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2021 certainly felt like a continuation of the holding pattern that 2020 locked us into. As the war against COVID rages on, everyone’s existential introspection has evolved along with it. How this has affected pop culture is maybe less urgent of an analysis, but man, I gotta tell ya, I am so done with traditional end-of-year lists. Don’t get me wrong; I have looked forward to this thread every year since I started participating, and I love seeing the spread of taste and insight into how games affect us. I just can’t rank stuff the same way anymore; I gotta get off this modernist merry-go-round. So for the time being the best way I can characterize this is A GOTY List in Order of What I’d Most Like to Share with You. My catalog this year resembled a lot of catching up, with only one 2021 work making the cut. It’ll be a nice change of pace when I spend next year filling all ten spots with Triangle Strategy.  10. Langrisser I (2020, remaster): This has had its claws in me for about a week now. I don’t know what it is about moving guys around on a grid, man. This also has the benefit of a decently-composed class tree (*drool*), and the remaster has a nice visual palette with cool-looking little sword guys and girls.  9. Final Fantasy VII Remake (2020): I will resist dwelling on the duration-padding chaff that permeates the game to praise its innovation in mechanics, presentation, and narrative. I sincerely hope this is a bellwether for AAA titles because it demonstrates that there are still ways to keep reaching for new heights in this medium.  8. Magic the Gathering Arena: I can hardly speak to matters of metagame and optimization with much confidence, but Arena is a wondrous casual experience. For a while I would just wake up, concoct a deck idea, test it out, then tinker endlessly, honing in on a healthy medium between playable and flavorful. I also learned to draft well this year, which is enjoyable win-or-lose if a bit work-intensive. I don’t know if I’ll ever have a more devoted Magic year, and it was a good cycle for it.  7. Oxenfree (2016): The double-whammy of stellar soundtrack and evocative environments make for quite the adventure game cocktail. I picked this up for a buck and was not expecting to think much of it but it has impressive craft at every turn.  6. Hades (2020): In the interests of avoiding redundant comment, Hades is an all-time great airplane game. The Switch has already established itself as the superlative commuting machine, but a 30-minute run is exactly the chunk of time I need for interstate travel. I can cycle harmoniously between novel, crossword, and video game all before the wheels hit the runway. And hell, I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of this game! I’m barely into level 3 pact of punishment with some weapons, and I’m still finding fresh challenges and triumphs. Game’s a classic.  5. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice (2017): Such style. What the combat lacks in nuance it makes up for with feeling really fuckin’ metal every time. Immersive is another word that comes to mind; you sit down to jack into this game and you are on a sojourn right along with Senua, questing through her mind and every devil that accompanies it. It is one of the most visually impressive games made to date.  4. Super Mario Odyssey (2017): Year 2 with this puppy. I’m not much of a completionist and this has proven to be the best gradual gaming mountain to climb over, well, as long as I want. I think I still have hundreds of moons left to collect, if I so choose, but there’s still a distinct pleasure in just jumping around these majestically-designed worlds without purpose.  3. Griftlands (2021): Klei Entertainment really knows how to make a full-bodied product. Their art design has always been distinctive and stylish, their penchant for good writing outpaces most developers, and their game mechanics are balanced, challenging, and fun. Griftlands continues the tradition. To start, the game works to evolve Slay-the-Spire-esque deck-building by presenting its own spin on combat, while simultaneously adding an adjacent card game based on the idea of negotiation. What puts it over the top for me is the world-building and storytelling that comes in between these card sequences. You have relationships with an enormous cast of characters which are constantly shaken up by critical decisions you have to make. If a given character dislikes you, there will be a negative consequence. If they HATE you, it’s even worse. The whole thing fosters a vibrant, robust environment that you can really connect with. And the story is not merely dramatically effective, but hilarious as well. It is the best 2021 game I played.  2. Mass Effect 2 (2021, remaster): Each of the Mass Effect games has some measure of advantages over the others, but Mass Effect 2 nails the elements that appeal to me the most. Its style of storytelling is peerless, an apex of Bioware’s ambitions that was never seen again. The action itself is streamlined from its predecessor with just the right touch to make the game flow seamlessly. The characters are all my pals forever and they can come over any time for dinner.  1. The Last of Us Part II (2020): This year sees me in the midst of my second play through of Naughty Dog’s latest earth-shaking entry into mainstream games discourse. The narrative is even more emotionally potent when you can see the full arc of it developing; there’s also a lot of incredible little story details I didn’t notice on my first go. And the gameplay, hoo. When you finish a nonlinear sequence, whether you stealth your way through everyone or things went bad and you had to go Rambo, at the end it still feels like the whole thing was choreographed, like you’re making the movie as you go along. It’s magical. They tell me I gotta get a PS5 but TLOU2 still makes me feel like I already arrived in the next gen.
