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Rarity posted:morally, the Ace Attorney trilogy is compilation of games so to be consistent I'm going to need you to pick one game from it to give your point to. If I don't hear from you it's going to the first one I will give it to the last one (Trials and Tribulations) because of that last case alone
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Dec 19, 2022 21:01
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morallyobjected posted:I will give it to the last one (Trials and Tribulations) because of that last case alone Done!
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Dec 19, 2022 21:12
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Escobarbarian posted:HOLY loving poo poo I played on PC, I don't think I had any major performance issues but obvs I can't speak to console.
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Dec 19, 2022 21:16
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ToxicFrog posted:1. Vision Soft Reset this looks kickass, i'm definitely giving it a shot
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Dec 19, 2022 21:17
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haveblue posted:I'm not Metis but on PS5 it's a bit glitchy. Pretty often my character and nav wheel disappear when traveling long distances and don't reappear until I get off the bike. The fishing minigame also barely work and locks up the game half the time. Performance is OK, I don't think it's sticking to 30 but there's also no combat or danger so I don't mind it much ....Fishing minigame!? That was not in the game when I played!
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Dec 19, 2022 21:17
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Venuz Patrol posted:this looks kickass, i'm definitely giving it a shot It's been included in a bunch of the itch.io bundles so you might even already have it!
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Dec 19, 2022 21:50
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I would probably have never checked out Signalis if not for this thread since very few things make me lose interest faster than the phrase "indie horror game". Anyway, I just tried it out since its free if you forgot to turn off your Humble Bundle subscription and this is incredible so far, the sound design and the vibe of this game is just  Thought my top10 was set, but this is a serious contender folks
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Dec 19, 2022 21:57
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morallyobjected posted:I will give it to the last one (Trials and Tribulations) because of that last case alone it’s a godlike case. absolutely perfect
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Dec 19, 2022 22:10
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bone emulator posted:I would probably have never checked out Signalis if not for this thread since very few things make me lose interest faster than the phrase "indie horror game". Reminder to check out the OST for the game on bandcamp/youtube once you've finished, it's outstanding and really helps set the atmosphere of the game.
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Dec 19, 2022 22:23
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Hello! It's me! Could you imagine if you were somehow so stupid you didn't take part in last years' GOTY discussions? You'd have to be a real imbecile, a total putz, to have missed out on a celebration of Games and Gamelike Objects! Good thing I'm not that kind of guy! Check it out, it's time for some HOT GAME POSTING like I do every year! It's me! Hello!! 10) Cult Of The Lamb  A impossibly cute, devilishly well-presented game that is simply gorgeous to look at and a breezy hack-and-slash adventure that doesn't outstay its welcome, but does come a hair's breadth of it. Charm is its fuel, its lifeblood, and it burns that fuel with infernal precision to the point that you can overlook the fact that both the slash 'em up and the cult management is unfortunately pretty shallow. But man, what a game to love while it has a hold on you. I love its visual presentation and character so much that I bought a shirt based on it and I don't usually get gaming merch, but the style the game has gives me no shame in wearing it. There's whispers that there could be an animated series based on it and honestly I think that's where it could find a happy home. A sequel that really fleshes out the core mechanics would be so welcome, but even if this is where the Lamb's story has to end I'm glad I saw it the whole way through. 9) Gunfire Reborn  A game that asks "What if Borderlands didn't have mind-meltingly stupid dialogue, grating characters and roadblocks that stop you from getting to The Good Bits?". Turns out, when you remove the chaff and keep the wheat, you get a mesmerizingly entertaining run n' gun roguelite with fun and unique weapons, a healthy selection of different gameplay styles through the various adorable animal characters you can choose from and a gameplay length that means you can play from start to end in an hour and come out with a bunch of interesting new toys for next time. When Apex Legends got too sweaty this was the go-to co-op game for me and my buddy and boy can that snowball effect become a sight to behold when you have weapons and skills that complement each other. It has a little bit of a low-budget feel, but once the ball gets rolling you're gonna have a colourful and chaotic romp. 8) Wobbledogs  As a wee Songbearer I used to love games like Creatures, The Sims, Black & White and so on: Toys where you could play with a bunch of needy idiots who, if left alone for long enough, would find new and fantastic ways to make you say "What the gently caress are you doing, you moron?!". Even back in their heyday these were niche products, which is why I was delighted to see Wobbledogs vibrate gelatinously onto the scene. With eye-searingly bright colours and big soft buttons to push, you too can be at the helm of a bizarre toylike habitat where you hatch, play with and crossbreed genetic aberrations and watch with glee as they struggle to limp their way to the food dispensers you put on the other side of the world. The big appeal of the game comes from crossbreeding and mutating your Wobbledogs with different foods and seeing which directions you can push their evolutions, but honestly just seeing them play and interact is entertainment enough. The Wobbledogs are sweet little things with different behaviours and it's a joy to watch them grow up, pupate, explore and then die and be consumed by other ravenous hounds which then mutate depending on what their ancestor last ate. Aw. 7) Iron Lung I'm not sure I actually like the game more than the ones I've put behind it, but from an artistic standpoint I have to give mad props. Horror is such an easy genre to gently caress up by being way too eager to show you the good bits and Iron Lung is like the epitome of less is more. The game has so few moving parts it is goddamn admirable but it does so much with how little it gives you that it's an easy recommendation for any horror fan. It's up there with ANATOMY for just how well it can cut into your psyche with only a few strokes instead of a flurry of sensory attacks. 6) NIGHTMARE REAPER  An ugly, ugly game that captivated me for hours by how immediate and gratifying its gameplay is. Its presentation while consistent is difficult to love and I absolutely hate the minigames you play to level up your character, but fortunately since you can turn these off I was able to enjoy the game for what it does best: Be a procedurally generated maze full of enemies that explode into various elemental gore states as you loot increasingly more ridiculous weapons from an insane arsenal of unique types, with randomly generated attributes that allow for multiple projectiles, ammo from health pool, fire rate increases or even firing projectiles from different weapons entirely. I got to a point that I had a black hole generator that healed me per tick of damage for everyone stuck inside it and a nuke launcher that had its explosive radius increased through the roof, making me an immortal hellgod who could clear hundreds of enemies in seconds. It is a good feeling. It makes me feel strong. The procgen could get janky and later levels are kind of a mess, but the sheer dedication it has towards making you feel powerful is a lovely thing to witness. NOT REAL 5) Apex Legends  I loving love this game. I loving hate this game. I loving love this game. I loving hate this game. Smooth gunplay and movement, updates that change the game up generally in good and fun ways and the new character is a total badass and some actually very decent trans represenation which is nice to see. The new map is fantastic too and matchmaking feels better, but man when it's bad its BAD. We're talking paid-for professional gamers going up against old men like me. Still, I play it nearly daily and I had major withdrawals when I moved house and was without internet for 2 months and I'm still annoyed I couldn't 110 the last battlepass, so it can stay on this list for like the 3rd year running (4th in my brain). It doesn't make the list because as much as I love it there's really nothing to say about it that I haven't said before so let's go with THE REAL 5) Signalis  Please please please don't let the artstyle put you off. Yeah they overshoot the mark a little and sometimes the limited inventory combined with the familiarity of some of the puzzles can get grating, but goddamn is this a fantastically crafted survival horror by an incredibly small but talented team who get it. We're talking a story that you'll be reaching for the nearest explanation video or forum to dissect in forensic detail the little bits of foreshadowing, detail and meaning crammed into every inch of this loving game. I'm not sure it's actually scary-rear end-scary but it's effective and intriguing and just gets more compelling as you go along. I'm not even a fan of traditional survival horror gameplay but this was great. BUT ALSO 5) Metal: Hellsinger  Okay Signalis is #5 but Metal: Hellsinger is here too because I am not a huge rhythm game fan but holy gently caress does this game go hard. An incredible (INCREDIBLE!!) soundtrack made by extremely talented big name artists combined with superb shooting and movement mechanics while the rhythm aspect is ever-present but never frustrating or anything less than a way to totally vibe with the music and atmosphere of the game. I want to gently caress the skull, 4) Stray  Playing this through with my wife. I have a cat. I love my cat. There's a cat in this game if you didn't know and it's the most precious loving videogame cat ever. Apex had good trans representation, this has amazing cat representation. You are a gigantic rear end in a top hat who nobody can stay mad at because you're going to be that way no matter what people say or do, and that's lovely. 