Not your favorite games... but your dearest

[The Praiseworthy]

We all have our favorites games in the franchises we love.... but sometimes our favorites aren't the dearest games to us, the most enjoyable or share the best memories with.

Mention the franchise that you love and your favorite game from it BUT which one IS the dearest to you.. and why is that :-) !



Final Fantasy
Favorite: Final Fantasy VII
Dearest: Final Fantasy VIII

-Final Fantasy is my favorite franchise and Final Fantasy VII is my favorite game of all time.. but Final Fantasy VIII is the dearest one to me, why? because I'm most attached to it's world which was made extremely well.. the art direction and the atmosphere were so hunting which was shaped magically and brought to life with it's phenomenal OST.. Also I have the most fond memories playing it.. I remember coming back from school and running to my Playstation and I just cave in-front the TV and dive in the game till late hours, and when the weekends arrive I just stay in my room the whole time doing nothing but exploring every inch the game had to offer me, one if not THE best memories I've ever had with a game.


Resident Evil
Favorite: Resident Evil Remake
Dearest: Resident Evil 3

- REmake is the ideal survival horror experience in my opinion.. the Spencer Mansion is the perfect location and the game-pacing is perfection... BUT... Resident Evil 3 to me it's the most enjoyable, the variety of locations and the sense that you are trying to survive from Raccoon City and the gameplay mechanics and the different scenarios you get depends on the choices you make made playing the game so much fun, I replayed the game maybe more than 15 times .. it's a survival horror game but for me without so much tense which makes it fun to return to every single time!


Tomb Raider
Favorite: Tomb Raider Anniversary
Dearest: Tomb Raider 2

- Anniversary to me it's the perfect TR game.. but TR2 hold the best memories which makes it the dearest to me, exploring Venice and the great wall of China and all the different other memorable locations the game had made it a blast to play back in the day, the locations made the game so hunting and I couldn't get it out of my head for very long time ( still yet ).



Xenosaga
Favorite: Xenosaga Episode III
Dearest: Xenosaga Episode I

- It's my favorite trilogy of all time and I believe that Ep3 is among the best JRPG games ever made.. but Ep1 is the dearest one to my heart, maybe because of the magic that was poured in from the original creators and key members.. something about the character's designs and the silent atmosphere while exploring a lot of places or the best camera movement I've ever seen in the field of battle.. Ep1 just gives me some feelings that no other game had ever given me.




Share yours Era ;-)

 

[Pascal]

My favorite Metroid is either Prime 2 or Super, but I still really love Fusion because it was my very first Metroid game. And, holy shit, was it a hell of a game to start with. I played Fusion when I was really young, so it scared me quite a bit and I had a lot of trouble with many sections of the game. In particular, I remember that dumb flying spider boss giving me a lot of trouble. And while Nightmare is now one of my favorite boss fights in any video game, at the time, the intense build-up to the fight really freaked me out. I mean, there was this giant, strange-looking robot on the loose that had completely decimated an entire area of the game. And the actual fight was, appropriately enough, a fucking nightmare for young me. But, finally overcoming all of the challenges in Fusion and finishing it made me a Metroid fan for life.

For Zelda, I would have to say that BotW is the best game in that series, but my favorite Zelda game and the one that means the most to me is still Majora's Mask. It is a strange and sad, yet oddly beautiful game that came about at a time when I really needed it in my life. I still get pretty emotional to this day whenever I hear the Song of Healing. And that final sequence on the moon was just mind-blowing when I first played it. I didn't know what I expected, but it certainly wasn't that. Majora's Mask is just a very precious game to me, and it's one that I often revisit.

 

[Redcrayon]

Zelda LTTP remains my favourite game ever, and the most evocative of what I feel is best about the series, but Link's Awakening is the one dearest to my heart. It's because I used to share SNES games and save files with my brother, but the portables games were more of a solo affair (he had a Game Gear instead). The puzzles and dungeons and sidequests of LTTP were a grand adventure we shared, but LA was a strange, melancholy trip that was the first time I had seen such bittersweet notes in a game. I still replay both every year or two.

 

[gordofredito]

My Dearest games that are far from my favorites would be
DmC

if this game did not have anything to do with Devil May Cry, as in literally just change the names in the script, I am sure
1-Ninja Theory would still be independent
2-we would be looking forward to DMC2 by now, or whatever it would be called
It would be considered one of the greats, but alas, it got a lot of uncalled hatred and vitriol. On the bright side, we got Hellblade after this. On the downside, they are now owned by Microsoft
Dragon Age 2

It represents everything I dislike about western games but I somehow really love it. And is one of the few games I've beaten multiple times.
I can't defend it, everything they say about it is true, but I really like it for some reason. I enjoyed the combat and overall story more than the first Dragon Age which bored me to tear #HotTake

I don't have a "dearest" Final Fantasy title, if I like it, I love it. If I don't, I usually hate it, like FF XV or FF II.

 

[Deleted member 45765]

Not entirely on topic, but Jet Set Radio, I have a love/hate relationship with the game related to control and gameplay issues, so it's just out of my top 5 all time, but it's a game that came at the right time for me and defines and entire era.

 

[Spring-Loaded]

Gravity Rush 2 has some issues with its combat, mission/side-mission design, and with the story being rushed that keep it from being one of my favorite games, but I'm really thankful it exists as it's a sequel to such a niche game.

There are no other games that do quite what the GR games do (slice-of-life Kiki's Delivery Service-like experience, gravity shifting traversal, peaceful sense of falling/flying), and that's precious to me.

 

[Flevance]

Umineko.. man, this VN -besides One Piece- is overall the closest entertainment product to my heart, there's so much emotions put into this one in both written side and the soundtracks, but my favorite game is BoTW

But if we're talking specifically about games from the same franchise then I can barely think of any honestly, but here's one

Yakuza
Favorite: Yakuza 5
Dearest: Yakuza 0

Yakuza 0 was a huge step back in terms of content from 5, which is why that one is still my favorite and the best game in the franchise to me.. yet, the written in Zero was a step forward. The story was so touching, and we can finally play as the Mad Dog!

 

[The Praiseworthy]

My Dearest games that are far from my favorites would be
DmC

Click to shrink...

Always happy to see DmC being appreciated :-)

 

[Indelible]

Shining Force 3 and Phantasy Star 4, the last games in each series that I really cared about.

 

[The Praiseworthy]

Shining Force 3 and Phantasy Star 4, the last games in each series that I really cared about.

Click to shrink...

I feel the same about PS :-(

 

[Advance.Wars.Sgt.]

Pokemon:
Favorite: Pokemon Crystal (Gen 2)
Dearest: Pokemon Pearl (Gen 4)

Prior to playing Pearl, I was beginning to fall out of favor with the franchise. I only sparingly played the Gen 3 games (Emerald getting the most of my attention), and skipped the Gen 1 remakes as I didn't (and still don't) feel like replaying them.

Then came along Pearl, with its much bigger region (in terms of paths/roads), improved sound quality, split of physical/special attacks, it's goofy Team Rocket-light, the best Pokemon League experience (at that point) in the series, numerous caves to explore, and finally - online/wifi battling.

The last detail was the biggest of them all, since it was a regular thing for me and other classmates to hold class wide tournaments/battles whenever we had time. This also happened to be my first foray into competitive battling, breeding, IVs, etc, which gave the games a whole new value to me.

For all of these reasons, and more, it's why I hold Gen 4 in such high regard. I just can't unmarry all of the fun I had with friends despite the game's flaws.