Your favorite very specific types of game

[Car Won't Crank]

I have a fondness for what I describe as "Hardcore Military Vehicle Sims." Games which attempt to replicate the feeling of controlling a death machine to an accurate degree. I like the feeling of piloting incredibly dangerous vehicles I know I'll never be able to use in real life.

One such example that always comes to mind is Jane's Fighters Anthology. The game eschews Top Gun-esque dogfights in favor of a realistic combat model, where you rely on your instruments and fights are over before you've ever had a chance to see the other guy. In addition, the game casts aside gamey abstractions like health, and instead simulates hardware failures of your craft that make it more difficult for you to continue flight, only "killing" your plane in extreme damage situations.

It's a shame they don't really make these kinds of games anymore. I'd love to see a game like this with more modern graphics. I know Ace Combat exists, but those games are more "arcadey" than "simulation," falling squarely into the aforementioned Top Gun-style dogfights where your plane can inexplicably carry a hundred missiles, but only five flares.

You should check out IL-2 Sturmovick and DCS World for the more realistic combat sim experience.

 

[Calandrino]

Sidescrolling ninja games from retro times. Ninja games tended to share certain mechanics and borrow from each other a lot (mainly, they copied Shinobi and Ninja Gaiden). This is still sort of a thing in recent indie games but it's not really the same mostly.

Shinobi basically copied the non-ninja Rolling Thunder and there are some other cool games in that vein: Surprise Attack, ESWAT, etc.

 

[Judge Dredd]

Short (3-5 hr) Japanese ARPGs, the type that typically originated on computers like the MSX or PC-88. Ys, Xak, Exile, and more.

One thing that frustrates me about RPGs, especially JRPGs, is the expectation that they need to be 100 hours long minimum. I'm convinced that if most JRPGs cut out the grinding and gave the script to an editor with a red pen, they'd be way better games.

Might have to look into those games you mentioned. I know someone who's a big Ys fan.

I might as well say that I love the look of anime art from the 80s and 90s, and games are no exception. I can take or leave the gameplay though.

 

[Sundae]

3D collectathon platformers. I like exploring large creative worlds and collecting trinkets. Personal favorites are Banjo-Tooie, Donkey Kong 64, Jak and Daxter, the Ratchet and Clank series, Classic Spyro trilogy, and the first Ty the Tasmanian Tiger.

Part of the reason I look back on the N64/PS1 era and the Gamecube/Xbox/PS2 era so fondly is because of how many great games in this genre were released.

There's a genre of games that I like to refer to as 'pick-em-ups'. Games where the objective is to pick up a bunch of different objects, like Katamari and Rabbids Go Home. For some reason, collecting shit in these games feels oddly satisfying.

Rabbids Go Home was a hidden gem, and I'm still hoping for a Switch/Steam port someday, alongside an HD port of We Love Katamari.

On that note, there were 2 other great games with similar gameplay, The Munchables and Tornado Outbreak. Both are worth playing if you get the chance.

 

[crucifiction009]

My extremely specific requirements that are generally only met by Silent Hill and its clones:
-Survival horror
-Psychological/atmospheric horror > jump scares
-Nerfed character and/or clumsy controls (everyman rather than action hero creates a feeling of being hunted)
-Enemies shouldn't drop ammo or items because this enables and encourages combat; you should be forced to run most of the time and only have enough resources to fight when cornered
-Light attracts attention from monsters so you have to stumble around in the dark to hide
-The game actively conspires against you with things like mind tricks and deliberately inconvenient camera angles

Few games meet all these requirements, but Silent Hill 1-4 do and Origins almost does. I hated that they let me control the Otherworld transitions because being in control isn't scary. A great indie game called Lone Survivor meets most of those criteria, but it was openly inspired by Silent Hill.

I still enjoy horror games that don't completely align with my preferences, as well as retro (A)RPGs, platformers, collectathons, etc. but psychological survival horror is my main mistress.

 

[Stasi]

My favourite genre is turn based tactical games, either strategy RPGs or more straightforward turn based games. The genre has become a bit more popular in recent years but is still pretty niche.

I think I've played through or tried most of the well known games in the genre at this point - advance wars, x-com, FF tactics, disgaea, fire emblem before it became a trash wifu sim. The absolute peak of the genre imo is tactics ogre

Even the relatively unknown or low budget titles tend to be OK to good at least, it's a niche and no one is really making shitty asset flips or cash grab games so there are some nice hidden gems out there.

 

[Chaos Theorist]

Wrestling Booker Games like Total Extreme Wrestling
Idle Games

 

[Dwight Frye]

Isometric western rpgs. Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2, Planescape Torment, Icewind Dale 1 and 2, Fallout 1 and 2, Arcanum you name it I’ll most likely end up loving it

 

[Marissa Moira]

Every type of RPG. I have a library of hundreds if not thousands of RPGs. I've bought entire consoles for RPGs, I bought a Wii-u for Xenoblade X and Monster Hunter 3 U.