3) Dwarf Fortress Well gently caress. Dwarf Fortress actually came out as a thing you can actually pay for with real money on STEAM. That's cool. What's really cool? The fact that Kitfox and co did the impossible and gave it a loving GUI. And not just a GUI! A really good GUI that looks nice and feels good to use! And music! And ambient noise! And a tileset that is easily readable, looks great and has a wonderful sense of personality! It's cosmetic surgery for a two-decade labour of love that makes the word "game" sound positively insulting, and after a good 6 or so years away from DF it's just the absolute best way to experience it. I lost a fort within 10 hours by being too big for my boots and refusing to parley with goblins. 100 dwarves were killed almost to a man as I watched them all reduced to gore and misery as Beak Dogs swarmed the halls. It's good to be home. 2) Elden Ring  Earlier this year I had a nervous breakdown and was off work for a month. Elden Ring had released recently and I had only put a few hours into it, so this and Apex Legends were my daily drivers for a while. Elden Ring reminded me how wonderful the great wide world can be by being so infernally, scintillatingly frustrating that stepping away from it and going outdoors felt like a loving mercy. It's flawed in so many ways and made me spittingly mad on more occasions than I'd like to admit and all that is overshadowed by how much fun and wonder I experienced exploring the world for the first time. After rolling my eyes at the state of open world games refusing to leave anything to the imagination from Oblivion onwards (I know, I know, but I promise I've never posted on No Mutants Allowed), Elden Ring blew me away by just... trusting me. It gave me a world to explore, general directions to go if I'd like to follow the shiny light, and naturally I did what any right minded gamer would do and completely ignored any attempt the developers made to facilitate my journey and make things a little easier. Yeah I died against the Tree Sentinel over and over and over before I tried it with Torrent. gently caress yeah, I'll fight Morgott underleveled. I rammed my thick skull against several bosses I just was not supposed to beat at my level and somehow managed to piss my way through them. As a videogame fashionista I was given a billion trillion things to wear and wield and I was the prettiest prince in all the lands. I burned the entire loving world to nothing because I was just so tired of everyone and their bullshit by the time I reached the end the first time round. gently caress the last third of the game, it's stupidly overtuned and just not fun in the slightest for an average gamer like me, but even that frustration was not enough to stop me from losing myself in a gloriously well realised dark fantasy game that will be remembered as one of best takes on the open world genre for a good while. 1) Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak  When Monster Hunter: World came out I knew from the first hour that this series would become an obsession. The demo for Monster Hunter Rise came out on the PC. I played 20 minutes of it and preordered it. Played it nonstop when it released and was sad when it was all over. Then the expansion came out the same goddamn year and I got another 100 hours of Monster Hunting Fun™ out of the whole deal and an infinite progression system on top of it. My friends who enjoyed World hate Rise. I can't get e-fuckin-nough of the drat thing. It's Monster Hunter. You go and get a big weapon and have a bigger monster to hit with it, then you kill it and turn it into your next big weapon and make clothes out of it so you can look cool. You get a cat which is standard for Monster Hunter, only this time you get a dog too?! And you can customise the dog just like the cat and you can put it in pretty outfits, and then you get to ride the dog and you can even pet and play with your friends mid-hunt. You can have two cats, or two dogs, or a cat and a dog. How's the hunting? gently caress you for asking anything further after I lead with the best bit, but it's great. Monster Hunter Rise by itself is far too much on the easy side due to the incredible new mobility introduced by the Wirebug system that allows you to launch yourself around the goddamn map like an annoying insect, perform a bunch of incredibly cool special moves and crucially horseshit yourself out of stupid mistakes that made you fall on your arse. The monsters are faster in Rise than they were in World, but they're no match for a hunter who can reposition themselves in seconds. Sunbreak fixes this by ramping up the lethality of the beasts massively, making them much more interesting to fight and giving that classic Monster Hunter "prep or die" feel to the cast of beasts you're hunting. A big criticism of Rise in comparison to World is that it pretty much throws away the "these monsters are just doing their thing" feel and makes the game a straight-up brawler where you find the creature in moments and shove a giant sword up its arse like its a screaming winged lollipop, but gently caress man I *like* that feeling of getting right into the fight and just staying on that monster's case until it is dead. As a Switch port I do miss the larger scale, detail and the lifesim aspects of World like making a cool house out of animals you catch and catalogue, but I've had so much fun battling alone and with strangers, making countless layered armour sets and customising dogs and cats just so until I have an army of soft murderers to choose from I could not be happier with this game. Screw the haters, the Switch Axe remains god. I know that's a gunlance in the screenshot gently caress you. Apologies To: Persona 5:  I kept asking But Where's Persona 5 for years after Strikers or whatever came to STEAM, and now I have it I just haven't put in the time to really enjoy you. I've beaten the first Shadow and I really loving like it but you're a time commitment and even a week's holiday wasn't enough to make me sit down and just play. I'm so sorry. I promise I'll give you the love you deserve. Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings Of Ruin  You were my best friend and saviour while I had no internet connection. Just a fun and cute Pokélike, but once the internet came back you fell to the wayside. I'm sure I'll come back to you someday, but while Persona 5 is around you're not gonna get a shake before then. Sleep now, my friend. Sifu You should be in the top 10 but I need more. Sublime martial arts gameplay that looks gorgeous and does beautiful things with its fairly simple mechanics, incredibly addictive and rewarding to play. I wish you had sex with Sleeping Dogs because basically your child would be an incredible game. The Binding Of Isaac Too many new titles I wanted to mention. An ex co-worker was really into it so I went back to play some and wound up putting another 30 hours in. A time vacuum. Blender You're not a game but you're on STEAM and it looks like we're working on this loving animation for another year, no I won't start a new project. We're stuck doing this for all eternity. I love you. Please don't ever go away. Songbearer fucked around with this message at 02:40 on Dec 20, 2022 |
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Dec 20, 2022 02:34
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As an aside, this year was crazy in terms of hardware. The two major releases were the Steam Deck, which is a Switch taken to the logical extreme of power, and the Playdate, a Switch taken to the other logical extreme of power. Completely nutty. Zany, evn
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Dec 20, 2022 02:39
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1) triangle strategy -  i liked this game so much i made my own little Decimal. he has a wind up key now this is an old picture  2) live a live -  in a long forgotten place… 「𝙱𝙰𝙱𝚈𝙻𝙾𝙽𝙸𝙰」 scenario ranking: near future distant future middle ages feudal japan modern day wild west prehistory imperial china they took down all the remake Megalomanias from youtube but you can still hear it in this one after the snes version plays out in full https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ScGoDaM8Rs 3) sekiro - someone said i couldn’t beat this game but then i did and they bought me shin chan as part of the bet. i am the wolf 4) pokemon legend arceus -  arceus is the second best mainline game, and the third best overall (heart gold, n64 snap, arceus) 5) caves of qud -  6) terra nil demo - the map starts off desolate and brown (think ps3) and you have to make a vibrant ecosystem through building buildings. v cool and pretty  7) shin chan - me and the professor endless 7 day summer - this is a side entry in a game series called Boy's Summer Party or something. if you've ever seen shin chan on Adult Swim it's nothing like that. shinnosuke is on vacation in the countryside with his family and the local small town newspaper gives him a job as a reporter so you go around doing little quests and making note of slice of life things. and you catch bugs/fish. v pretty too. 2022 Chill Game of the Year   8) apex legends -  come and get your birthday present 9) dwarf fortress - i played a lot of dwarf fortress and now it's on steam and it looks p good 10) skies of arcadia - i had skies of arcadia legends on gamecube and i let someone borrow it and they moved to florida and i never saw them again. but i have it on wii u now and. it's p good 11) pokemon scarlvio -  6.5/10 12) weird rpg - i saw a tweet about this game and how WEIRD it is. everyone loves this game because of the weapons that activate when you use your mic but other than that. if you ask me. it should be called "average rpg" 13) dyson sphere -  it's factorio but on a bunch of planets. didn't get far enough to get off the one planet though 14) planet crafter - you're rubbing your eyes like. "did i read that right?? you CRAFT a PLANET" yyyyyyup. but you don't actually craft a planet you just keep building buildings and like. "oxygen" goes up slowly until the sky turns blue and the grass starts to grow. put a podcast on if you're going to grind this out t15) the cycle - escape from space tarkov. with squad indicators 16) planet zoo - probably really good but i couldn't get into it for some reason DNQ - amazing cultivator simulation the game broke during the forced tutorial and i never went back sorry expected on next year’s list hitman 3 like a dragon persona 5 strikers ghost trick botw 2
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Dec 20, 2022 04:31
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oddium posted:1) triangle strategy - king
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Dec 20, 2022 04:40
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Lookit dat little guy 
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Dec 20, 2022 04:48
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oddium posted:1) triangle strategy - love this so much. I do want to pick up Triangle Strategy. it might be one of my post-Christmas gets oddium posted:expected on next year’s list This was my GOTY last year so I hope you enjoy it!
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Dec 20, 2022 05:17
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oddium posted:10) skies of arcadia - A classic, I loved this on dreamcast back in the day. Still waiting for a worthy successor.
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Dec 20, 2022 05:21
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First, a shout-out to the Playstation Goons discord for many excellent recommendations over the course of the year. Honorable Mentions Gotham Knights Life is Strange: Before the Storm Persona 5 Strikers Mafia 3: Definitive Edition 10. AI: The Somnium Files – I picked this game up on a whim because it looked kind of interesting and I wanted something a little less intense as a palate cleanser to my Ragnarok experience. What I found was a delightful and weird game that alternately pulled me in with the twists and turns of its mystery, and made me laugh with its absurd broad humor. My top 10 list was already complete when I started playing this, but I liked it enough that I felt it was worth making a change. 9. Saints Row – The only game in the Saints Row franchise that I had played prior to this was the fourth, which by all accounts is a pretty significant departure from the core of the series. However, I greatly enjoyed that game, and so despite the middling reviews of this new installment I decided to dive in and give it a shot. The gameplay and customization were a lot of fun, the tone had just the right balance of silliness and heart, and even though my system says I put 77 hours into it I can honestly say it seemed to fly by. 8. What Remains of Edith Finch – I've found myself playing a lot of Annapurna games lately in my ongoing quest to branch out from my usual preferred formula, and yet somehow this one had evaded me for quite some time. Eventually I was able to play it, and it definitely lived up to its reputation. Just a concise, interesting, and charming overall experience. 7. Deliver Us the Moon – This was one that came to my attention when it got a PS5 upgrade earlier this year. I was looking for a short, well-told narrative with no/minimal combat and I'm grateful to those who recommended this. The atmosphere is truly impressive, and despite the relatively short running time I really enjoyed unraveling the game's central mystery. 6. Stray – I am not a cat person. Generally don't like them. I even rolled my eyes at all the “cat game” talk that was going around in the lead-up to the game's release. But it was free, and it looked interesting, so I tried it, and what I found was a beautiful game with an incredible sense of atmosphere and a unique tone. By the end even I was invested in the journey of this simple cat. 5. Life is Strange: True Colors – This was my first foray into the Life is Strange series of games. Admittedly it was the soundtrack that initially intrigued me, along with the recommendations of some fellow goons. Just a fantastic experience of exploring this very specific and wonderful location, with some very strong emotional beats along the way. I liked it enough to go back and play the original Life is Strange and Before the Storm, both of which were close to making this list as well. 4. A Plague Tale: Requiem – A hotly-anticipated title for me this year, one of the games I had circled on my calendar. I loved the first game (it made my Top 10 last year), and the sequel basically expands and improves upon it on every level. Just a very strong narrative experience. 3. Persona 5 – My biggest surprise of the year, easily. I had written this game off as anime nonsense for a long time, but I found myself with a gap in my gaming rotation and it was free on PS+, so I figured I'd give it a try. More than 100 hours later, I knew this was a special game. I don't have a lot of history with JRPGs and I generally dislike turn-based combat, but this was a sublime gaming experience. The story, the combat systems, and perhaps especially the life-sim portions made me an instant fan. I still intend to play the Royal version at some point, and as much as I hate double-dipping it may very well end up on next year's list. 2. God of War: Ragnarok – There were versions of this list that had Ragnarok in the #1 spot. If you ask me next week, it's possible I will have flipped it back there again. Simply put, this game is a masterpiece. On a narrative level I have played few games that compare to it, and the moment-to-moment gameplay is engaging and fun as well. This is a game that will stick with me for a long time, and a clear step forward even from the (extremely good) “first” game in the series. Any other year this would likely be the unquestioned top of my list. 1. Horizon Forbidden West – As soon as I finished playing Horizon Forbidden West I said to myself “I don't know what's going to knock this off the top of my list for the year.” Challengers came, including some truly fantastic games. But at the end of the day, HFW feels like a game that was perfectly-crafted to appeal to my gaming sensibilities. The open world is a joy to explore. The characters are well-written and beautifully-rendered (maybe the best facial animations I've ever seen in a game, though Ragnarok gave it a run for its money). There were ample opportunities to play dress-up, which I've realized is an important factor in my enjoyment of a game. The story was engaging, and the side quest content even managed to reach my gold standard in that area, Witcher 3. I put 80 hours in and every single one was a delight. Horizon Forbidden West is one of the greatest open-world narrative games I've ever played, and even in such a strong year for video games I feel confident placing it at the top of my list.
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Dec 20, 2022 06:11
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ShakeZula posted:5. Life is Strange: True Colors – This was my first foray into the Life is Strange series of games. Admittedly it was the soundtrack that initially intrigued me, along with the recommendations of some fellow goons. Just a fantastic experience of exploring this very specific and wonderful location, with some very strong emotional beats along the way. I liked it enough to go back and play the original Life is Strange and Before the Storm, both of which were close to making this list as well. yessssssssss I love that game, LiS1, and BTS so much. 1 and True Colors are tied for me
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Dec 20, 2022 06:18
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i've finished 155 games so far this year wow! here's my top twenty, sorry i'm not shrinking the pics  20. ~SURVIVAL KIDS~ Music: Mountain This is one of those games I read about in Nintendo Power a long time ago and never got the chance to play at the time. I can't say whether child me would've appreciated it as much as adult me, but regardless it's a pretty dang cool Game Boy Color game. You're a young castaway on a deserted island who fortunately already has a taste for the outdoors, and you've got to manage your hunger, thirst, and stamina gauges as well as the time while you explore your surroundings, locate valuable resources, and find a way back home. The game kinda feels like a playable YA novel at times, as you befriend a mischievous monkey, meet another castaway, and perhaps discover a more mystical side of the island. Survival/crafting games nowadays usually don't grab me terribly well if only because so many feel so samey, but the smaller scope and more focused adventure offered by this little island stood out to me. Actually surviving isn't very hard, fresh water and shelter are easy to find and food is even more plentiful, the challenge comes from making sure you're adequately prepared for long exploratory voyages and in tracking down the specific items you need to do specific things. It's not a long game and there are several endings to find, with some variations based on whether you found the other kid and whether they survived, and the game cheekily challenges you to find them all. One very early one is pretty easy to reach, you've just got to salvage a battery from some nearby wreckage and fix your portable radio, which then allows you to hear a broadcast from a rescue helicopter in the area a few days later. However this ending is just as easy to miss which leads to you waking up to hear the unsuccessful search being called off. As you then resolve to make your own way off the island, this is, in a way, the point when Survival Kids really begins.   19. ~FALLOW~ Music: Anya You're living in a world that wants to forget you, that has already forgotten your sisters. An alien uncomfortable place that twists and coils behind your back, devouring. Fallow is a game about aimless wandering, making your way to that place called Home but isn't, remembering those who've left nothing behind. I love the look of this game, the limited but striking palette, the landscapes littered with gaping wounds and unearthly worms carving up the horizon. The music, sometimes folksy and other times grungy, has an eerieness to it, at times acting as though it's trying to coax you into a comfort you know is a lie. If you look at any of these screenshots or listen to the music and think, dang that looks/sounds like my poo poo, then it probably certainly is. One of those games where the creator is baring their heart to the world.  18. ~ENDLESS OCEAN: BLUE WORLD~ Music: Dúlamán I'm not a very good swimmer, being adrift in water deep enough that I can't see the bottom freaks me out, but I do really like being underwater, if that makes sense. And this is a game that really captures the majesty and wonder of the ocean. You're a skilled diver taking a break from school to do some research on deep sea ruins. There is a story here, where you team up with an old retired sailor and his grandaughter to reignite their family's search for a legendary treasure and find closure on the disappearance of a loved one, but it's really more of an excuse to whisk you away to different exotic dive spots. You'll explore tropical lagoons, sunken castles, arctic iceberg caverns, and even do some freshwater diving in a rainforest river. There are hundreds of species of fish you can examine and feed and maybe even pet, buried treasures to salvage, legends to study. Endless Ocean really instills in you a sense of romance; it'll make you wanna find a salty ocean mist candle, take a deep breath, and go AHHH THE SEA from the comfort of your miles-away-from-the-beach home.   17. ~METAL SONIC REBOOTED~ Music: Forbidden Ruins This is a Sonic hack that gets it. Fast-paced multi-layered custom levels with a cool custom character. The main twists are that Metal Sonic only loses twenty rings on a hit (on Normal mode at least) and rings carry over between acts so you'll quickly find yourself with a nice big total. He can use all those rings as fuel for special tech like an air dash or high jump, or if you have at least 200 rings, you can Overclock your systems for a pseudo-super mode that drains your rings way faster than a real super mode (and can kill you if you're not paying attention!) in exchange for invincibility and high speed.   16. ~SOMA~ Music: Reef This is a horror game that understands monsters aren't the only source of fear. Not that it doesn't have monsters! It does, and they can be quite scary thanks to a combination of their environments, their in-game effects on your character, and their own behaviors. But if Amnesia understood that monsters are scarier if you can't look at them, can't know them, then Soma takes things a step further and accepts that even if you can't look directly at the monsters, they're still an at least somewhat knowable, concrete thing, and so supplements them. While you're running for your life from some strange ambulatory distortion of flesh, you're also grappling with some more primal realizations that are much more difficult to fully reckon with, partly because your brain actively doesn't want you to think about them. Besides the plot's high quality, I also want to give Soma a lot of credit for its setting. The ocean is an undertapped locale I think, and there's a particular late game section that is honestly cooler than any of the bits taking place aboard the actual station.   