Cap seems such an underrated gem
SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 months ago
Holy shit somehow no one has mentioned:
Nier Automata.
It counts as a masterpiece because of how well it blends game design and story. I have played very few games as thoughtful, or that weaved the gameplay together into the story it was telling in such a meaningful way. I never thought once in my life that I would think philosophically about bullet hell but somehow Nier Automata has something profound to say and even manages to say it using bullet hell as a gameplay mechanic.
On top of all this, it also has a lot to say about classical philosophers, their works, and honestly deeply subverts things they had to say.
Further, Yoko Taro is doing something that a lot of game developers fail to manage to do: He is embracing gaming as a storytelling medium and eschewing the traditional three-act arc from film. Because gaming is not film. As Marshall McLuhan posited, “the medium is the message” and unlike other developers Taro’s writing is aimed at the medium he is working in instead of leaning on the ropes and tropes of other mediums. (Referring back to above, tying the gameplay into the story, focusing on the medium)
It’s basically impossible to not break down into tears at the ending.
Don’t write it off because of the scantily clad anime women. Stay for the depth of the human condition. It is truly a masterwork in multiple respects.
msage@programming.dev 10 months ago
I tried to play that game, expecting perhaps a DMC-like gameplay.
Instead I got a 2D plane scroller?
Then 2D sort of platformer?
Then some weird 3D action that I did not understand at all?
What the fuck is that game.
If I enjoyed combat more, I could give it another go. But it was just not for me.
Katana314@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Man, I wish I understood a single bit of this evaluation of the game after finishing every chapter (sorry - “Ending”). The whole thing felt mostly like a waste of time.
That said, I’m a fan of Spec Ops: The Line, a game that has much the same level of division among its players. Interesting how philosophical games get that reaction.
mintiefresh@lemmy.ca 10 months ago
One of my favorite games of all time.
MarauderIIC@lemmy.zip 10 months ago
I appreciate that you justified your submission, unlike many answers here.
Bbbbbbbbbbb@lemmy.world 10 months ago
It’s basically impossible to not break down into tears at the ending.
The god damn ending is a gameplay mechanic to tell a not yet finished story. Damn you Yoko Taro
SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 months ago
spoiler
The wild part is that he’s so good at subverting anime tropes, too. The “killing god” trope is mentioned in the first lines of the game… and then going on to battling the end credits themselves?? Literally killing the gods who created the world this all exists in? Taking it to the absurd yet logical extreme, so brilliant.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
Nier Automata
I loved Nier Replicant, but didn’t get into Automata, maybe I’ll give it another shot. I do love that style of storytelling though.
TomSelleck@lemm.ee 10 months ago
I didn’t know Chris Plante is on Lemmy.
shrodes@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Quick, go through their post history and see if they’ve mentioned any Neil Breen films
SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 months ago
For a moment I thought you were talking about the Newsmax host and I was very offended and confused, but it looks like there is another, lesser known Chris Plante in gaming journalism.
Sixtyforce@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
Age of Empires 2 /w The Conquers expansion pack.
Roller Coaster Tycoon 1. (2 was weaker without OpenRCT2, the real masterpiece, but idk if unfinished projects should count or not)
Quake 3 Arena, Unreal Tournament 1999 GOTY, Worms Armageddon, SimCity 3000 Unlimited, Forza Horizon 2 / Motorsport 3, Need for Speed Underground 1, Clonk! Rage, Metal Gear Solid 1/2/3, Ace Combat 4, Okami, Tokyo Jungle, Zelda BOTW, Mario Odyssey, Sven Co-Op, Killing Floor 1, Final Fantasy 7, LISA: The Painful, Everhood 1, Deus Ex 1, Left 4 Dead 1/2, Portal 2, Battlefield Bad Company 2…
I could go on and on.
llamapocalypse@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Bastion, Hades, Disco Elysium, Planescape: Torment, and Tyranny (even if the last act is rushed in the last two) come to mind for me
Gerudo@lemm.ee 10 months ago
Bastion is amazing.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
I’m taking this to mean games that stand out in or define their genre, are widely considered to be excellent, are timeless, and there’s very little if any fat to trim.