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Dec 29, 2021 23:25
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| # ? May 23, 2024 09:41 |
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Well, this sure has been a year. To tell you the truth, I’ve been having a hard time this year. That’s not special, a lot of people had a hard time in 2021, and my version of that was pretty mild in the grand scheme of things. Still, this year, starting around late spring, it started to be hard for games to break through the fog. There are plenty of games that I was excited about, and still am excited about, that just couldn’t get a mental foothold, that I started and never finished, or bought and never even started. I’ll get to them one day. This wasn’t going to be that year, though. Last year, I listed the games that I knew I’d love but that I hadn’t gotten to yet (three of them are even on this list!). This year, that list would just be long enough it’d just bum me out. In some ways, though, that makes the games that made this list all the more special to me. They’re the ones that broke through. It’s not a long list, but every game on this list is something I loved enough, that grabbed me enough, that I had no trouble at all playing hours and hours of them, seeing them through to the finish and usually quite a lot more. This year, I’ve got a top eight.  8. Persona 5 Royal I’ve written a lot this year about Persona 5 (specifically Royal) and why I love it. Specifically, I’ve written about how I’m not entirely sure why I love it. It’s got problems. The pacing is, to put it kindly, insane. The character writing is sometimes flat and inconsistent. The plot is… well, until Royal’s third semester I don’t know if I’d ever say it’s better than fine, I guess. But if there was ever a case for sheer style carrying an experience, Persona 5 is it. That, and the smooth, snappy combat, the satisfying dungeon exploration, the persona customization, and yeah, the day-to-day life sim aspects. All of it combines to make a game that, I think, is much greater than the sum of its parts. Royal makes it even better. I was skeptical that I’d ever want to play through Persona 5 a second time, even years after I first played it, but Royal grabbed me and didn’t let go anyway. I even maxed out all the confidants a second time. The quality of life improvements, better dungeons, new parts of Tokyo to explore, and better boss fights kept me engaged right up to the new Royal semester, where I got to see what Persona 5 looks like when the writing is actually pretty good. As I’ve written before on these forums, if Persona 5 Royal is a sign of where the series is headed with the departure of its previous director, I’m very excited to see what’s next.  7. Monster Hunter Rise I tried, many times, to get into Monster Hunter, but it wasn’t until World came out in 2019 that I finally got it. That’s not unusual, I’m sure, as World was a wildly successful entry in the series. I absolutely fell in love with Monster Hunter World and with Monster Hunter as a franchise (and with the insect glaive, my favorite weapon now and forever). And somehow, I think I like Rise even more. The addition of the wirebugs, the fancy new moves for every weapon, the more colorful and exciting weapon and armor designs, the beautiful town music, all of it is just purely fun. This is a joyful game through and through, and I can’t wait for Sunbreak.  6. NEO: The World Ends with You Never, in a million years, did I expect The World Ends with You to get a sequel. I played the original years ago when it first came out and it stuck with me ever since. It’s a niche game with really idiosyncratic gameplay, a great cast of characters, and a bangin’ soundtrack. I only played it once, but I never forgot it, and as much as I wanted a sequel, enough time had passed that I assumed it would never happen. And yet, here we are. A sequel no less colorful, fun, and exciting, more than a decade later, delivering another kickass soundtrack, a new spin on the teamwork-heavy combat mechanics, and resolutions to character arcs I didn’t even know I wanted more resolution to. Another absolute joy of a game and I’m so thankful it exists. That’s going to be a theme of this list, I think: games that I’m thankful exist. Speaking of sequels that we had to wait a long time for, how about one we had to wait even longer for? That’s right, I’m talking about…  5. Metroid Dread I’ll be honest: if every time Nintendo’s like “hey we don’t have anything to show you for Prime 4 quite yet” we get another Mercury Steam-developed Metroid game, I’m fine with another couple of delays. It’s a little bit odd to realize that it was nineteen years ago that I played Metroid Fusion, all the way back in high school, and that it’s been that long since there was another sequel in the mainline Metroid series. But drat does it feel good to be back. Metroid Dread pulls off a fascinating tightrope walk. It guides you forward in ways that are subtler than Fusion but still obvious enough that you almost never get lost unless you go off searching on your own. It gives you new upgrades at a pace that should be too fast but somehow still feels satisfying as your arsenal steadily expands. Its boss fights are punishing in a way that could easily be frustrating but never quite gets there. And I think its final boss battle pulls off an extraordinary trick that lets a challenging final phase somehow still feel like a victory lap. Metroid Dread is an absolute blast, and I hope its success brings about the revival that 2D Metroid so strongly deserves.  4. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim This is one of the coolest loving games ever made. I don’t have much to say about 13 Sentinels that hasn’t already been said. This game is a dazzling achievement. It somehow weaves together thirteen separate stories that all seem to take place in their own pastiche of a specific type of sci-fi, with plot twists and grand reveals so huge and frequent that you’d think the whole thing would be completely incoherent, and yet it never is. It’s carried by an extremely charming cast of characters, not to mention that beautiful Vanillaware art. If you haven’t played it yet, please do. If you like narrative games at all, this one’s a winner on just about every level. Go in about as blind as possible and with an open mind and you’re going to have a fantastic time.  3. SaGa Frontier Remastered How the hell did this get released? And I mean, like… how the hell did this get released twice? SaGa Frontier was an extremely strange, idiosyncratic JRPG when it first came out in 1997. It was impenetrable, obtuse, light on narrative, even lighter on any sort of direction or instruction, but once you got past that, it’s an absolute blast to play. Also, one of the playable main characters is Asellus, a lesbian unseelie fae vampire queen on a quest to get revenge on the evil vampire who turned her and y’know what, that rules. Somehow, all these years later, it got a fantastic remaster that made it even better. SaGa Frontier Remastered adds an eighth playable character—a character who was planned to be playable in the original, but with a reimagined role for the remaster—and some very welcome quality-of-life features like New Game+, not to mention some additional superbosses for people (like me) who just really love doing crazy things with this game’s character building and combat systems. But here’s the thing that’s baffling to me (in the best way possible): SaGa Frontier still has its rough edges. Just about all of them, in fact. It gives you a bit more direction, but it’s just as obtuse and strange as ever. That this remaster leaves intact SaGa Frontier’s sheer weirdness makes me happier than I can express, and diving back into the game this past spring felt like going home again. To close this entry, let me share with you a snippet of an interview from the Japanese book Essence of SaGa Frontier, where one of the systems designers is asked about the game’s skill learning system, called “sparking.” quote:Interviewer: Regarding the “sparking” system, what kind of rules are there for sparking abilities? That’s the kind of game SaGa Frontier is: the kind where one of the lead designers made changes at the last minute so even he wouldn’t understand how it worked. God I love this game.  2. Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker I had a very hard time deciding which of my top two games of the year would be #1. Maybe this should’ve been. If I’m being honest with myself, I might have even knocked it down a ranking just to combat recency bias. (Also, I wanted to use one of my own screen shots, but believe it or not that's the only one I took during the story that wouldn't be a spoiler!) Final Fantasy XIV is a remarkable game, in that it uses the medium of an ongoing MMORPG to tell a story that is essentially a Final Fantasy prestige drama TV series. It’s a pretty rare opportunity to get to tell a story in this way in video games, and Final Fantasy XIV takes that opportunity and runs with it. And it’s rarer still for an MMORPG’s story to have an ending, a series finale that ties up just about all the loose ends and celebrates everything that came before. That’s what Endwalker achieves. Endwalker tells a story that strikes a lot of the same thematic notes as my favorite Final Fantasy (that’d be IX, the best one), so maybe part of the reason I loved it so much is that it resonated so much with another game that is lodged deep in my heart. But at the same time, Endwalker got to build on years of character development, setting development, and setup to deliver one hell of a conclusion, clearing the table for a new story to begin soon. And that new story is almost as exciting a prospect as the ending we just got. I really, really loved Endwalker. It gave me just about everything I could’ve asked for. Which means that #1 game really ought to be something special, huh?  1. Yakuza: Like a Dragon For all intents and purposes, Yakuza: Like a Dragon was my first Yakuza