There are three games that I can think of off the top of my head. Well, two of them are each a series, but whatever.
First is the Pokemon video game series. I'm not talking about the spinoffs like Mystery Dungeon, Pokemon Ranger, and whatever else they made. I'm just talking about the main RPGs where you get all eight badges, stop the evil criminal organization of the region you're in, and become the Pokemon league champion. I
always have a game going on on of my Pokemon games. The ones that I play are Leaf Green, Emerald, Platinum, Soul Silver, Black, and White (Currently I have a game going on Platinum. And I don't actually start new games on my White Version; I just use it as my Pokemon master game). The oldest one on that list is Leaf Green, which came out in 2004. Each time I start a new Pokemon game, I trade over a preset team of my own choosing, usually of Pokemon I haven't really used before, so that I can keep the games interesting. And it definitely works.
Next is one that I'm sure you're all expecting to see from me: Fable. I still actively play all three of them, though admittedly I play 3 more than 2 and 2 more than TLC. You can check my signature for exactly how many times I've played these games. I know I've explained this before, but I like to keep it interesting by creating different characters each time I play the game, and I put much more effort into it than I do when starting a new Pokemon game. I go for a very specific feel for each character that I create, and this is honestly the most fun part of the game for me. Fable's customization is unlike any other game I've experienced. No other game would allow me to do this kind of thing. If you're interested in how exactly I create my different characters, I have some links to old threads where I've described little bits of how I do it:
http://projectego.net/community/threads/re-playability.27275/#post-460727
http://projectego.net/community/threads/fun-favorite-ways-to-play-through-fable-3.29680/#post-490590
I'm also planning on posting a character showcase thread for myself to document all the different kinds of characters I've created. I'm probably going to wait about a week or so to do that, but I'll throw a link to it in this thread once I do.
This last game I'm going to talk about is the one that stands out the most when I think about games that have stood the test of time for me. It's a PC only game called Freelancer. I know I've spoken about it on here before, but only one or two people here were actually familiar with the game. It was made in 2003, so yes, it's old. It's a space sim RPG with separate singleplayer and multiplayer modes, though the multiplayer is the main attraction. It plays like an MMORPG, except without the ridiculous monthly payments, and the combat isn't turn based like many MMOs I've heard about. Here are a couple of gameplay videos from singleplayer to show what the combat is like (sorry for the crappy quality on the first one):
When I first started playing this game, it was on an unmodded server, like most servers were at the time. Back then, pretty much everyone used the same ships and the same equipment for their ships, but the action between the clans on that server was amazing. Clans would have control over certain star systems, being able to tax anyone who entered their territory, and there were certain allegiances between clans that fought against other clans. There were good sized dog fights that included about 10 pilots at least every day, and sometimes there would even be massive wars over star systems that included tons of pilots and entire clans all fighting at once. It was nuts.
Between now and then, however, that server, along with many others, died due to lack of activity. There is pretty much only one server left now, but it's really great. It uses a massive mod that expands the Freelancer universe, and the clans on this server are called player factions, and they go along with all the NPC factions that are in the game. Many of these factions include police and military of established nations, corporations which are primarily used for making players money by trading, organized pirate factions who kill and steal from lawful players, lawful and unlawful mercenary factions, and
many other miscellaneous factions that have independent purposes. You don't actually have to join one of these player factions though. You just have to have a certain ship, certain equipment, and a little ID card that go along with the NPC faction you'd like to be affiliated with. There is so much stuff to do no matter what faction you're affiliated with. For example, if you have a police or military pilot, you can not only hunt pirates and keep lawful players like corporate traders from having their money and cargo stolen, but militaries will often coordinate massive assaults on space controlled by a nation that they are at war with. Plus, with this mod ship stats have really gotten balanced out, so no matter what faction you're a part of, and no matter what ships and equipment that faction allows you to use, you'll always have access to something good. And because of this, along with the addition of new ship classes like bombers, larger capital ships, and large cargo transporters, combat has evolved quite a bit, and it's even better than it was in the past. Also, as the mod gets updated with new systems, ships, factions, etc., the mod developers also develop different side stories having to do with things like how the wars between different nations are progressing, so sometimes after a new update, certain space stations and planets may have been taken over by a different faction, and alliances and relations between different factions can change.
Hmm, well now I feel like I've been rambling. Oh well. :lol:
Nonetheless it is like The Beatles; whether or not you loved or hated them you can but pay respect to their greatness.
I'm not so sure that's exactly valid. People who say they don't like The Beatles usually get bludgeoned to death (as they should), but people who say they don't like WoW usually just get agreed with. :lol: