I said it in the other thread, and I'll say it now - Frontier: Elite II. One of the most technically advanced games ever made, it's also a shining example of the sandbox genre, and personally, I don't think that any space-sim has ever contended properly with the Frontier games since their releases in 1993 and 1995 respectively.

I don't understand this, these are supposed to be great games that you haven't played because you don't want to play such a great game?

Sands of Time!? *cries*

LEAVE PRINCE ALONE!!

The Iron Ninja:
Does it have to be called "the pile of shame?" seems an odd place to put games we felt were really good.

I would add stronghold (PC) to the pile, not sure how it fared on the grand scale of things, but none of my friends liked it.

It's called the Pile Of Shame because if you have not played the games in the pile, you should be ashamed.

I don't know if it's too obscure, but Albion is a beautiful and very original RPG from the early 90's. Developed by German Blue Byte (Settlers series), my impression is that it never became very popular outside Europe, despite the fact that it has a huge, interesting world, a very original plot mixing medieval fantasy, exotic alien landscapes and classic sci-fi (the protagonist always reminded me of Flash Gordon) and an amazing soundtrack.

Albion probably isn't worthy of a slot in the Pile Of Shame. It's alright, and the setting is great, but the leaden dialogue, very poor translation from German, and iffy balance all weigh it down.

These are Great Games (Notice capitals, they deserve it usually.) that you didn't play because you didn't have the time or money for it.

I'd say Terranigma, Fantastic SNES game from the days the SNES was dying. And Overlord, it might have some flaws, but the sense of dark, evil humour is perfect.

RAKtheUndead:
I said it in the other thread, and I'll say it now - Frontier: Elite II. One of the most technically advanced games ever made, it's also a shining example of the sandbox genre, and personally, I don't think that any space-sim has ever contended properly with the Frontier games since their releases in 1993 and 1995 respectively.

Y'know, I really wanted to like Frontier. But everything was just too generic. There was nothing to get attached to. If the combat had at least been decent then, well, it would have been Space Rangers 2. Which was awesome.

Updated. If you wish to dispute any game on or not on the list, please feel free to do so.

Note that I'm a PC elitist, so if the game is available on both the PC an console, I'll put it in the PC section so readers won't be wrongly influenced into getting a game and having an inferior experience. Yes I did get kicked out of the Museum of Tolerance.

Spyro 1. Easily enough, it sounds like a nice 3D platformer.

I haven't played Bioshock and I don't own Halo 3 yet (played it, though).

Something tells me my odds of being beaten up have just increased.

If some people have played them and some haven't, how can we make a collective list? I don't quite understand that bit.

Anyway, two big games people raved about that I own but never played, that's BioShock, which I doubt I'll get round to and Half-Life 2 which I actually bought the other day, but I'm still 'way past due' on it.

As for any others, there's seriously too many supposed 'great games' I hear about from friends and on forums that I haven't played simply because I'm just not interested. The only games I know for a fact that are great are the ones I enjoyed enough to complete!

I guess S.T.A.L.K.E.R is one I've always had an interest in, however small... and it is popular within the niche market it caters to, maybe it's the simple fact that my PC might not run it that I never bothered with it.

I've somehow managed to get this far without playing anything Half-Life. Or Quake. Or Doom. I blame the second X chromosome.

Anyway: chipping Persona 3 into the pile, because I ramble on to any gamer I can about it and no one can relate. I was absolutely sucked in, but I think it takes a special vintage of gamer to look at the 80 hours of playtime and actually be enthused.

poleboy:
I don't know if it's too obscure, but Albion is a beautiful and very original RPG from the early 90's. Developed by German Blue Byte (Settlers series), my impression is that it never became very popular outside Europe, despite the fact that it has a huge, interesting world, a very original plot mixing medieval fantasy, exotic alien landscapes and classic sci-fi (the protagonist always reminded me of Flash Gordon) and an amazing soundtrack.

EDIT: PC game, by the way.

I've got a PC Gamer disc with a demo of that. I was quite impressed, but the demo suffered from not knowing what the hell one is doing and not understanding combat at all. (Both fixed by having the documentation, I assume). I imagine the random weird-ass catpeople semi-nudity put some people off too.

I have a lot of shame for never playing Deus Ex and for not yet laying my hands on PS:T. (Though I did play Baldur's Gate, NWN, and some Icewind Dale)