Thanks for the kind words black_floyd, I always do my best to keep updates regularly. Normally I want to update twice a day (morning and evening/night) but some days I just have other things to do as well. But updates on a daily basis are important to keep, at least IMO. Also, hopefully the list makes people interested in checking some new games out, and by the sounds of some posts I think it will.
8. World of Warcraft (PC) (2004) Out of all the entries on my list, this was by far the most difficult one for me to rank. World of Warcraft came out in 2004, and has been around for more than a decade now. I wasn't there from the start, but I have been with the game since its second expansion pack, The Burning Crusade, which came out in 2007. This game has been with me for 8 years, and while there has been periods where I've taken breaks or said that I would quit, I kept coming back. Just when you think you're out, it pulls you back in. What I really love about the game is that it has been with me through my important years in life, and while I've had many problems, sad moments, happy moments and so on, the game has always become integral with those moments. It's especially clear with music, because music comes hand in hand with the game for me. Whenever I listen to an album, I can pretty much recall what character I was playing when I first heard that album, and where I was (zone-wise). WoW gets a lot of flack for being a game that ruins people, and destroys their life. I think it's a very silly thing to blame on, because it's really the person and not the game. I was fairly weak mentally when I was younger and I will admit to skipping tons of school, eventually flunking and having to spend a few additional years reading up grades, but I was also going through depressive things at the moment. Now that I am older and wiser, I play the game when I want and how I want, but the game doesn't control me. But I think that's a whole different topic that can apply to just any game.
Anyhow, World of Warcraft is a MMORPG, and for newcomers that stands for Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. Like I mentioned earlier I've had a few shorter breaks and pauses during my 8 years as a player, but still to this day I play the game on a daily basis. What's hard though is for me to rank the game. It's by far the game I have played the most, and I've sunk countless of hours into the game, but it's still only number 8? Let me start by saying that being new to the game is amazing, and my fondest memories of playing was by far in the first few months. I recommend anyone to try it out, because it's just so much fun in the beginning. After your initial phase of being a newcomer fades away, the game does lose some of its magic. It's inevitable and happens with a lot of games. And I had a few middle years around 2010-2012 where I honestly played for the sake of playing, rather than really enjoying myself. But in the last 3 years or so, I've found a new phase that I really enjoy, and I would almost call it an expert phase. Over these years I've gotten an understanding for the game and the world, both in terms of game mechanics but also the lore behind the story. I have played all the different classes available, and I have a lot of knowledge that I try to spread to the new generations. There's a sense of pride of having been in the community for almost a decade, and whenever there is a discussion about the game, no matter what topic, I usually feel like I can add something due to my knowledge. It's a great feeling, and that together with the last two expansion packs being among the best ones, that has helped me really enjoying the game a lot again.
And I know this post is already way too long, but just for those who have never played an MMORPG, just a basic description. You create a character (or several) and there's several things you can customize. Alliance or Horde? Two opposing factions. What race? Alliance has Humans/Night Elves/Gnomes/Dwarves/Draenei/Worgen, whereas Horde has Orcs/Undead/Taurens/Trolls/Blood Elves/Goblins, and there's also Pandaren which is playable as both factions. After you pick a race you also pick one of the following classes Priest/Warrior/Hunter/Monk/Mage/Warlock/Rogue/Druid/Death Knight/Shaman/Paladin and then your journey starts. Some of these classes are so called hybrid classes, as in they can fulfill different roles. The roles are Tank/DPS/Healer. A Tank takes the damage, a DPS deals the damage and a Healer.. heals the group. A Paladin, Druid or Monk can fulfill all three roles, whereas some like Warriors or Priests can fulfill two, Tank/DPS and DPS/Healer in this example. Then you have classes that are just pure DPS classes, like Rogues or Mages. A Mage can either be fire, frost or arcane for example, but all three specializations fulfill the DPS role. A big part of the game consists of leveling your character from level 1 to max level (currently level 100), and once at max level you can do whatever you like the most. Find a PvE guild, raid with many other players to kill bosses for better armor/weapons, or PvP if you rather kill players. Or just enjoy the game in other forms, there's plenty to do.
Wow that was a long post, sorry. And cudos to whoever reads all of it.
7. Super Mario 64 (Nintendo 64) (1996)It's a me Mario! Pasta Pizza, bippedi bappedi boppedi!
Of course there's gonna be Super Mario 64 on this list. Most iconic game ever? At least belongs in the top5 candidates for that IMO. Super Mario is one of the most iconic characters of all time, and I feel like Super Mario 64 was the game that really launched him into massive popularity. He had games before, and I even remember a friend being almost hipster about having played Mario on his Super Nintendo already, but with Nintendo 64 it became more of a global phenomenon. Just about every kid I knew had a Nintendo 64 and Super Mario 64 to go with it. People loved it, people talked it, and I was just sitting at home with my PS1 playing Spyro the Dragon. Hey guys, anybody wants to talk about Spyro? Oh nobody has a PS1? Who is this Mario? OK I will go now.
Back when this game came out, I would spend weekends at a friends house where we started the game fresh on the Friday, and as I spent the weekend at the friend's house, our goal was to complete it 100% by the time I went home on Sunday. The game is just so fun to play, and part of it is the various ways of how to move and how to attack. There's plenty of cool combinations whether it's walljumping and bouncing like crazy, or jump-diving on enemies to kill them. It was an easy game to learn, but the more time you put into it, the more you felt like a god. The global phenomenon it became also made the game more fun. Almost everybody had the game, and so it was an easy thing for us kids to bond over at school. "Oh you're stuck on this map in Mario? I'll come over and help you after school", and boom, you just made a new friend. Another thing that made the game truly amazing was the variety in the maps, and the quality in the maps. The idea of going into magical paintings and being transported to a different world was also genius. Collecting stars was fun, and some were truly challenging. But you had the desert maps, the flying maps, the snow maps, the underwater maps, and just about everything in between. Super Mario 64 will go down in history as one of the best games ever, and it's just such a special game. It has a timeless quality to it, and I played it as recently as a year ago and it still holds up. I think if I had actually owned the console myself and owned the game, this could have ranked higher.