game. I’d played a bit of Yakuza 0 before, but I don’t think it was the right time for it, and the mood never struck me to pick it back up. Going into Like a Dragon, I knew just enough from general gaming culture osmosis to know what a Goro Majima is, why Kazuma Kiryu is such a good boy, and that Kamurocho is a second home to a growing legion of Yakuza fans. I picked up Yakuza: Like a Dragon mostly because I couldn’t believe an established, long-running series would make an abrupt shift to an entirely different genre in its seventh main entry. The switch from a brawler with light RPG elements to a fully turn-based Dragon Quest homage was absolutely fascinating to me, and with the knowledge that Like a Dragon was meant to be a good jumping-on point for new fans, I couldn’t resist. Listen. I love the modern Persona games. I love Persona 5. Those games hold a special place in my heart, and I’m here for whatever Persona does next. So bear that in mind when I tell you that Yakuza: Like a Dragon is what Persona 5 wishes it was. This is a game that perfectly sells the slow development of the main cast into a newly-formed family. A game that doesn’t bury its social commentary under layers of metaphor but tackles it head-on. A game that never loses sight of the humanity of its characters, heroic or villainous or anywhere in between, and where the humor somehow works to build the world and characters without feeling out of place or distracting. What really sticks with me, though, is the main cast. This is a story about 30-, 40-, and 50-something fuckups who’ve lost years of their lives through spinning their wheels, through mistakes and lies, through just being screwed over, who come together to build themselves a new family and start finding new meaning in life together. It’s a story about an empathetic guy who badly wants to be a hero in a world that’s not built for heroes, and who can somehow love and forgive even people who have wronged him terribly, because they mean so much to him. That’s something I really needed in a story. Yakuza: Like a Dragon was my first Yakuza game, but it already led me to jump back into Yakuza 0, and I get it now. In 2022 I’d like to play through the whole series, and maybe even replay Like a Dragon, in time for Yakuza 8. I can’t wait to hang out with Ichiban and friends again. Thanks for reading, everyone. I hope you all have a great new year! Shortened list for easy tabulation: 8. Persona 5 Royal 7. Monster Hunter Rise 6. NEO: The World Ends with You 5. Metroid Dread 4. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim 3. SaGa Frontier Remastered 2. Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker 1. Yakuza: Like a Dragon Harrow fucked around with this message at 23:44 on Dec 29, 2021 |
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Dec 29, 2021 23:33
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Kull the Conqueror posted:
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Dec 30, 2021 00:23
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Lets see if I can dig up 5 games from my memory. 5. Forza Horizon 5 It was a tossup between this and Guilty Gear -Strive- but I've played more Forza than GG so it gets the spot. A little sad about the seasons not really affecting anything like they did in FH4 but hey, Mexico is cool even if the writing is a bit of "Full sentence in english, vamos!" style. 4. Snowrunner Man, who would have thought that going 2km/h in mud and snow while pulling a trailer full of parts would be this fun. Best played with friends on voice so you can call for help when you inevitably get stuck. Tried Mudrunner very recently and oh boy Snowrunner is a gigantic upgrade to that. 3. Nioh 2 Nioh 1 but better in pretty much every way. Might also put it as "dark souls but better than dark souls". 2. Cyberpunk 2077 Didn't run into any major bugs personally while playing on a "old" PC, love the cyberpunk aesthetic + music and the story & gameplay were pretty good IMO. Still need to do my third run of corp turned hobo with a shotgun to have done all the starts but waiting until some more mods or dlc. 1. Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker Many tissues were used while playing through the main story. Reaper is also cool and fun. Ishikawa, YoshiP and the team really hit all the bullseyes with the finale to the story that started way back. Anything more would be spoilers, get out of here . Honorable mentions Guilty Gear -Strive- Stardew Valley Satisfactory Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers (this could have honestly taken the #2 spot as I only resubbed in june after a long break that started in stormblood but I think one entry for ffxiv is enough)
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Dec 30, 2021 00:35
