[Question] Top 20 Games of the 7th Generation of Gaming

This order is mostly accurate, but they're still fairly interchangeable. Narrowing down the list was tricky with the DS thrown into the mix.

20) Bioshock Infinite

Columbia never stopped being a gorgeous setting to look at. Every area had at least a few spots, if not the whole thing, worth taking a few moments to examine. Not to mention some of the more subtle touches like the redone modern music. Elizabeth had an impressive amount of depth, and the amount of time they spent developing her idle movements and such really added to her as a character.

19) Picross 3D

I'd never played Picross before this, and I still prefer 3D over regular Picross. It makes great use of the touchscreen, and it's a real shame that there hasn't been a new Picross 3D.

18) Professor Layton and the Unwound Future

I'm going with this one because it's the best of the series on DS, though to be fair I haven't played Last Specter yet. The Layton games deserve major props for keeping the puzzles interesting while teaching us all to be true gentlemen.

17) Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations

Again, this was definitely the best in the series. None of the cases were dull, and the cases relating to Dahlia were fantastic. I really just wanted to highlight the Phoenix Wright games overall, since they showed me that visual novels were worth looking into.

16) Rayman Origins

Great game with frustratingly high difficulty at times. It finally brought Rayman back after being condemned to endless Rabbid games (not that Rabbids are bad), and showed that it's still worth making 2D platformers.

15) Rune Factory 3

The third game is apparently always the best when it comes to DS series. I'd been wanting combat added to Harvest Moon somehow basically since I started playing them, and Rune Factory successfully blended an action RPG and crafting with Harvest Moon. The first Rune Factory had some balance issues with how it handled stamina, and I didn't like how the second game divided itself in half and separated dungeons and farming more than it needed to. RF3 finally hit the perfect balance that Frontier had come close to.

14) Crackdown 2

It's hard to say whether the first or second Crackdown deserves to be on this list more, but Crackdown 2 wins out for me. We had some crazy multiplayer sessions, and there were so many ways to troll people. The first Crackdown may have had a better story mode, but you know what it didn't have? Chasing Omagnus in an assault helicopter while he glided away with a wing suit.

13) Rock Band 3

I'm sure that I played Rock band 2 more, but since they all shared libraries I might as well give it to the most recent game. I've never been great at rhythm games, but Rock Band was enough fun to make me learn how to play its guitar decently well. I have to stick to guitar though, because Rock Band has informed me that I can't carry a tune. At all.

12) Left 4 Dead

This and Left 4 Dead 2 were definitely the best multiplayer games this generation. It never got old even with only 4 campaigns. I'd still be up for playing if everyone else hadn't stopped.

11) Borderlands

I'm not usually big on shooters, but Borderlands' chaos and humor mixed in with amazing multiplayer sessions made this worthy of the list. Everyone else is mad jealous of my Best Bird Friend Forever.

10) Valkyria Chronicles

Screw the rest of the squad; Vyse and Marina can lay waste to the empire on their own. Such a pity they nerfed the series to bring it to PSP and then never even gave us the third game.

9) Super Mario Galaxy 2

It's like that terrible Rouge level in Sonic Adventure 2, except the gravity works and it doesn't make you hate life.

8) Monster Hunter Tri

Definitely more approachable for beginners than the PSP games, and proved how badly Monster Hunter needs two analog sticks and an actual internet connection. I'd go into detail, but I already did that for Gamer's Month 2 years ago.

7) Portal 2

Portal's physics and puzzles are great of course, but Portal 2 makes it this high up on the list mostly because it's one of the funniest games ever created.

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6) Demon's Souls

Insanely difficult, but even though the game could be cheap it allowed plenty of opportunities for you to trick the AI or otherwise cheat too. There was a real sense of accomplishment to finishing it, and so many great stories from partying with or being invaded by other players. If someone named KanyeEast07 invades you cannot let them win. It was close in the end, but I still prefer Demon's Souls' hub over Dark Souls' open world.

5) Dragon Quest IX

At first glance Dragon Quest IX is good, but nothing incredible. The story is light since your whole party is player-created, and there aren't any really difficult parts in the main game. Then you get to the post-game grottoes and legacy bosses. You start out dicking around in low level, seemingly random dungeons. Next you start learning the differences between grotto types and which level ranges give what treasures and monsters. Maybe you find a map website that can tell you exactly where chests will be and what rank they are. That super rare boss equipment looks nice, so you learn how to read the Hoimi table to trick the RNG. At some point you notice the game clock and realize that 200 HOURS HAVE PASSED SINCE YOU BEAT THE GAME JESUS CHRIST WHAT HAVE I BEEN DOING WITH MY LIFE OH WELL BETTER GO BACK TO FINISHING QUESTS.

4) Fallout 3

I still haven't played the previous Fallout games, but I loved the crap out of Fallout 3. It could have used more than two radio stations, one of which I didn't unlock until I was mopping up quests for achievements at the very end, but otherwise it was damn near perfect. Even once I was essentially invincible and melting everything with a plasma rifle there were still plenty of places to explore and logs to read. The Pitt DLC was another definite high point, since it managed to present a rare moral choice where an argument can be made for either side being right.

3) Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City

This was the first Etrian I played, and it's still my favorite. It has a huge amount of variety between the strata and some of the best music in the series. I went into it not knowing how far I would get since I'd heard plenty about its high difficulty, so reaching each new stratum felt extremely rewarding. It's nice having an RPG these days with modern improvements to dungeon crawling, but zero hand holding.

2) Tales of Vesperia

A definite step up from Abyss, it looks fantastic and the battle system flows smoothly. Yuri is still probably Vesperia's biggest triumph though, because he's one of the best protagonists in any RPG. Vesperia was without a doubt the best RPG of this console generation until...

1) Xenoblade Chronicles

Yep, no one could've seen this coming at #1. Forget about 2-20. What a bunch of jokers. Xenoblade is top notch in every aspect, and I have no problem with saying that it's the best RPG since the SNES era. Its stunning visuals proved that the Wii was perfectly capable of doing great things if developers bothered to put in a bit of effort, and X can't get here soon enough.

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Honorable Mentions: Dragon Quest: Rocket Slime, Minecraft, Advance Wars: Dual Strike, Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero?, and Resident Evil 5

How ya doing, buddy?