A Masterpiece?

[Gikoku]

Terms such as "brilliant" and "masterpiece" have been passed around like a pair of cheap hookers in gang bang fashion for a good while now in the gaming world, and many would argue that few, if any, are deserving of such a title. It wasn't until recently that video games have finally been taken seriously as a form of Art with notably epic and enthralling storylines, alongside undeniable artistic visual talent.

Which brings me to my questions to you:

For you, what makes a video game a masterpiece? Has there ever been a game you honestly felt was that all-around perfect package and deserving of such exceptional praise?

 

[DarkONI]

Anything that makes a huge difference in the current industry, but
usually their sequels end up milked more and more. The annoying part
are raging fans because they don't like the x thing in the y sequel.

 

[Arseface]

Morrowind, Mass Effect and Assassin's Creed have brilliant stories, and exceptional gameplay with a few minor flaws. I don't think I can name any game that I enjoy playing more than these three.

X3:TC has amazing gameplay, and an uber realistic universe (with an actual economy), but the story is kinda lacking, so it gets an honourable mention.

 

[DarkONI]

Assassin's Creed have brilliant stories

Assassin's Creed

Nope.

 

[Arseface]

Nope.

Yup.

 

[Dark Drakan]

Something which tries something new and succeeds for the most part and keeps me thinking about it even when im not playing it. Red Dead Redemption, Oblivion, Skyrim, Half Life 2, Mass Effect, Portal etc are a mere handful of examples. L.A. Noire might have been in there if it wasnt so linear after you had played it through once.

 

[queenofdisco]

Masterpiece seriously? Honestly I love games, but people who don't play games are still so damn shallow and treat them like childrens play-doh. Even if some games out there are better than books and films out there, the games industry has a way to go before being taken seriously on all fronts of the media.

People can agree a book, or a movie can be a masterpiece. But you mention a video game and people will laugh.

Having said that, theres only a few games I would call a masterpiece; Bioshock is probably the main one for me, it was smart, fresh, beautiful, terrific story, and surprised and scared me at every turn.

Though its no where near my favourite game ever. I could sit and think for awhile other games, but thats the only one that comes to my mind of the games I've played within the last 5 years that completely shocked me at its originality.

 

[Gikoku]

Personally, I do not agree with the term yet I see it used so easily among fans and critics alike. Which left me curious for how a game could ever potentially be considered a masterpiece and what requirements it must meet/excel to become such. I've yet to come across any game that has been deserving of such praise. Impressive, a technical marvel, and even quite brilliant perhaps in some aspects, but not a masterpiece.

 

[Sephiroxas]

Well I bet a lot of people think MW3 is a masterpiece. But there's a couple of games that come to mind for me that are BRILLIANT. But the only Masterpiece I can think of will, and ALWAYS will be Chrono Trigger. That game is so amazing it's not even funny.

 

[Necromancer]

A masterpiece...hmm...I think there are probably some people here who would expect me to say the Fable series is a masterpiece, but it's not quite there...yet. :sly: Anyway, I have yet to play a game that I would call a true masterpiece. For a game to be considered a masterpiece in my eyes, I think it'd have to practically be a mixture of Fable and Assassin's Creed. I'll have to think a little more on this though before I can figure out exactly which components of which games would have to be used to create this hypothetical masterpiece of a game. All I can say for sure right now is that it would have to have the story of Assassin's Creed and the customization and replayability of Fable.

Nope.

 

[Arseface]

PORTAL

How could I forget Portal?

 

[Tsuyu]

Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn/Throne of Bhaal

If you're lucky enough to have been one to have played this game, you know there is no explanation necessary.

 

[KaveX]

Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Diablo II.

I consider a game a masterpiece by the sheer 'feel' of it. I haven't played a game in years that felt as amazing Diablo.

 

[Quistrix]

Anything untouched by Molyneux.

Anyway, honestly, no game is a masterpiece. No game is perfect. There are only great games. Skyrim is great, it is truly great, but it is far from perfect. Perhaps I'm hard to please, but I do know a great game when I see one. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, FFIX/X, GTA: San Andreas, Fallout 3, Mass Effect 1/2 and of course Skyrim. Among a few others.

What makes them great -- to me, is their delivery, their drive and their pace. What keeps you coming back for more. A game that makes you think "Wow." the entire time you play it. Story is important, it's what carries the game. And these games have great stories, in my opinion.

 

[Cain]

Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn/Throne of Bhaal

If you're lucky enough to have been one to have played this game, you know there is no explanation necessary.

A lot of Black Isle's RPGs are very good. Have you played Planescape: Torment or any of the Icewind Dale games?

 

[Tyloric]

Nope.

That's a good argument you got there. How could anyone possibly not understand when you say things like that?

The one game that has stuck with me the longest, and one I have played the most in my life, would probably been Super Mario RPG.

Hater's gonna hate.

 

[cheezMcNASTY]

A video game masterpiece introduces something new which gets copied over and over by other titles until it's considered the norm for the genre.

Example: Zelda Ocarina of Time is a Masterpiece. Features such as the ability to lock on, auto-jump, and the ability to center the game camera have been repeated over the years. Though Mario 64 set the stage for 3D platformers, Zelda took everything that had been done right and made it better on top of what it introduced.

I don't see any masterpieces these days except maybe the Mass Effect series. It proves just how important a game's story really is. They invested in creating not only a good plot, but good voice actors and professional cinematography. The gameplay isn't bad and the graphics are great, but it's the story that truly drives everything.

 

[Arseface]

I don't see any masterpieces these days except maybe the Mass Effect series. It proves just how important a game's story really is. They invested in creating not only a good plot, but good voice actors and professional cinematography. The gameplay isn't bad and the graphics are great, but it's the story that truly drives everything.

I would go as far as to say that Mass Effect's gameplay is fantastic.

 

[Aions]

Character customization

I ****ing love it. Any game with good character customization is always a big plus in my books. Simple is the key though. If you open up the option for 'nose' and its like 8 slider bars... its a bit much, pre-sets which you can tweak is good enough.

When halo 3 had armour customization i lost it. Then when i saw what halo reach was brigging to the table, im pretty sure i passed out the first time i saw more then 6 helmet types.

Soul calibur 4 and GH: warriors of rock are good examples of ample customization that i like, simple, but you can make a pretty unique character with ease

 

[White_Howler]

Final Fantasy VIII.

Yup I went there.

Not saying Final Fantasy on a whole is a Masterpiece, though many arguably are. But FFVIII, for those of you who have not played it, is not only a terrific story of romance, but also a freaking time paradox. To put it simply if the game's events hadn't of happened, they couldn't have. Hard to explain. Plus there is a written piece on GameFAQs about the plot. It goes into a LOT of detail about what DID happen, and continues into theoretical conjecture with what the writer believes happened that was left unsaid using only data given from the game. Good read if you've beaten and remember the game.