15. ~NOORA AND THE TIME STUDIO - THE WITCH OF THE MIST FOREST~ Music: Normal Battle An Atelier-like by Atlus that got an English translation patch earlier this year, this is an ultra chill game about honing your chronomancy in the woods while doing odd jobs for the nearby town in hopes that some day they'll stop calling you a witch. You go to town, accept jobs, go out and gather materials, and take them back home to work your magic. Noora's chronomancy allows her to locally turn the clock forward or back for specific objects, allowing her to "grow" important herbs out of season or age wine into a 50 year vintage in a matter of days, provided she's practiced enough. She also meets a variety of friendly characters who agree to go out gathering with her and will sometimes turn up at her door asking for favors or just wanting to hang out. You start off gathering berries and herbs but can later find yourself pocketing rusty weapons in a monster arena and busting through a dragon to get at what it's guarding. Noora's apprenticeship lasts three years and there are a number of different endings to get, based on which characters you spend the most time with and how good Noora ends up getting at chronomancy. My only real complaint with the game is that it actually kinda lies about that time limit and you have about a month less than you expect, but hey, life comes at you fast.     14. ~ELISE~ Music: A Gentle Moment During October I played a bunch of spooky and spooky-adjacent rom hacks of Super Mario 64. Some were goofy and some were bad and some were startlingly effective, but none were so singularly impressive as this one. I know Mario 64's been dumped on the internet and thoroughly, rigorously picked apart, but a game built on Mario 64 still has no business looking as good as Elise does. You delve into the mind of a girl who got her wish to be in a coma, exploring various dreamscapes based on her memories, good and bad, gathering enough drops to fight an extremely cool custom boss. Gameplay-wise it's pretty easy Mario 64 platforming with the only real wrinkles being some low gravity areas and a merciful lack of fall damage, but the atmosphere is off the charts and I can only hope these screenshots impart a fragment of it.   13. ~FIRE EMBLEM 6 PROJECT EMBER~ Music: An Unexpected Caller Generally when I'm searching for rom hacks I prefer original experiences over tweaks to the base game, but this hack got some pretty high praise and I'd been wanting to revisit FE6 with a translation newer than whatever existed when I was in high school anyway. I'm glad I did, because calling Project Ember a tweak is doing it dirty. The changes it makes to base Binding Blade are so substantial that it definitely redefines the "flavor" of the game and can't really serve as a replacement per se, but I really like those changes! Both the player units and enemy units see substantial buffs which shifts the pacing and encourages a playstyle focused on first strikes and eliminating enemy formations before they can pounce instead of passively watching clashes play out on the enemy phase. In particular several of the worst characters in vanilla FE6 are very useable now, with a couple even becoming strong contenders for best infantry. If you haven't played Binding Blade before, I would recommend playing the original release, but if you have and liked it then definitely check this hack out, it's top of the line.  12. ~NiGHTS INTO DREAMS~ Music: Gloom of the N.H.C. I've always wanted to play this game but never really got around to it until now. It's really good and I totally get why Yuji Naka has wasted the rest of his career stealing credit and trying to recreate it over and over!! NiGHTS, along with Star Fox 64, is like the platonic ideal of an arcadey score attack game. Short and sweet with simple enough controls to grasp but addictively complex when it comes to getting those high scores. It's like someone took a look at the amazingly fluid swimming controls in Ecco the Dolphin, jazzed them up a little, and then put together some beautiful abstract dreams for the player to fly around in instead of a brutally hard trippy dolphin adventure. Not that NiGHTS isn't trippy but if you know Ecco then you know what I mean. There's a really cool effect in NiGHTS' Soft Museum level where the ground bends and contorts around your footsteps to create the illusion that everything really is soft, Spring Valley features mountains growing downward out of the sky, and all of the boss arenas really let loose with psychedelic color palettes and geometry to emphasize their nightmarish qualities compared to the idyllic dream levels. The game admittedly does not explain how it works all that clearly, even with the manual. Or at least, how to get high scores. I have a pretty distinct memory of seeing a Sega Saturn kiosk with NiGHTS set up in a Toys R Us as a kid, and while I thought the game looked pretty cool I also had absolutely no idea what I was doing. But to be honest I think that serves the dreamy illogical vibe of the game nicely. This vagueness can be a bit of a bugbear though since you need to earn an at least decent score in each of the characters' unique levels before unlocking the final, shared level, but each one only takes a few minutes to play through and there are only seven levels total, so I don't begrudge the game asking me to do it the dignity of learning to play well. And that final level is a triumph of wordless storytelling so the journey was well worth it! Shoutouts to the HD remaster including Christmas NiGHTS as a little postgame bonus, so you can check out this sweet jam of an already utterly goated song and have a Merry Christmas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu2IgOA6WFs   11. ~SPLATOON 3~ Music: Till Depth Do Us Part It's Splatoon..... 3! Splatting is still a blast, Salmon Run is still an incredible horde mode, and the story mode... my god the lore bombs dropped here...!! And on top of how the story unfolds, the structure of level progression and goals takes all the best elements of 2's regular story mode and its DLC, the Octo Expansion, and blends them together. Ink bows and ink katanas are both sick new weapon categories, and the new power combo of Shiver, Frye, and Big Man makes for the best announcers yet (sorry Pearl and Marina fans). Splatoon continues to be one of the few competitive multiplayer games I've enjoyed playing thanks to its speed, movement mechanics, and memes. I just wish I could actually play a Tri-Color Match just once...   10. ~AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES~ Music: PSYNCIN' IN THE CAPTaiN This is one of those games I wasn't expecting to like and only ended up buying because it frequently goes on sale for like $5. I read 999 a long time ago and thought, wow this is ugly and it's really jarring how characters' personalities are occasionally replaced by wikipedia articles! So I had it in my head that I just don't like Uchikoshi games. Oops. Somnium Files is a murder mystery about tracking a depraved serial killer with an eyeball obsession. Eyes, I, AI (as in artificial intelligence), and ai (Japanese for love) are all major themes, and it's that last one that most captured my attention. The core mystery is a pretty good one, lots of twists and turns and little hints sprinkled about that'll allow you to make strong educated guesses as you progress, but Date, the protagonist and main detective on the case, is a very human character and so can be quite prone to distraction despite his partner Aiba's protests (at least when she's not being a weirdo herself). While this could be frustrating while reading a good mystery, it quickly becomes apparently in Somnium Files that while the murder cases are the core of the story, they're not the heart of it, if that makes sense. The characters, and their interactions and growing bonds, are the true star here, to the point where several of the game's various routes end even though the mystery is still afoot because, well, you've reached an emotional climax and resolution for the characters involved. But it works out fine because there is a true ending and you need to have seen all the other ones first anyway. The dialogue is key here. So many lines have this genuine warmth to them, like the feelings behind them have been truly lived and believed before being put to paper and presented to you. One line in particular I can still remember, from late on a specific character's route, where she's reminiscing about the first time her adoptive father cooked what would become her favorite meal for her. He cuts the vegetables too big, she muses, smiling to herself. It's such a simple thing but in context it was like a hook ripping directly into my heart. And the game does that a lot! But it also balances the wistful and the gruesome with plenty of well-placed levity, Date and Aiba and all their friends can be some real goofballs and the comedy makes those heavier bits land that much better. So I guess I actually am an Uchikoshi fan? Maybe? I'll have to try another of his games...   9. ~METAL MAX 3~ Music: Old Enemy (Hunter's Request Ver.) Metal Max is a minor but long-running JRPG series about rolling across the wasteland in sick tanks. Those outside of Japan unfortunately haven't gotten too many of these games, and the latest release, Xeno, kinda sucks rear end and misses the point of the older games, but this entry kicks rear end and was well worth the wait for an English translation patch. You're a nameless drifter who finds yourself embroiled in a long-burning conflict between two old families, but, you can also choose to just gently caress off and do whatever you want. You can more or less go wherever you want whenever you want barring one threshold between the early game region and the rest of the world, all that limits you is your ability to not get owned by the local mutated biomechanical monstrosities or roving gangs. In a strong cue from Dragon Quest 3, your party is formed by visiting a bar and recruiting "generics," choosing their class, name, and gender, including the most casual trans representation I've seen in quite a while. Of course, besides your human party members (plus a classic Metal Max gun-toting dog), you've got tanks. In addition to the more generic rental tanks, there are twelve unique vehicles scattered across the world, from the mundane to the outlandishly organic, and you can customize their engines, computer systems, and loadouts (both in terms of what the tank can equip and the weapons themselves) to an impressive degree. It always feels cool just to find a new armament, but then you take it to your guy and tweak it just right to really get the most out of it. And then your hunter learns how to fire off all their weapons simultaneously. And then you find the legendary chassis modder who can somehow squeeze a second engine into your tank without sacrificing performance and that, is a game-changing moment. Besides the tanks, the quest scenarios both main and side were surprisingly moving. NPCs die, live, get scammed by you, get married, find closure, and build up a new town from the ruins of the past with all the cinematic gravitas of reading a signpost, all while struggling through a harsh wartorn world, and yet this matter-of-factness manages to make these interactions all the more intimate. The post part of post-apocalyptic turns out to be a pretty major theme: the world isn't dying, it already died, but this isn't about what happened then, it's about doing what you can with what you've got and driving ever forward. Ideally in a souped-up Red Wolf with twin Ghidorah cannons.     8. ~UNSIGHTED~ Music: Historic Enlightenment While metroidvanias are a staple style of the indie scene, you don't really see their top-down cousins, the zeldalike, quite as often. And Unsighted takes several cues from Zelda, including pulling the dual hookshot and spinner straight out of Twilight Princess and polishing them up into something even more fun and usable. Everything in this game feels incredibly well-calibrated, from the movement to your toolset to the slick soundtrack to the ominous specter that is the clock. You play as Alma, a recently thrashed android who wakes up to find her girlfriend has vanished and the otherworldly energy that allows herself and all her robotic peers to maintain their sentience is quickly dwindling. The clock is always ticking away, and indeed you can see quantifiably how much time any given character has left, down to the minute, for that little extra dose of mortal tension. Different characters have different amounts of energy left, and you can find hidden packets that extend the time limit for whoever consumes it. Do you hand them out to the needy, to your friends, or hoard them all for yourself just in case? Naturally, Unsighted can be a stressful game, and the developers did include the option to toggle the death clock off at any point if you decide you want to explore without a guilty conscience. And like, I get it, I turned it off myself at points. But I do think the clock is essential to the mood of the game and I will say that, for those who dig hard enough, there may just be a way to save everyone even with the time limit active.   