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Honorable mention: Transistor Played this for the first time this year, and while it didn't make my top 10, I still liked it quite a bit. There's a lot of story events that happened before the start of the game that you have to infer from dialogue and other text within the game, and I don't think I picked up on everything that was laid before me, so I can't help but feel that there's something amazing in this game that I'm missing out on. My main complaint I have is that, early on, they give you the ability to pause during battle, issue commands, and then watch them play out, but you also have the option of just playing it like a real-time action RPG. To me, the pause feature felt so vastly superior to playing in real-time that it made me question why it was even an option. I contemplated all of this during the first boss fight, which gave me a lot of difficulty when I attempted to do anything in real-time, but I was so completely entranced by the beautiful song that accompanied the encounter that I stuck it out and enjoyed my time with the game overall. I'd recommend the soundtrack, but honestly, what made that moment memorable was the combined experience, so check the game out if you're interested.  AMID EVIL Really cool throwback FPS with some stunning levels. I've only played a few of the classic games that this was influenced by, so I'm probably not the target audience, but I liked it well enough.  Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies I think I've set a new personal record for the longest period of time spent between starting a game and finishing it using the same save file. I started this on the day it was released and finished it earlier this year (don't ask what took me so long, I couldn't explain myself if I tried). But I'm glad I finally did, it was an okay Ace Attorney game! Some parts toward the end felt forced, but the DLC case was charming and fun. Top ten:  10. LAYTON'S MYSTERY JOURNEY: Katrielle and the Millionaires' Conspiracy - Deluxe Edition This might be the coziest game I've ever played, which is probably its greatest strength. It's got puzzles, it's got mysteries, and it's got a talking dog named Sherl O. C. Kholmes, and if that doesn't do anything for ya, then I dunno what to say. I must admit that the puzzles seemed uneven in difficulty, with the mandatory puzzles being too easy, and the ones off the beaten path either being too hard or lacking important information. But I liked the bite-sized case structure of it, which made it easy to digest.  9. DOOM 64 This game's got a very different feel compared to the classic Doom games, but I like the focus on having a dark, spooky atmosphere. The enemy sprites also have a very unique style that is somewhere between the original look and other games with pre-rendered sprites. All of the weapons, but especially the chaingun and the plasma gun, feel great to use.  8. SHOCK TROOPERS Super solid top-down run 'n gun action game on the Neo Geo (available on modern consoles via the ACA release). It's got a "Team Battle" mode where you pick a team of 3 characters and can swap between them freely, which is novel for a game like this. There's also branching paths, which doesn't mean much to someone who isn't familiar with every stage, but it's neat if you play it multiple times.  7. Castlevania: Rondo of Blood I finally played all the way through this game recently, and man, it's got some frustrating sections as you'd expect from a classic Castlevania game, but it's also got a ton of charm. There's something wonderful about PC-Engine CD and Sega CD games with those animated pixel art intros and cutscenes, because they were exploring a new medium and working with what they had by using redbook audio and voice acting to create something impressive to people who were only familiar with SNES and Genesis games. I love the movement options that Maria and Richter have, and if you can get past the old-school difficulty hurdle, I think it's worth checking out 100%.  6. Monolith To anyone who hasn't heard of this, it's a top-down twin-stick roguelite shooter with shmup/bullet-hell elements, and if any of that piques your interest, I'd say you really oughta check this game out. I like the minimalist artstyle, it uses a lovely, warm color palette and, together with the sound design, reminds me of a playing GBC game. It's got a wonderfully cozy atmosphere and tons of secrets to discover, so I could see this appealing to lots of different players.  5. Contra: Hard Corps I played the Japanese version (which gives you 3 hit points per life), so I wasn't able to read any of the dialogue, but I still had a great time. I wasn't aware that it has so many boss fights; it almost seems like an early version of Alien Soldier with such short levels, which I really appreciate. I'm a big proponent of games that are short and sweet, and this definitely fits the bill. It also has branching paths through the stages depending on what dialogue options you select, along with multiple endings, and four selectable characters that each have their own set of weapons. Very feature-rich, highly recommended.  