- Super Mario Brothers - NES
- Super Mario 64
- Dark Souls - maybe Elden Ring takes over?
- Return of the Obra Dinn
- Half Life 2 - honorable mention: Left 4 Dead 2
- Diablo 2
- Doom
- Tetris
- Chrono Trigger
- Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
- Portal 2
- Little Nightmares - honorable mention: INSIDE
- GTA SA
- Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2
These aren’t necessarily my favorite games, but games I think are well respected. I probably missed a bunch.
Semjaza@lemmynsfw.com 10 months ago
Doom
Tetris
Chrono Trigger
Phunter@lemm.ee 10 months ago
Wizards got all up in Commander and killed my interest in it.
Semjaza@lemmynsfw.com 10 months ago
UB are getting all up in my standard and pioneer formats and killing my interest for them/Magic as a whole outside of “limited” precons.
LandedGentry@lemmy.zip 10 months ago
[deleted]CatZoomies@lemmy.world 10 months ago
+1 for Beyond Good & Evil.
For those unfamiliar with this game, this was early 2000s Ubisoft when they used to be creative, celebrated, and original.
kint@infosec.pub 10 months ago
The Witness
KiNo@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Witcher 3 for me.
TheOneAndOnly@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I had to scroll so far to find anyone mentioning W3… Absolutely insane to me that this isn’t much higher and more mentioned.
owenfromcanada@lemmy.ca 10 months ago
Undertale
FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Dragon Age: Origins and Bioshock
emilygage@lemmy.ml 10 months ago
Yes to both of these.
salmoura@lemmy.eco.br 10 months ago
Factorio.
maniacalmanicmania@aussie.zone 10 months ago
I think masterpieces is one word.
iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
None. There’s no such thing as an objective master piece. Games are art which is, by definition, subjective.
ms_lane@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Games are not Art, they are Games.
Videogames can also be art, but they are also games and ‘games’ (note: not ‘videogames’) are not art.
LandedGentry@lemmy.zip 10 months ago
[deleted]Krudler@lemmy.world 10 months ago
It’s low-grade trolling, chill bro. They’re not serious.
seathru@lemmy.sdf.org 10 months ago
I think the word you are looking for is pedant.
Better vocabulary will help get your point across better. Without also sounding like an edgy atheist teen.
Kolanaki@pawb.social 10 months ago
A masterpiece could just refer to a piece of art from a master. It could refer to the quality of an engineering project, or the skill involved in the work’s creation. Are these not objective qualities?
I don’t really think the Mona Lisa is a great image, personally (it’s a boring portrait), but it was masterfully done.
Katana314@lemmy.world 10 months ago
This gets trickier with games, because an experienced game designer can, for instance, look at the UI design and graphics programming of a Ubisoft open world slopfest, and say those parts were masterfully done (even if the overall game isn’t so fun). And, even the best of video games have bits of them that weren’t as good.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
“Masterpiece” comes from the art world, and there are absolutely works everyone seems to agree qualify, such as:
- The Mona Lisa
- David statue
- David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
It’s usually the best work by an artist, or at least the one that got them their recognition, and it stands out among other works in the field.
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 10 months ago
If it’s the one that got them their recognition, it’s little more than arbitrary; luck, place and time; things that don’t have to do with how good the work is. Some “masterpieces” weren’t considered such until they were exposed to people over and over again, like The Mona Lisa at the Louvre or It’s a Wonderful Life on TBS. I’d have a hard time calling a number of games masterpieces that I didn’t care for, because this isn’t objective.
Metostopholes@midwest.social 10 months ago
Shadow of the Colossus
ytsedude@lemmy.world 10 months ago
We actually got two masterpieces out of this one title. The remake was an absolute perfect remake.
capuccino@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Portal 2.
SaltSong@startrek.website 10 months ago
Portal 1 was flawless. Portal 2 had a crucial flaw.
Specifically, it was not Portal 1. Everything else was perfect.
capuccino@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Are you saying that Portal 2 is not perfect due is a sequel?
bamboo@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 months ago
This was a triumph
I’m making a note here
“Huge success”
It’s hard to overstate my satisfaction
Yareckt@lemmynsfw.com 10 months ago
Half-life 3