i recently got dark souls, and while i am lost for words in how to describe such a game... (recently i seem to have lost the ability to write about the games i love, and what i like about them), i enjoyed it very much for the most part even if many of the areas and bosses felt like rehashes from demon's souls. it's only when i stopped playing it and began playing other games that i realized... "oh no! no other game is like dark souls at all!", and i wondered if i could move on. this tends to happen to me a lot, because when i love a game very much i can't seem to move on. it got me thinking that instead of getting my hopes up about games in the future (that i have no control over), i should play and master a small selection of games that i will eternally love simply because i love them and they are an expression of my identity.

here's my top 10 (in no particular order):

metroid zero mission

super metroid

bayonetta

vagrant story

noby noby boy

final fantasy tactics

demon's souls

dark souls

picross 3D

sin & punishment 2

these are the games that i am sure i will never tire of, because they express me. i should probably be devoted to those ones if i ever want to play a great game; i don't think i will be dissapointed. i may get bored of them now and again, and some may fall out of the list over the years with new ones replacing (or growing the list), but i will always insist on the elegance, playability, and beauty of these games over most other games (that's how it is to me anyway).

it's not a traditional top 10, but more... games that have both depth, variation, a core character to them that i love, and a lasting challenge buried away. for example, to me... no other games out there does exploration better than noby noby boy and dark souls. no other game can satisfy my shooting needs other than sin and punishment 2. no other game offers the foreboding atmosphere of super metroid. and believe me, i've searched and played a lot of games over the years. most of the 250 or so discs and carts, i do not touch.

what about your similar lists to this one? or maybe you don't have one. ;-)