7. ~KLONOA: DOOR TO PHANTOMILE~ Music: The Closing Encounter Klonoa is another one of those games I'd really wanted to play for the longest time but never actually got around to until now. Helps that we got the Phantasy Reverie Series this year, bringing two of the better designed mascot platformers of the 90s to new audiences. I ended up being so enamored with this game that I immediately set out to play the rest of the series as well, including the silly volleyball spinoff, but despite the many strengths of its sequels, the original remains the one that sticks out the most in my mind. One, the story. Going in, I knew nothing about Klonoa except that he's a cheerful kid who says "wahoo!" all the time. I was not expecting to find so many cutscenes bookending every level, and I was definitely not prepared for how dramatic they get, but the game balances its developments pretty well and in the end, I was surprised to find myself taking the events as seriously as I think the game wanted me to. And that melancholy bittersweetness, despite the whimsy of its visual design, makes the game that much more memorable. Klonoa has a vibe and I respect what it's going for. Two, the gameplay. Taking cues from Yoshi's Island, Klonoa both has a little flutter to extend his jumps and can grab enemies from a couple feet away with his Wind Ring. Klonoa can only hold one enemy this way, unlike Yoshi's six-shooter style, and can either throw them forward as a projectile or, throw them downward to give himself a single-use double jump. This is a simple mechanic but the game uses it in some brilliant ways, and Klonoa's controls are tight enough that when the late game starts asking you to do the real sicko poo poo, I was only too happy to oblige. Also every time you do a double jump, Klonoa gives a little "wahoo!" and it's the cutest thing in the world. Especially in the post-game challenge level where you're chaining jumps together as fast as you can and the poor little guy's going "wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wahoo!" Later games in the series would introduce iconic elements like snowboarding and gruff gun-toting rivals. The handheld games would eschew the third dimension altogether in favor of a much greater emphasis on puzzles, really good puzzles! The final game in the series (that isn't a remake) reimagines Klonoa as an action RPG protagonist and it actually kinda works. But Door to Phantomile, the very first entry, is the one that still holds the most magic for me.   6. ~BLUE REFLECTION: SECOND LIGHT~ Music: My REAL I was going to start this paragraph with some kinda highfalutin essay language but that wouldn't really represent the game very well. Blue Reflection: Second Light is a game about a goofy flirt and her friends as they spend summer vacation together. It's about the wistfulness of knowing your time together won't last forever, the surprising joys of simple everyday tasks, the impact even a single chance encounter can have, and supporting your grumpy friend who's too shy to admit she draws doujin of her favorite niche anime. This is a JRPG, you assemble a cast of characters who explore dungeons and transform in battle against monsters, and that part of the game is pretty good! But Blue Reflection 2 is a game about girls being girls. A real Girls Rock game, y'know. When you're not in dungeons, you're walking around the school everyone is stuck in, seeing how high you can throw a basketball in the gym, pretending to be a cool waiter serving up a refreshing drink, sending cheeky messages to the group chat, concocting a brilliant plan to turn the school pool into a giant hot tub, having a contest to see who has the coolest Ultimate Finishing Move. Honestly there are so many little innocuous events to see it can be kind of overwhelming at times, but Blue Reflection 2 is a game that thrives on its domesticity. And even when you are in a dungeon, it's to gather materials for that flower bed someone really wanted to build, or to learn more about your new friend's past. Dungeons are framed as Heartscapes, built from the memories and emotions of the different characters, and exploring them is itself another form of the intimacy the game quite successfully fosters. This also means the structure of the game far more resembles a sleepover, where everyone's slowly opening up and sharing emotional moments of their past, than any traditional quest. The person leading all of this is a perfectly ordinary girl named Ao. Ao rules. She's cheeky, delightfully frank, knows exactly how to push everyone's buttons, and will never stop taking any opportunity she can to tease and flirt. She's an unapologetic chuuni (edgelord) who in battle transforms into a one-winged devil wielding a gigantic scythe. She's a cool, insecure, kind, lazy dork who brightens every conversation she's in, which is saying something because this game has a very strong cast and she spends a lot of time talking to each of them. One of the many things Ao can do at home base is ask her friends on dates, which leads me to a unique little thing this game does that maybe doesn't sound all that impressive but is really neat and adds more than you might expect. After Ao has gone on a bunch of dates with a given girl and strengthened their bond enough, the two of them will start holding hands as they walk around the school toward wherever they're hanging out that day. You can freely walk wherever you want on campus grounds and holding hands doesn't hamper your movement all that much, because Blue Reflection 2 uses advanced hand-holding technology to let Ao's date figure out when she can and can't keep up with Ao, leading to this second character dynamically slowing down or circling around an obstacle to hold Ao's other hand and stuff like that. It's a really cool detail that adds a nice touch of humanity to the experience. I don't think this game had much of a budget, but the developers were really able to make the most out of what they had to work with. Blue Reflection: Second Life is so warm, so full of love and compassion, it's a game that relishes the little things and revels in its emotional honesty.     5. ~SONIC FRONTIERS~ Music: Undefeatable I could just let that link to the first boss theme simmer and leave it at that. I could let it slip that you fight that first boss, and every one after, as Super Sonic, who can bust out giant shadow clone combos and bombastic finishers that would make Revengeance proud. I could post a pic of Sonic and Knuckles reminiscing about the time they first met, where the game flashes back to a screenshot of Sonic 3 with a sepia filter thrown on top. I could tell you they gave Sonic a skateboard. I could spotlight the absolute bombshells Frontiers drops, confirming that everything, including the IDW comics, is canon. I could talk about the big dumb smile on my face when I realized I was grinding through Sky Rail. I could rant about how most open worlds inherently suck rear end because your movement is so slow and monotonous that everyone just ends up fast traveling everywhere and staring at loading screens instead of actually playing the game, except blasting around at super sonic speed is such a delight I never felt the need to use fast travel in Sonic Frontiers. How the world is designed to complement Sonic's abilities and build on them to create a fluid and fulfilling free form experience that emphasizes Sonic's personal ideals of freedom. How cool it was to immediately try and use the new Cyloop mechanic to make an infinity symbol and be rewarded with infinite boost power for so long I stopped bothering to check and see when it ran out. How indescribably refreshing it is to finally get a Sonic game that doesn't feel uncomfortably embarrassed to be a Sonic game, with writing that is actually trying to do something other than fail at delivering the wimpiest boomer jokes I've heard in my life (looking at you Lost World). Sonic Frontiers.... wow what a game!! This game has its flaws, but I have to say I really admire how the developers clearly recognized what did and didn't need their attention and prioritized all the right things. Frontiers has some of the most noticeable pop-in I've ever seen, but fortunately the game runs so smoothly and the objects you actually need to interact with (as opposed to say, grass) are present long before you'll touch them even with Sonic's impressive speed, so it isn't actually an issue at all unless you have a terminal case of performance brain. The cyberspace levels that provide a more traditional Sonic platforming experience unfortunately only draw from four different "palettes" but fortunately the levels themselves are so fun and well-designed it doesn't really matter. I feel like I mention this every time I go off on platformers but there's a philosophy in the Super Mario World rom hacking scene that your level should still be engaging even if you peel away all the glitz and glamor and build the level entirely out of drab gray blocks. A bit of pizzazz is always appreciated, but the fundamentals should always take priority and this practice is readily apparent in Sonic Frontiers. And that's just regarding the gameplay. The story takes a surprisingly introspective turn as Sonic like, actually has real conversations with his friends for the first time in ages and considers the consequences of the past, and the music team went absolutely apeshit and produced a incredibly robust soundtrack full of atmosphere and flare. While playing Forces last year I didn't really like it at all when I first started, but the more I played and the more I thought about it, the more it grew on me. Forces is full of problems but it's a solid step in the right direction, I remember thinking. Frontiers is that right direction, we're running in it, we're gonna celebrate Sonic's birthday next June, and I am really excited about the future of the series from here on out.     4. ~LIVE A LIVE~ Music: Playing with Psychos I still can't believe this got a remake AND it got officially translated into English for the first time!! The original Live A Live came out on the SNES in 1994 and has received a few different fan translations. It's a true gem of the SNES library and any self-respecting fan of JRPGs should check it out, so I was so thrilled when the remake was announced and over the moon that it turned out so well. Live A Live is an anthology RPG; when you start the game up you'll be prompted to choose one of seven different chapters, each with a different protagonist, set in a different time period, and with a different gameplay hook. It is super experimental and way ahead of its time, with things like the proto-MGS ninja chapter, the survival horror far future chapter, and the Street Fighter ripoff that is the modern day chapter. Even at its weakest it's still cool as hell, and at its strongest it'll knock your socks off. The soundtrack is legendary, and frankly whoever had the big brained idea of kicking off the badass boss theme before the fight while the boss is trash talking you deserves a medal and a payraise. Megalomania is shared by every chapter and every time it starts up it gets my blood pumping. The remake faithfully maintains the essence of the original while throwing in a ton of nice QoL imrpovements, like explaining what different stats actually do and arranging some surprisingly high quality voice acting (in both English and Japanese!). For returning fans of the original, they even expanded on the original ending, and they did it in a way that had me hooting and hollering and crying the whole time. Bold and influential even today, that's Live A Live, and I'm so glad more people finally have the chance to play it.     3. ~KIRBY AND THE FORGOTTEN LAND~ Music: Faded Dream of a Psychomeddler It has taken a very long time for Kirby to truly step into 3D. You've got Air Ride of course, and plenty of the more recent titles incorporate 2.5D elements, but for a while I kind of assumed the developers just weren't that interested in the z axis. Whatever their reasons were, the wait definitely paid off, because Forgotten Land is such an absurdly smooth transition you'd be forgiven for thinking the series has been 3D for years now. Classic Kirby level design sensibilities are captured perfectly in these new wider environments both in the exploratory main levels and the more demanding time trial levels. And your main goal couldn't be more tailored to me: rescue the captured Waddle Dees! Help them!! Also they gave Kirby witch time. The series has pretty deeply rooted actiony beat em uppy elements but they really outdid themselves this time, Forgotten Land's boss fights go off the hook. Pivoting away from the sorta cheesey i-frame/super guard spam in older games to a timed perfect dodge feels, really rewarding. Things are still on the easy side, it's Kirby after all, but trying to no-hit a boss with one of the copy abilities that isn't straight busted (the Tornado line is a personal favorite) is a great time. Regarding difficulty, the developers have talked about how they paid a lot of attention to various camera angles and kinda fudged some hit boxes a bit to make it so if what the player can see looks like it should be a hit then it will be a hit, even if a freeze frame would reveal that it actually should be a miss. Very smart considering some of the copy abilities would otherwise require some precise aiming that would throw off the pace of the action. Kirby's super mode gimmick this time around is Mouthful Mode, where Kirby tries to eat something that's just too big and instead morphs around the object, allowing you to control things like cars and vending machines. It is both extremely