I have things like the 3 Xenosaga games, the 7 .hack games, the 3 Shadow Hearts games, european versions of the Ogre battle games because they were the only English region to get the physical collector's edition, I have Trails in the Sky CE for the PSP, Lunar 1 and 2 on the Saturn and PS1, I also have Lunar 1 for the PSP and GBA, breath of fire 1 and 2 for the GBA and SNES and 3 and 4 for the PS1 and 5 for the PS2, Suikoden 1-5 and Tactics, multiple copies of Earthbound, Every single physical edition of a Mana game released, Bahamut Lagoon, Live A Live, Lufia, every single YS game released in the west (and 3 different versions of Ys Origins as well as every version of Books 1 and 2), the 3 PSP Legend of Heroes games and the four Cold Steel games (as well as having multiple copies of 1 and 2 on the PSVita, PS3, and PS4), the whole series of Dragon Quest(inlcuding the original trilogy in 5 different versions, 3 versions of 11, and everything else has at least two different versions), the whole persona series including both versions of 2, the whole mainline Shin Megami Tensei series. I'm most definetly forgetting to mention a ton. But I have just as many Western RPGs, I've got the whole witcher series in multiple formats since 2 and 3 came to consoles, I have the whole elder scrolls series in physical formats including the 2 early console attempts of Morrowind, I have the whole Ultima and Might and Magic series(as well as Ultima Underworld 1 and 2 which were my favorites as well as Heroes of Might and Magic 1-3, this is probably the only instances of prefering the spinoffs to the mainline), a shitload of assorted D&D games including the physical release of the Capcom brawler, Planescape Torment, Dragon Age Origins, and then some cult classics like Albion.

These are just the ones I can really think of, I think the 32X was my only console purchase that never had an RPG(because I bought that for Knuckles Chaotix and later Kolibri)

And I also got the PC Engine mini because it came with falcom games on it.

 

[Becomemysoulreaver]

3d tile based strategy JRPGs, ala FF tactics or Disgaea, they are usually the most engaging type of jrpg for me and have very rewarding mechanics

 

[cummytummies]

Isomertric turn-based tactics games where you can grind.

I should probably look into more JRPGs because they seem to have milked that type of game for 20 years, but I just hate most of everything that comes with the territory of JRPGs.

 

[Ughubughughughughughghlug]

Roguelikes with distinct art styles, particularly where you unlock new characters

See:
Don't Starve
Invisible, Inc.
This War of Mine
Spelunky

 

[crucifiction009]

Isometric western rpgs. Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2, Planescape Torment, Icewind Dale 1 and 2, Fallout 1 and 2, Arcanum you name it I’ll most likely end up loving it

You got it, chief. [The talking skull clacks its teeth.]

 

[Battlecruiser3000ad]

I really like Rally games, but it doesn't really have to be Rally and can be some offshoot or just imaginary thing, so long as it's reasonably based in realism, is A-to-B races, and I'm the only one at the starting line. It's nice when the opponents are physically there, starting before and after you, but completely virtualizing them is also fine.

Isometric western rpgs. Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2, Planescape Torment, Icewind Dale 1 and 2, Fallout 1 and 2, Arcanum you name it I’ll most likely end up loving it

You probably know about it already, but The CRPG Book is a breddy nice project.

 

[Overcast]

Early to mid PS2 era games.

There's just something very unique and special about them to me. Graphics may be a bit rough around the edges, but they carry so much personality to me. It was also a time when games really tried to be experimental. Like with the Katamari games, the Team ICO games, ect.

Nostalgia might also play a huge factor as well, admittedly.

 

[SSj_Ness]

I'm very specific about what I like in a genre, to the point that sometimes my favorite genres are plagued with games I don't actually like. It's a combination of character design, music, atmosphere, etc that just all needs to click.

Like, I don't care how good a platformer is if I don't like the characters. That's a big part of why shit like A Hat in Time, Celeste, and Super Meat Boy don't appeal to me at all whereas Sonic, Mario, and Donkey Kong do.

 

[LieLieFyre]

RPGs that have so much customization that it makes me sick. I wanna see every stat and % so i can min max the shit out of my character to the point I don't even wanna play the game anymore cause i turned it into a math project.

 

[Canoodler]

Hack 'n' Slash and beat 'em up games like Bayonetta, Devil May Cry, and God of War are the types of games I enjoy the most.

 

[JamesFargo]

I like Constructor. It's like a city-builder and crime-sim rolled into one. More importantly, it doesn't take long to earn money, unlike a lot of sim games.

One thing that frustrates me about RPGs, especially JRPGs, is the expectation that they need to be 100 hours long minimum.

It would not be so bad if not for the introduction and tutorials. It adds up fast.

RPGs that have so much customization that it makes me sick.

Vagrant Story?

Early to mid PS2 era games. There's just something very unique and special about them to me.

I stopped buying consoles after the sixth generation. Everything since then has been designed by committee. Or worse, shareholders.

A decade of cover-based shooters and God of War clones, followed by pointless "open world" games.

 

[Dom Cruise]

Early to mid PS2 era games.

There's just something very unique and special about them to me. Graphics may be a bit rough around the edges, but they carry so much personality to me. It was also a time when games really tried to be experimental. Like with the Katamari games, the Team ICO games, ect.

Nostalgia might also play a huge factor as well, admittedly.

The PS2 was a really exciting and creative era, so many hidden gems it's crazy.

Most recently the From Software games like Dark Souls and Sekiro have kept the spirit of the PS2 alive, I can't even define to you what exactly that means, it's just something you know as soon as you see it/play it, they feel like games from an alternate dimension where gaming never left that zeitgeist.