With so few good new titles being released these days, especially by major studios, I figured I'd make a thread for everyone to share your favourite classic or older games, especially if they're lesser-known titles that others might have missed at the time.
I'll open with The Saboteur (2009), Mercenaries (2005) and Saints Row 2 ( The 2008 original)
I've recently been playing Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 for the first time, they've been good, though Baldur's Gate 2 is such a massive game in terms of side content by comparison to 1. I'm kinda a bit exhausted from the sheer amount of sidequests so I took a small break. It's good content so far but damn is there a lot of it.
Otherwise I've just been replaying Diablo 1 on the side, it's great. One of the only games to ever truly nail (grim)dark fantasy perfectly (hell it might be the only one if I'm being honest). If you just want a game that's pure, simple fun condensed into one of its purest forms, its great. I nearly wasted a week of vacation time just figuring out something to do, but then decided on a whim to play Diablo again, did it all night and beat it in 2 days. Been a great game ever since I was a small kid and terrified of it.
Otherwise I'll just say some of my favorite pre-2010 games in no particular order: Fire Emblem (GBA), Final Fantasy 4 (the DS version is the best one imo), Dragon Quest V, Starcraft 1, Chrono Trigger, Warcraft 2 and 3, Heroes of Might and Magic 2, The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky trilogy, Age of Empires 2, Dragon Ball Z Budokai 1, Valkyria Chronicles, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers, etc.
I've played it since launch and I'm still discovering new things in my current run. The game's got a lot of meat on it and endless replay value.