funny and I think allows for more flexible specialized obstacle courses than the Super Beam or Super Sword type stuff we've seen before. Mouthful Mode also culminates in the funniest way Kirby has ever dealt a coup-de-grace to the unholy terrors we usually see as final bosses. The series had been kinda spinning its wheels since Return to Dream Land, iterating very well but still not really doing anything fresh, but Forgotten Land is a bold new frontier for the little guy and I absolutely loved it.     2. ~BLASTER MASTER ZERO 3~ Music: The Blast Escape I played a ton of Inti Creates games this year but this game right here is, imo, the pinnacle not just of its series but of IC's catalog as a whole. And I say this as a huge fan of Mega Man Zero and Gunvolt! Blaster Master Zero 1 is a remake of the localized US version of an old NES/Famicom game (this distinction is important) originally called Metafight and developed by the now mostly defunct Sunsoft. It's a pretty solid retro-style action platformer where you alternate between blasting through top-down dungeons as Jason Frudnick and blasting through sidescrolling sprawling caverns in Jason's tank, SOPHIA III. Enjoyable, but definitely hamstrung by its faithfulness to the original game. Fortunately it got a sequel! BMZ2 took a hard pivot into new territory, modernizing both styles of gameplay and adding in tons of new stuff from characters to techniques to planets, even an rear end in a top hat rival, leading up to a bombastic climax comparable to the Wonderful 101. And then, they made another sequel. A sequel so flipping good I'm getting hyped up just thinking about it. Where 1 owes everything to the NES original and 2 instead opts for establishing its own identity, 3 strikes an incredible balance of old and new, that communicates the profound affection the developers have for Sunsoft's history while still providing their own story with a fulfilling emotional conclusion and fantastically challenging tank-on-tank combat. I knew I was in for a good time with this game when I broke out of prison by fighting Kane Gardner, protagonist of the original Metafight, in a somewhat-but-not-quite mirror match, dropping the bombshell that in this setting, both Blaster Master [Zero] AND Metafight are canon, albeit one occuring thirty years after the other. But it got even better when I stopped for gas and returned to my tank only to find that the rear end in a top hat rival from 2 (that helmet guy up there) is back, got his flying tank shot down like an idiot, and has chosen the backseat of my tank as his hiding place, serving as the support operator for BMZ3. To talk much more about how cool the story gets would delve into spoiler territory, but this game features not only some of the most emotional line delivery I've ever seen from something without voice acting, but also an insanely sick character select screen of all things, both taking full advantage of your expectations of the game's aesthetic style to deliver something that still makes me go drat THEY FUCKIN DID THAT almost a year later. Also the gameplay's really good, too!! And, if you want the true ending, the game does not pull any punches. You're gonna have to become a true BLASTER MASTER.     1. ~TRIANGLE STRATEGY~ Music: Travis's Thieves I love Ogre Battle, so something that positioned itself as a successor to that series' mood had my attention from the get-go. And WOW did the developers ever deliver on that promise! Like honestly I'm kinda doing this game a disservice by even speaking of it in comparatives, it deserves consideration on its own terms. Triangle Strategy is an isometric-style tactics RPG about the continent of Norzelia, where the very limited amount of salt available has led to a very tense power balance between three nations. You play as the young noble Serenoa Wolffort, who hopes the Saltiron Wars of the past remain there as he navigates a political battlefield by practicing the three principle convictions of Liberty, Morality, and Utility. Each decision he makes, from which country to visit as an ambassador to consoling a despondent villager in his territory, shapes his overall conviction as his words influence his actions. But Serenoa does not make significant decisions alone. When the stakes are higher, he'll call on his closest allies and confidants to vote on the path they think wisest, with Serenoa himself only casting a tiebreaker vote when needed. Your allies have convictions of their own that can change based on circumstance, and you can try to sway them to your side before the voting commences, but your money's gotta be where your mouth is or people won't find your arguments very convincing. It's hard to suddenly advocate for the Utility option if you've spent a lot of time previously denouncing such ideals! If Serenoa's conviction values are lopsided enough, it is very possible to find yourself unable to influence a given vote, which did happen to me and is sincerely very cool; convictions wouldn't have all that much weight to them if you could talk your way past any vote without any consequences. Your actions could lead to you surrendering your best friend to the enemy, and that's a decision you'll have to live with, at least until New Game +. These convictions and their consequences are the core of the story, and to the game's utmost credit it never deviates from these grounded sensibilities. The war you find yourself fighting is about salt. I've played a number of RPGs that start off with pretty "real" and local conflicts only to escalate into world-sundering divine or demonic threats by the end, and those stories are fine for what they are, but it was so so so delightful to see Triangle Strategy stick to its salty guns the whole way through. Gameplay-wise, Triangle Strategy does not utilize a job system the way genre favorites Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre do. Instead you're given a squad of extremely unique and well-defined characters and recruit more based on your convictions. Characters do have a small degree of customization in terms of which upgrades you choose to give them, but they won't be breaking out of their established niche. And this is a good thing! Plenty of other tactics RPGs have more static less customizable characters but the cast of Triangle Strategy are extremely well balanced yet distinct to a degree I haven't really seen before, and it's up to you to recognize who is suited for which battlefields and to find those strong situational synergies. For example you can recruit up to four different archers but every one of them fulfills a different role on the battlefield, from the trap-wielding hunter to the doddering but deadly sniper, while superficially fighting the same way. The map design is tight enough to provide satisfying challenges but flexible enough to allow for multiple approaches, and catch-up experience gains for underleveled characters is so absurdly generous you can field anyone and they'll be good to go in minutes. Triangle Strategy wants you to experiment with characters and combinations, to see what everyone has to offer, and there's a lot of replay value to be had in fielding entirely different teams, particularly since (mechanical spoilers for the Golden Ending) you'll be splitting your battalion into three 10-person squads for a literal triangle strategy near the end. I don't generally replay RPGs these days, they're some of the longest games and there are so many other things I want to play too, but I couldn't help myself with TriStrat, as soon as the credits finished rolling after my first ending, I had to dive back in to reach another. And I was ultimately rewarded with this amazing rendition of the main theme blasting on a new title screen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF1yb-SOi0A This game rules so much, it's even more than I'd hoped for.
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Dec 20, 2022 09:34
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Looper posted:
gently caress yes. One of the best stories in all of gaming.
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Dec 20, 2022 11:09
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If I am allowed a game that I did not play, because I do not own and cannot get a PS5, but experienced via a full playthrough, God of War: Ragnarok was an incredible experience. Just phenomenal storytelling, character writing, musical scoring and timing, a robust combat system(I have heard it is basically Dad of War's, which I have played, but better, and that's enough description to judge it as "good"), insanely good visuals, excellent humor, brilliant twists, an absolutely fascinating reinterpretation of certain parts of norse myth(minor spoiler for about...2/5 of the way through the game or so iirc): the way Loki creates his mythically canonical progeny like Jormungandr is done in such a way that it's not super weird and creepy since in this game's case it's a literal child doing it), and more optional content than you can shake a leviathan axe at. I was willing to watch a sixty-some-odd-goddamn-hours-long playthrough of the game fully because I was so invested. I watch LPs somewhat often but I tend to skip around a lot, but I just...didn't want to with this one. It took me weeks watching it in chunks, but I experienced the whole drat thing. I don't know when it will come to PC, probably in a year or more, and I already got spoiled on parts of it within a day of release, so I decided I would experience it before I could have anything else in it ruined for me. I'm glad I did, and will be buying and playing it whenever it does come to PC. I am genuinely happy God of War 2018 and God of War: Ragnarok exist. I played some of the old God of War games at my friend's place back in the day, and the direction from David Jaffe felt starkly different to the current ones. I feel that Kratos has had an evolution of character that I can't think of another video game character having, honestly. From angry vengeful edgelord who kills and slaughters just because, to a contemplative, regretful, monstrous pariah at the start of 2018 and develops incredibly through it and Ragnarok. I had a seriously emotional reaction to the ending of Ragnarok, and not just for Kratos, but other parts of the ending too. Never in a million years did I think I would get so genuinely invested in the personal journey of a genocidal slaughterer like Kratos, SERIOUSLY. Just a beautiful pair of games, even if they don't find some way to continue the series from here(they will of course lol) they will stand out as all-time classics in their own right, and with the weight of knowledge of the games prior to them, it makes them all the better. The amount of things the game tells the player without outright putting it to words is extremely well done, such as with everything kicking off the final arc of the story. I won't make any specific mentions because they're better experienced yourself, but there's a bunch of things throughout the game that are worth going back and looking at once you've finished. If I had to pick any problems with it, it's that it's clear that they were going to make a trilogy, but decided to combine the last two games into one, so some stuff feels really rushed. And the side content can seem overwhelming, like the one area that opens up about ~60% through the game that is apparently the size of entire main world zones and it's entirely optional stuff. But those are both relatively minor considering the rock solid quality of the main storyline and character writing. Kratos and Atreus are an incredible pair of characters, voiced by excellent voice actors who do a great job at portraying them. Also, ProZD playing the character of Ratatoskr and them clearly just throwing a bunch of extra poo poo in for him to be part of as an excuse to fit more ProZD dialogue in there was amazing Captain Invictus fucked around with this message at 12:17 on Dec 20, 2022 |
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Dec 20, 2022 12:15
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My GOTY List 2022 from top to bottom: 1. Elden Ring The pinnacle of the Souls formula. Gaming perfection. Every single part of this thing is incredible. Music. Art. Gameplay. One of the best games I've ever played and probably in my top 5 of all time. A masterpiece. 2. Vampire Survivors I've had more fun with this €3 game than most big releases. Simple on first glance but very very addictive. Lots more depth than you'd think too. A real treat. I've played countles hours on Steam Deck in front of my TV, or on my exercise bike, or in work... Worth every penny. 3. Powerslave Exhumed A great port of a fun shooter from the past. Feels like a proto-Metroid Prime. I'm a sucker for boomer shooters and this looked/felt great on Switch. That's pretty much all I played from 2022 but Elden Ring and Vampire Survivors are all-timers. I also played Disco Elysium on Steam Deck and that was amazing.
