It is, until now, the best RPG ever developed. It's not a matter of only game mechanics or graphics or length or content amount, it's a matter of Torment's wild imagination, creativity, unique setting and characters, philosophical reaches, carefully crafted story and complex interactions.
Back when point'n'click adventure games were an almost forgotten genre, comes The Longest Journey. A game so iconic, so well made, that it is possibly (along Syberia) responsible of saving/reinvigorating the genre - at at least of keeping it alive before Telltale games came. Not only that, this gem is my all time favorite adventure, with a very strong story, great characters and a rich, rich world. I believe every gamer, not only adventure fans, should play this game, if only to know the staples and heights of the genre.
Forget about Warcraft III or World of Warcraft, these are good games, for sure, but Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness is the highest point of the franchise. At the time, there was no game on consoles or PC that matched it's beautiful graphics, rich detailed levels, amazing humor, epic story and simple, yet deep, gameplay. Oh, and I didn't even said anything about the soundtrack... I still listen to it's music nowadays, the deep, orchestrated themes would carry you away with them. Here you didn't have to worry about every single unit having abilities that needed to be manually activated, you could focus on the greater strategy. Like Torment, being best RPG ever developed, and The Longest Journey, being the best point'n'click adventure, Warcraft II is at the top of the RTS genre.
I first put my hands on this game in 1991. I was ten years old and it's really not forcing it when I say this game helped forging me into the person I am today. It was the first RPG I ever played. At first I didn't understood it, thought it was a crappy game: it didn't work like anything I've played before, it had completely different gameplay paradigm. But I kept playing it because I had nothing else to do. Then it clicked: this wasn't no crappy game, it was the best game ever made (at least for me, back then). It was complex, had a great story, was long, offered a huge world... I was completely hooked. After that, games ceased to be just one of the many interests I had and became my passion. I tireless started searching for new RPGs, but Phantasy Star was released in Portuguese (my native language) and everything else was available only in English or Japanese. That didn't stop me, though, and those games taught me English. I'm certain I wouldn't be the person I am today if it wasn't Phantasy Star.
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