4. Crypt of the NecroDancer Such a difficult game at first, but after spending enough time with it, I've really grown to love its simplicity and the execution of its concept. The rhythm game aspect is really just a way to implement a time-limit and create tension that comes having to think on your feet and memorize enemy patterns. I get a lot of satisfaction out of starting a run and testing how much I remember about the enemies to see how far I can get.  3. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim Just a really beautiful game. I love how much personality radiates from each character and their actions, animations, and voiceover. The visual novel portions are an indulgent sci-fi mystery that unravels one thread at a time, which is great, but I also enjoyed the strategic half of the game quite a bit. The two wildly different types of gameplay allowed me to exercise different parts of my brain when it became exhausting to digest lots of story info at once. Just like the next game on my list, this one feels like the culmination of a developer's previous works, and in both cases, it's remarkable how well it all came together.  2. Hades I like roguelites, I love action RPGs, and I enjoyed Supergiant's other games, so I wasn't too surprised when I ended up getting addicted to this for a while. It's indeed very cool how well its roguelite nature ties in with its narrative, but really, I just love spamming dash and attack while rolling the dice every minute or so to see what overpowered boon combinations I can get. I like how reactive all of the dialogue is, it makes doing the rounds of chatting with the gods and goddesses different each time. I think I prefer the characters and story of Pyre (my GOTY from a couple years ago), not to take anything away from Hades, of course.  1. SaGa Frontier Remastered This was serendipitously announced shortly after I had started replaying the PS1 original, which I've grown very fond of since its release. When it came out, I enjoyed the novelty of being able to choose from one of seven playable characters, and I thought the battle system was confusing, but neat. Now, SaGa Frontier Remastered is one of my favorite RPGs of all time. It's brimming with so much creativity and personality, and the battle mechanics are astonishingly complex (check out the incredible "Data/Mechanics Guide" on GameFAQs if you're curious how this game works, it's hands down the best guide I've ever seen). On any given playthrough of an individual scenario, you have so many characters to build a party with, and so many ways to build each character, that it's always fun starting from scratch. The stories are simple, but rewarding to play, and I appreciate the brisk pace. I haven't even mentioned the remastered features! The updated visuals look great while staying 100% true to the original's art direction, and it's a breeze to play with its fast-forward options. The most fascinating thing about it, to me, is that not only are the cool glitches/tricks/exploits from the original still possible, but they seem to be deliberately included and, in one case, made to be easier-to-do and more effective overall. I can't exactly recommend this game to everyone, but it's some of the most fun I've had with an RPG, and there will never be a greater rush of endorphins than seeing that lightbulb pop up over a character's head in battle and glimmering an awesome new fighting technique; except maybe triggering a level 5 combo. That's pretty good, too. Truncated list: 10. LAYTON'S MYSTERY JOURNEY: Katrielle and the Millionaires' Conspiracy - Deluxe Edition 9. DOOM 64 8. SHOCK TROOPERS 7. Castlevania: Rondo of Blood 6. Monolith 5. Contra: Hard Corps 4. Crypt of the NecroDancer 3. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim 2. Hades 1. SaGa Frontier Remastered
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Dec 30, 2021 01:18
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Was extremely busy with the holidays so I hadn't had the time to put together a list until now. Plus wanted to finish up a few games before deciding if they're list-worthy. Honorable Mentions Great Ace Attorney Chronicles - Unfortunately I've only completed 3 chapters so far and can't in good conscious pass judgment on a game that I've only played so little a portion of. I do like what I've played, though. The characters are likeable, the animations are spectacular (though not as good as 5 and 6 imo) and the mysteries are pretty well-written. I can easily see this making next year's list, but for now I have to place it here. Mass Effect 3: Citadel - The Citadel dlc was the only piece of Mass Effect content that I didn't play back in the day. At the end of 3, the Mass Effect story had ended so conclusively to me, that by the time the dlc came out I didn't really see a need to purchase; anything else would have just been extraneous. This was a huge mistake because Citadel is a ton of fun. The mandatory (but still humorous) combat section is taken care of at the start so the main focus of the mission can take priority: throwing a huge party for your party members from all three games. Dishonorable