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Dec 20, 2022 12:54
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Oh my god what a good list. Any list with Skies of Arcadia on it is automatically a masterpiece.
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Dec 20, 2022 13:32
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Every list is lovely but there's been some really great ones this page & I'm blown away by Relax's Doom WAD
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Dec 20, 2022 14:23
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Don't think I've done this before but I'm compelled to join in this year. 10. Victoria 3  The queen returns. I'm a sucker for Paradox grand strategy games and this one's focus on domestic politics and economic development is fascinating to me. It's a little light on flavour at the moment depending on who you're playing as, and it needs the usual Paradox game refinements and additions and fixes, but I've already had a great time developing the productive forces and suppressing the landowners in whatever country I choose to play as. Seeing the knock-on results on the country of building a coal mine which brings down the price of coal for steel industry and makes steel tools cheaper and makes peasants become labourers instead who then become politically active in the trade unions... it's all very satisfying. You need a high tolerance for (beautifully presented) spreadsheetery though. 9. Signalis  Gorgeous PS1-throwback survival horror, both graphically and mechanically. I'm still playing through this but it absolutely deserves to be here. I don't even really have the nostalgia for that era and genre of games but I love what this is doing, and the game's whole aesthetic works very well even without that positive connection for me. Hard to believe this was made by a two-person team. 8. Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous  A huge CRPG which has almost more ambition than it can handle. The plot is nothing special and the setting - direct from the Pathfinder pen and paper roleplaying game - is fairly standard D&D stuff with the occasional extra blip of interest, but the power fantasy has rarely been done better, as you gain mythic powers and essentially become a demigod over the course of the game, in wildly different ways depending on your choices. Becoming a lich and turning your mortal enemies into undead thralls as part of your party is a very different experience from being an avatar of good with a fairy dragon companion, turning the blighted land into luscious greenery. The tactical party combat is great and being able to switch from real time to turn based at will is a godsend. The game doesn't tutorialise things too well - it took me literally 20 hours to realise how wizard spellbooks worked and stop hampering myself for no reason - and the metalayer of managing your army and forts is bit shoddy, but the game as a whole is great and the big setpiece moments are as good as I've seen in any RPG. Very interested to play anything Owlcat does next. 7. Warhammer 40,000: Darktide  I really don't get on with first-person shooters these days, let alone multiplayer games for the most part, but this one somehow gets me right in the pleasure centres. Intense and satisfying co-op shooting and melee combat, all the weapons feel really good and sound amazing, the environments are beautifully grungy and industrial and gothic by turns, the music is really something. The metalayer is kind of a mess - premium cosmetic controversies, an annoying mission selection system, an item crafting system that still isn't fully functional - but all the minute-to-minute gameplay in the actual missions is top tier. I'm excited to play lots more of this. 6. Know By Heart  This is a year that's been packed with great narrative games and Know By Heart has gone mostly unnoticed, undeservedly. It's a story about a directionless young man, Misha, reconnecting with his childhood friends in the Soviet closed city that they're all from over the course of a week, while a strange disease affecting people's memories starts to spread in the city as well. Warm and very human while also bleak as gently caress, it's got a hefty emotional punch. Almost feels like a companion piece to Pathologic, the developer's more well-known game. But we'll get to Pathologic. 5. Norco  Great little narrative game telling a small, personal story in a kind of sci-fi alternate modern-day Louisiana. Lovely pixel artstyle, good writing, good music. I could have spent a lot longer in the world it conjures up, especially as the story sets up a whole bunch of different possible threads to follow before focusing down on one specific strand. I don't see that as a negative exactly, as I enjoyed that strand a lot and felt it was a good story to tell, but it did feel like a bit of a missed opportunity. The exploration of people trying to eke out a living under capitalism rang very true, though, and it's also one of the best fictional portrayals I've seen of disaffected young men getting swept up in online radicalisation. Very funny at times too. Loved it overall. 4. Total War: Warhammer III  This game didn't release in the best state but with the combined campaign in operation now it's a gem. It's the fruit of 6 years of iteration and expansion and has so much to experience. Still surprises and delights me with the twists and turns of its campaigns and battles even thousands of hours deep into the series. Great visuals, the sound design is basically witchcraft, everything has the perfect (war)hammy tone. A strategy high watermark that's going to be hard for anyone to beat, so it's probably a good thing that it looks set to just continue to expand in the years to come. I can see myself playing this in 5-10 years with just as much enjoyment as I do now. 3. Roadwarden  A cross between an RPG, a visual novel, and a text adventure with gorgeous accompanying sepia pixel art and great ambience. In a low-fantasy world you play as a Roadwarden, a sort of messenger/dogsbody/guard/locum gamekeeper, sent to a remote peninsula on behalf of a city's merchant guild to see if it's suitable for expanding the guild's operations. You have forty days to do whatever you please before you have to report back. Do you try to track down the previous roadwarden, who disappeared mysteriously? Do you focus on securing trade deals with the villages? Do you try to help out the inhabitants with their own problems? Do you dive into the wilderness and forests, braving the beasts and monsters? The choice is yours, although you have to take care of yourself and your horse so sometimes you're going to have to accept jobs just to get payment or shelter in order to survive. People will treat you differently if you're filthy and wearing tattered clothing, on top of how you choose to speak to them in the first place. Everything interweaves beautifully and I found myself completely sucked in to the world, with its strange mores and cultures. If you have any tolerance for a text-heavy game, give this a shot, it's brilliant. 2. Pentiment  This game felt like it was made specifically for me and my interests - it even had a Martin Guerre reference in the middle of it all. I loved the characters and the sheer humanity that radiates from it. It brings the period to life beautifully, the art and music is wonderful, I was compelled from start to finish. A few small bugs here and there (repeating conversations, some character bios spoiling their future fates too early, that kind of thing) weren't enough to dent my enjoyment at all. I cried a couple of times, which is what I want from video games. 1. Pathologic 2  This is the only game on the list that I didn't play for the first time this year. I finally got around to it in 2021, and it shot up to be one of my favourite games of all time. A game about a deadly plague destroying a nameless town in the Russian steppe, you play as Artemy Burakh, a doctor returning home to visit his father just as everything is about to go to hell. As the situation deteriorates you try to find a cure and care for the people of the town, dealing with increasingly scarce resources and an ever-changing landscape as the town you're growing to know has the plague sweep through district after district. It deserves the masterpiece reputation, but doesn't really deserve its reputation for being forbidding and difficult. It's not an easy, turn-off-your-brain game, but the default difficulty is a careful dance by the game aimed at keeping you on your toes and feeling uncomfortable all the time, while not actually being unfair about it. There are stacking penalties for each death you undergo, but these are more for psychological impact than actual mechanical impact, and you're certainly expected to die a lot since many of the most interesting conversations and events take place specifically after a player death. The game gets very surreal and the whole thing is wrapped up in metalayers of theatrical presentation and also its own presentation as a game. I can't recommend this game enough, it's stunning. I really hope the developers manage to make the remaining two paths from the original, and honestly I'll buy anything they put out in order to give them a little help in doing so. wow i wrote a lot of superlatives John Charity Spring fucked around with this message at 16:32 on Dec 20, 2022 |
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Dec 20, 2022 14:29
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superlatives ftw
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Dec 20, 2022 14:57
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Looper posted:
Just writing to commend you on perfectly capping Hughette's dope-rear end ultimate.
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Dec 20, 2022 15:25
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I’m happy to see true colors getting love in this thread. Would have rated it myself if I had played it in 2022. I just have a hard time replaying life is strange games. The gut punches are always worse the second time around for me. Definitely deserves the spot on the lists though!
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Dec 20, 2022 15:44
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Life is Strange games I find myself thinking about often but almost never replay. Just doesn't feel right to see the alternate choices play out after that first connection you make.
