Signalis, Nier Gestalt, Deus Ex, E.Y.E. Divine Cybermancy, Earthbound

Deus Ex (2000)

This is the game about American conspiracy theories that you need to play but you didn't realize it until someone told you (My hands on your shoulders, I am shaking you desperately). Basically, Alex Jones played this and it caused him to lose his fucking mind. There are things you should know first. If you stand still while crouched the reticule will focus your gun shots making the game combat much easier. When you are moving and firing you are basically doing it at the hip and it will be very inaccurate, making the game more unneccesarily difficult. Also don't bother leveling up the swimming skill. Theres only like one area in the game where its important. Okay. This game is about government conspiracies. The government might have created the Gray Death virus as a way of population control. The rich seemingly do not get it and the poor are functionally left to fight amongst themselves for rations of the cure for it. You are JC Denton a (UNATCO) government agent who is tasked with dismantling the National Secessionist Force (NSF) who have been hijacking shipments of the cure to distribute it to the public insteady of the wealthy who can afford it. You should download the mods that will make this game more enjoyable. You can also download the mod that makes JC a woman. Which is very cool by the way. You'll travel from New York to China to France and Area 51 (yes there are aliens) and meet all kinds of characters who challenge your perspective of the world. The games story is really asking big questions about what controls the world and its very aware of the ideas in the minds of American people. It has incredibly fun and silly combat and incredible style. Its a game that is greater than the sum of its parts. Its so ambitious and its inspiring to think something so fun like this exists in our world.

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island

This may be the best platformer that will ever exist. It has a remarkably memorable art style and bosses and silly moments and all with absolutely fantastic music. When I was a little kid I had a skateboard with the Piranha plant boss on it and I used to ride it down the grass hill in the back yard. To say I'm a fan is an understatement. I remember playing this on my childhood crt televsion with the loud clicky buttons and the snes with the stickers on it. I've probably played this game more than any other in my life just because it's such a pleasant experience. Incredibly comfortable and light hearted fun.

Final Fantasy 5

This game is mostly defined by its jobs system. You can switch your characters class (job) at any time between any battle in the menu screen. There are some 20 jobs useful in some way for physical or magicial damage as well as some unique jobs for special purposes or strategies. This makes the game very replayable and exploitable if you know what you're doing. There are some bosses you can kill by simply casting instant death on them, or perhaps casting berserk (auto physical attack) on them, and then a blinding spell so that all their attacks miss. There are some pretty good songs in here, notably the song that plays in the Ancient Library, the famous bridge battle song is from this game too and the main villian Exdeaths theme is pretty cool too. Exdeath is a evil mage who harnessed the power of Void (black holes essentially) but was thrown into an alternate dimension before he could cast it. Now hes back and threatening to do it again. For the most part the character building is fairly weak in this game. If you're playing the playstation one version (don't) one of the main characters in your party will speak like a pirate the whole game which is very distracting. There are a couple areas that are incredibly frustrating by their random encounter rates or the games habit to throw a boss at you that you couldn't prepare for. For the most part this game really is all about exploring the map, playing with the combat and fighting the tons of bosses, especially in the games third act which is pretty much just a boss rush. Overall a decent game with good art but I wouldn't say its a must play in the FF series.

Metal Gear Solid 1-4 + Revengeance

I wish I had known sooner. How do I even begin? If you want to play in order of story you should play 3 then 1, 2 then 4. Metal Gear Solid is about America, the nuclear arms race between America and Soviet Russia, conspiracy theories and technologies effects on governance and war. Its historical fiction and plays with real life events and characters. You are Snake (there are more than one) and your mission is locating and stopping Metal Gear, a weapon of mass destruction thats been seized by a group of genetically enhanced terrorist soldiers who are threatening to use the weapon against the United State if they do not receieve the genetic remains of Big Boss, who is the greatest United States soldier to have ever lived and a billion dollars (2005). The series is an absolute cinematic and interactive masterwork. Its incredibly entertaining and thought provoking and explores topics like genetic determinism and overcoming ones fate through will, technologies effects on war and society, allegences to nations and things that transcend that. It's often playful and knowingly absurd as the villians essentially have super powers and you are a guy who is just ridiculously cool. But Metal Gear Solid takes itself very seriously (its so camp) and you should too. Every character is memorable, loveable and incredibly memeable. These are some of the most fun and most significant games I have played. If somehow I couldn't sell you on this yet also know that it's at times such a celebration of masculinity that it's hilariously homoerotic i.e. it's so gay. Absolute must play.

