Today, I finished playing Assassin's Creed II: Revelations for the second time, finishing up my retread of the ACII series. As I was playing the three games in the series for a second time, I decided to shoot for 100% completion, something that I often avoid in Assassin's Creed games because some of the bonus objectives are controller-throwing-difficult. I noticed, then, that this series already tries to put replayability components. There are bonus objectives, side-quests, hidden items, purchasable items and places, faction objectives, and even trophies. I found that my goal of 100% wasn't truly 100% of the game (and I'm not even talking about the multiplayer components). Perhaps game-makers are throwing too much at us ... but I think that's a post that I've already written.
One way or another, finishing this trilogy a second time places it into a higher category of game for me. While there are plenty of games that I would like to play again (and I keep most of my games on that off chance), there aren't that many that I actually go through entirely. These games (which the ACII trilogy just entered) must then be my all time favorites.
The list includes: Super Mario Bros., Super Mario World, Super Mario 64, Ninja Gaiden (NES version), Ninja Gaiden II (NES version), Strider (NES version), Pool of Radiance (Commodore 64), Curse of the Azure Bonds, Dragon Warrior, Dragon Warrior VII, Dragon Quest VIII, Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy II (IV), III (VI), VII (VII), and VIII (VIII), Crystalis, Zelda, Adventure of Link, Zelda: A Link to the Past, Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Zelda: Windwaker, Metal Gear Solid, Need of Speed: Hot Pursuit II, Diablo, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Portal I and II, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Resident Evil 4, Bioshock, Bioshock Infinite, Starcraft, Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty, Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm, inFamous, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Batman: Arkham City, the first three games in Ratchet and Clank series, and Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. There are bound to be others that I have forgotten (some may note that Skyrim isn't on the list, but I haven't actually finished the main game more than once), but these were the ones that came to mind (those that I know I have played through more than twice are in bold). These games are all amazing. Even writing them down makes me want to play them again.