A little late to the game here but I thought I'd make one of these myself:
1) Xenogears
Not your perfect specimen of a game, but pretty damn close. It's got a lot of the elements I enjoy in the video game: sci-fi, great plot, wonderful character development and con-tro-ver-sy. Okay, so it was no "I did not have sexual relations with this woman" but it's just a downright great game. I've always been drawn more towards a game with a story and, as expected, equally wonderful characters to make it interesting and this one did it for me.
2) Silent Hill 2
I was going to pick the first Silent Hill because it's great, but SH2 had a bigger impact on me emotionally. I'm not gonna say anything for fear of spoiling but it really hit me enough that I couldn't finish playing it right away.
3) Heavy Rain
Another great story-telling game that I just adore. Love the concept. Love how you can play multiple characters with an almost infinite amount of outcomes. The characters were brilliant, human, real and I think it was a great game.
4)/5) Resident Evil 2/Resident Evil 4 (I'm just going to include both of these together)
I've always adored the Resident Evil series, but both of them have my favorite character in it, Leon Kennedy. I got to watch him transform from a scrawny, brunette police officer to a blond-haired beauty with his biceps busting out of the seems (okay, so maybe not as bad as Chris). Both games were just fun as hell and I enjoyed them.
6)Uncharted
When it comes to story telling, Naughty Dog knows what they're doing. Sure, it's a little cliche--or a lot. But the characters are the reason this series holds a special place in my heart.
7) Final Fantasy VII
I know, I know. WHY, you ask? Well, it was my first experience with the FF series way back when I was maybe 11 or so and its elements, plot, characters, like the rest of these games, managed to worm their way into my heart. I wrote a shit tone of fan fiction for this one and I've got a lot of the action figures, the spin-offs (sadly, aside from Crisis Core), you name it. D:
8) Assassin's Creed II
'Kay, aside from the fact that Ezio is flippin' hot, I rather enjoyed this game. I did not care so much for the first one, but the concept is what kept me interested. Like I said, I'm a character/story development kinda gamer, and Assassin's Creed has some good story-telling/great characters. What I liked so much about AC II is that we got to experience Ezio's life from birth to...well, we're still not done yet. But there were so many facets to him developed in a great way that the game is hard NOT to love. Sure, it's a bit repetitive and irritating at times, but it's on my favorites list.
9) Parasite Eve
This was actually one of my first survival-horror RPGs and, while it was done well, stick with me over the years. It was kind of the kick off to my love for survival horrors. I did not play Resident Evil as I was only 10 at the time and probably forbidden to play such scary games, but when I was 12, I played Parasite Eve and thus began a wonderful relationship.