Dark Souls Trilogy

It's hard to overstate the impact the Dark Souls trilogy has had on video game culture. When the first game released in 2011 Reader, know it was a dominant discussion in the hobby that the increasing popularity of videos games meant they were becoming too easy and frustrating due to their insistence to guide the player exactly where they needed to be next at every opportunity. First know that Dark Souls is not as hard as you've been led to believe and that its difficulty is not even the best thing about it. Later you appreciate that its difficulty is even intwined with the games narrative. Can you -a nothing a nobody overcome the fate placed upon you and all of humanity by sheer will and persistence? An enormous orchestra of horns and drums blast through your speakers upon crossing the fog into boss arenas. They tower over you, overwhelm your senses and test your ability to contain your fear under pressure. The entire experience is designed to intimidate you and it demands your total focus. But for as bombastic Dark Souls is you may be surprised to find out that upon finishing the game you feel as though youve discovered a secret you weren't meant to know. You feel guilty, uncertain and unsure if what you've done was the right thing. The heros of legends past had in fact failed in their missions and are now withered, frail and have quietly lost all control of the worlds that appeared prosperous when you first stepped into them. You follow a scholar who dedicated the resources of his entire kingdom into understanding the curse on humans only to discover that the curse is humanity itself. That there is no cure. There are no answers. Theres nothing left to trust or to believe in. No right and wrong. There is no meaning more than what you can carry yourself. But you persist anyway into an all against all world that becomes more hostile as it continues to decay. You witness how those who cling to the old faith and hold its illusions to deceive themselves and others are through generations slowly erorded away by the inevitable waves of dark. To keep the undead alive requires constant maintainence and a system of control that by nature is unsustainable. In this way Dark Souls is a love letter to the history of the struggles of humanity and to the modern question Reform or Revolution? Dark Souls answers; Revolution.

Chrono Cross

An exceptionally beautiful and an underrated PSX game. It is an atmospheric master work. Its style and approach to color in the worlds tropical environments is incredibly beautiful. The music is phenomenal and widely regarded as one of the best JRPG soundtracks of all time with songs that evoke feelings of deep contemplation and nostalgia, adventure and wander, townfolk whimsy, sacrifice and tragedy. One day while Serge is running errands he is suddenly teleported to an alternate dimension where his childhood friends no longer recognize him. Hes told the location of a grave stone that confirms he had died 10 years ago. Kid who seems to be waiting for Serge appears and tells him about a mysterious powerful item called the Frozen Flame that may be able to get him back to his timeline. Somehow there are others aware of Serges existence too. Lynx a mysterious and dangerous cat demon whose also seeking the power of the frozen flame wants Serges body and will do anything to get it. But why? Chrono Cross is a game about fate, being human and the choices we make and their consequences on us, others and the world. The story although rock solid in its totality is presented in a pretty clumsy way. Its plot and characters are steeped in existentialist philosophy. There are also minor themes of colonialism, racism, and environmentalism. There are alternate and splitting timelines, there is body swapping, many strange artifacts with specific powers, over 40 playable characters with their own unique spells and ways of talking. Where it sometimes lacks in decipherability it excels instead in being able to evoke emotion with unpredictable plot twists, poetic meditations on the meaning and value of life, its very human characters and its gorgeous scenes and music. Playing the first title of the series Chrono Trigger is not completely necessary but will be emotionally rewarding and will make understanding the plot much easier. Many believe the game is not a direct sequel but I think it is. It has references to and reappearances of old characters and the plot is a seperate story but a continuation of events that happened in the first game.

Final Fantasy IV

This is the RPG that started it all for me. I was maybe 15 and just learning about emulation and how to do it on my PC. When I got it working I watched and heard the music in the beginning cutscene and I knew I was in for something special. Dark Knight Cecil and members of his air fleet are shown killing Mysidian mages and stealing the magic crystal they tried to protect. Upon reporting back to the King Cecil confesses that he does not understand the reasons for his mission. The King immediately removes Cecil of his duties and sends him to a neighboring village to deliver a package. Cecils arrival forever changes the fate of the village and of his own life. FF4 is the first FF title on the SNES and the first game in the series to introduce the active time battle system which allows lots of strategizing to defeat your enemies. This epic adventure has over 30 hours of main story content, 12 playable characters, has you travelling all around its world via airship, in its underworld, inside giant walking robots, mythical fairy caves and even on the moon! FF4 is often cited as one of the first RPGs to be heavily story driven. It takes itself very seriously but admittedly is often a bit ridiculous. Do not expect a life changing story but instead just enjoy the ride. The pixel art is fantastic. The music composed by the now legendary Nobuo Uematsu. It has appeared in several lists (IGN, Game Informer, Gamestop, GameFAQS) as one of the best games of all time. If you love retro games but somehow missed this one or if you want to know what the older FF games were like without most of the frustration that comes with older RPGs then this game is for you.