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Dec 20, 2022 16:06
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Looper posted:
I missed these completely despite the fact that they're all laser targeted at me, probably because they're all console games and I do very little console gaming these days. Definitely need to check these out when I have a chance, though. quote:8. ~UNSIGHTED~ Unsighted has crossed my scan before but that description makes it sound a lot more interesting, and while I'm pretty burned out on JRPGs as a genre Blue Reflection sounds like something I might enjoy -- if I want to try it out, should I start with the first one or just jump straight into Second Light?
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Dec 20, 2022 16:24
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You don't need to play Blue Reflection 1 at all to understand Second Light, and arguably, you shouldn't. Everything about the returning characters is explained to you as needed.
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Dec 20, 2022 16:26
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exquisite tea posted:Life is Strange games I find myself thinking about often but almost never replay. Just doesn't feel right to see the alternate choices play out after that first connection you make. I feel this way too, but it *is* funny to replay LiS 1 and just have Max be as much of a dick as possible. exquisite tea posted:You don't need to play Blue Reflection 1 at all to understand Second Light, and arguably, you shouldn't. Everything about the returning characters is explained to you as needed. yeah, I played it without ever knowing anything about the first game, and it was fine.
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Dec 20, 2022 16:33
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blue reflection 1 isnt very good and the only real plot connection you need to know is 'another magical girl jrpg happened previously.' the main character of 1 is in 2 but just as a random party member and the game explains her deal very quickly.
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Dec 20, 2022 16:57
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If you don't mind how it plays you should play BR1 for the cool music and big hosed up kaiju boss fights the second one doesn't have.
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Dec 20, 2022 17:13
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ToxicFrog posted:I missed these completely despite the fact that they're all laser targeted at me, probably because they're all console games and I do very little console gaming these days. Definitely need to check these out when I have a chance, though. Triangle Strategy recently got a PC release, too, so it's a good time to check it out. It's really really good
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Dec 20, 2022 17:14
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exquisite tea posted:Life is Strange games I find myself thinking about often but almost never replay. Just doesn't feel right to see the alternate choices play out after that first connection you make. I've honestly thought about replaying True Colors just because I talked myself into an ending choice that I immediately regretted.
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Dec 20, 2022 17:20
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I haven't replayed True Colors since last year but I feel like the Wavelengths DLC recontextualizes a lot of things about Steph's character that would lean more towards a specific ending choice.
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Dec 20, 2022 17:22
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Well 2022 is almost over and it's time for Rarity's favorite poster to once again regale you fine folks with the superlative titles he played this year. I didn't play as many new games as I wanted to this year. Probably on account of me getting married!! So in lieu of honorable mentions please accept my GAMES I WATCHED MY WIFE PLAY list: Comfiest game I watched my wife play: Ooblets Part Stardew valley, part Pokemon, part... playing card dance-off game?? This game is basically pure vibes from start to finish. Most fun game to watch my wife play: Final Fantasy 14 Since moving in with me I've had the pleasure of watching her go from the start of ARR all the way to the ending of Shadowbringers. It's been an absolute blast getting to re-watch content I haven't seen in years through fresh eyes. Hopefully we'll be getting to Endwalker early next year. Most insane game I watched my wife play that Everyone needs to know about : Harvestella Hey do you guys remember that one Nintendo direct game that looked like Yet Another Farm Life Sim but with slight RPG elements from the Nintendo Direct that was literally nothing but those games?? Well I'm lucky my wife loves those kinds of games because otherwise I would have ever discovered what an absolutely insane product this is. I don't even want to say all that much about it because any kind of spoiler about this game is so crazy you won't believe it's from This game. Suffice it to say that if you like action rpgs, buck wild science fiction and tolerate video game farming then you need to give this game a closer look. I know most of you won't be convinced but. Look, I know but. Seriously. Look. If this doesn't make you at least a little interested then you can just go on with your sad, boring life.  Now let's get up off the floor after looking at that to do my top 10 games of the year! 10. Vampire Survivors I had my whole list written up with a different number 10 and then I grabbed this game for free on my phone(with very unintrusive ad options!) and basically watched my entire weekend melt away trying to unlock the next weird secret over and over again. It's a great mix of numbers go up + rad tunes + castlevania aesthetic that constantly has me with a smile on my face as I decimate hundreds of thousands of bone shrimps a second. If this comes to switch I'll do it all over again. 9. Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes It's frankly incredible how much this game compliments, and even in my opinion completes Three Houses' storytelling. Dozens of characters mentioned only in passing in the original show up as fully fleshed out characters with full arcs. Mysteries and things left unclear in Houses get more or less fully explained. If you loved Three Houses you owe it to yourself to play this game. The fact that its the best a Warriors game has felt to play since probably the original Hyrule Warriors helps a lot. 8.Pokemon Scarlet Fun characters, hilarious gym leaders, a fantastic plot and a genuinely exciting to explore world all add up to make my favorite Pokemon game since Black and White. Clodsire is an all time great design. Would be higher on my list if it weren't for the Performance issues. 7.Tactics Ogre Reborn The grand daddy of the isometric srpg is back in full force with this remaster. Full voice acting and quality of life additions make this a must-play not just for it's historical significance, but because it's a drat good game with a gripping narrative. My only gripe with it is sometimes there's a little Too much content in places that could use a bit more focus, but I guess that's what auto battle is for. 6. Horizon: Forbidden West The placement on this one is extremely frustrating for me. I absolutely loved this game's story and characters. I truly believe this has the potential to be one of the all time great sci fi trilogies. Erend finding out about buttrock and jamming his heart out? Iconic. But god, do they take a step back for every step forward. Oh you got a cool endgame weapon as a reward for this hard challenge? Cool now go farm the poo poo out of a million enemies to upgrade it five times so its actually usable unless you wanna play on easy. Oh we put a gwent style minigame in here! Hope you like fighting one NPC in three towns 6 times instead of randomly stumbling on friendly players. There's a more paired down, more focused version of this game out there that is an easy game of the year contender and I can't wait for this dev to actually make it. 5. Kirby and the Forgotten Land A fantastic first step in finally transitioning Kirby into proper 3D gameplay. Just one of those games where you have a smile on your face the whole time. If the next Kirby makes a jump from this the way Planet Robobot did from Triple Deluxe we could be looking at an all time great. 4. Triangle Strategy This game is essentially the flipside of Tactics Ogre's approach. Much less actual playable content but all of it is so rich and densely packed with some great political content and a diverse cast of overall well voice acted characters(sorry Serenoa). I'm hoping this becomes a new franchise because for a first entry this thing shows so much promise. 3. God of War: Ragnarok When I played GoW 2018 the one thing that really annoyed me is how much the game felt determined to ignore as much of the original series as possible. Yes, those games were infantile power fantasies made for 13 year olds with no regards for it's main characters moral impact on the world around him, but like, why would you not use that as a proper jumping point for growth and redemption? Instead what we got was Kratos mumbling very vaguely about being a monsters and needing to be better and it all felt a little wishy washy in comparison to the rest of that games plot. This game pulls a hard reverse course. Kratos is basically never not talking about the hosed up poo poo he's done and seen, and the journey he takes through this game was immensely satisfying as a person who was indeed a 13 year old when he played that first God of War game back on the PS2. The improvements to the combat and addition of a new, extremely fun weapon are fantastic. The overall plot is chaotic and insane but also much more in line with the scope of the older games which I liked. The best part of the game though is the sidequests. The completely optional Crater area in Vanaheim in the lategame might be my favorite self contained chunk of action rpg content all year. 2. Tunic I don't even wanna talk about this game, I just want everyone who hasn't played it to go do so right now. One of the all time great puzzle adventure games that I wish I could just forget and re-experience for the first time. 1. Elden Ring When Demon's Souls tried to convey the size and scope of its world, it had to resort to warping you around various disparate parts of a vast kingdom. When Dark Souls tried, it created an organic interconnected world, but also one so cramped and close together that it was hard to truly imagine it as the vast kingdom the story sold it as. Dark Souls 2? Yeah we can spread these spokes out as far apart as we can but its all so separate and disconnected that none of it feels organic. poo poo man, I dunno, lets like, make a long spoke-y line from start to finish so you can see how far you've come from where you started. Okay Dark Souls 3, you do you. Elden Ring finally succeeds in giving us a vast, grandiose open fantasy world that feels as big as it actually wants you think it is. The sheer amount of scope in this game is insane. You travel lush sprawling fields, traverse marshy swampland, climb a whole rear end mountain fortress, cross a volcano and finally reach the city youve been able to see all game and its basically the size of most of Dark Souls 1 in itself. What's even more insane is that none of the space feels wasted, every time you think t yourself "I wonder if there's something cool over there." there absolutely is, and usually there's like 5 other cool things on the way there. This is a game where you go into a foggy forest to track down a howling werewolf, get sidetracked by a massive tree monster, duck into a well that is actually an elevator that goes down miles underground into an inexplicably starlit underground sprawl of cities. No other game this year has come close to the sense of discovery found in Elden Ring. Even better is that it's a game that isn't afraid to let you go off the beaten path and find some overpowered cool poo poo way before you are intended to. Skyrim and it's level scaling ilk ruined finding cool weapons in a way I thought would never recover until I played this game. Zaggitz fucked around with this message at 19:06 on Dec 20, 2022 |
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Dec 20, 2022 19:02
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exquisite tea posted:I haven't replayed True Colors since last year but I feel like the Wavelengths DLC recontextualizes a lot of things about Steph's character that would lean more towards a specific ending choice. there's no wrong choice as long as you end up with Steph in the first place
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Dec 20, 2022 19:33
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morallyobjected posted:there's no wrong choice as long as you end up with Steph in the first place Correct.
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Dec 20, 2022 19:53
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