Came back to find the "Top 3". Very fucking funny @Exist-2-Inspire, you gave me a fucking heart attack with Dead Space 3! Battleborn was the give away though!
As for Final Fantasy VII, I have an odd, but good, admission. I didn't play it until a couple of years ago. I don't have the same sense of nostalgia as everyone else, but I will defend that game as a damn masterpiece. It's bloody fantastic. In a strange way I feel it's like the Akira of video games, with so much in it. A trail blazer that people will always look at with reverence.
Also, that opening cinematic is incredible. I'm teaching a seminar on games writing and establishing gaming worlds this week, and that opener is one of the ones I'm showing. It's all visual storytelling right from the start. There is no dialogue, but all of the themes of that game are there in front of you. You hear the sounds of the stars, making odd screams in some cases, then you see a woman (Aeris) who you think is just there, but she will be very important. Then you pull back from a small street corner, and gradually see the main plate of Midgar - seeing the technology, the architecture and the nature of the city. The aspect of industrialisation is there from the very beginning and all the themes are in place. Then we come back in and focus on the train. There are no formal introductions, you're placed in the middle of the action and start the game planning to blow up a fucking energy reactor. It's genius.