Mentions No More Heroes 3 - I really wanted to like this game, but it just had too many things dragging it down for me. Combat was way too easy on Normal - in contrast 1 and 2's Normal modes gave me a fair challenge. During one boss fight (the 5th ranked fight to be exact) I literally had to stop the fight because I realized I was about to win without seeing a single one of the boss's attacks. Not helped by the fact that even just playing every mandatory fight alone will earn you enough points to max out your upgrades by the halfway point of the game. The upgrade system may as well be nonexistant. This might not be so bad if the story could make up for it, but that's sadly not the case. The game's story is trying to be about Travis and his groups of friends (and enemies) while at the same time be about this new batch of aliens and it just results in no characters getting proper development. There are some standout moments (the jrpg boss and the final fight in particular are good), but not enough to make up for everything else. Suda mentioned in an interview that he had to cut a lot of the boss fights, world map, and story from the game due to time and budget, and it loving shows. Pillars of Eternity (Switch port) - Simply put, this port is a disgrace. The game itself is adequate, but every positive thing I had to say about it was hampered by a glitch, bug, or crash. To save on memory, this version gives the player limited inventory space - making the torrent of loot the game throws at you overwhelming to manage. That is of course when your inventory screen happens to actually work instead of glitching out. To make matters worse, long load times make each crash an exercise in frustration. As a final insult, it was announced last year the game would receive no more patches, with the devs all but admitting the game was unfixable. We won't be getting a Switch port of PoE2 and I'm honestly fine with that if this is the level of quality we would get out of it. Fingers crossed the upcoming Shadowrun trilogy port fares better. With that out of the way, onto the list 10) Monster Hunter Stories 2 - I love Monster Hunter, I have a soft spot for Mon games, and loved the first Stories when I played it last year - this game was an obvious pick for this year's list. While it has some flaws (the game relies a bit too much on palette swaps to fill out its dex, and frankly the environments pale in comparison to the ones in the Pokemon games for the system), the combat's been greatly improved from the first game and the Monsters look fantastic. 9) Night in the Woods - After playing this game I wanted to kick myself for sleeping on it for so long. It's a neat little story of a girl moving back to her small suburban town after dropping out of college, catching up with the friends she left behind and coping with the fact that this may be the only place she'll ever live. Scott Benson does a wonderful job of capturing the feeling of living in a town out in the boonies - the scene where Mae is horrified to discover her favorite restaurant just suddenly closed down one day without warning in particular is something that hits way close to home for a lot of people that grew up in towns like Possum Springs. 8) Assassin's Creed Odyssey - With the exception of 2, the AC series just never really clicked for me. There's always something that stops me from enjoying one, whether that be finding the setting boring, the world map being too full of meaningless junk, not liking the characters, etc. However, I am a huge sucker for Greek Mythology so I though I'd give this one a shot. Not gonna lie, a big reason I was able to get so immersed in Odyssey's setting was going through the Tour Mode before playing. I always loved "interactive museums" as a kid and that mode just brought all those feelings back. As for the game itself, it still has a lot of the problems I had with previous entries but, like 2, it has a lot of little things to mitigate those flaws in my mind. Kassandra is actually a good protagonist, with her design alone standing out among the previous games' crowd of generic-looking dudes with the same face. Not a fan of just how much it rips off from the Witcher 3, but at the very least it controls much better than that game. 7) Shin Megami Tensei V - In preparation for this game's release, I did a runthrough of SMT4Apocalypse for the hell of it. In all honesty, I'd have to say I prefer 4A over V. The characters are better, I like the music more, and it's filled with so many QoL features that V just completely removed - saving anywhere, fusing anywhere, a better version of Estoma, etc. The game's got its own set of problems too though, like how its open world encourages exploration while at the same time clogging the screen with 10+ enemies that get in the way of said exploration. However, it's still got enough of that classic SMT feel to earn a spot on the list. The press turn system if just as good as ever. And I'll always appreciate when they make new demon designs - or at the very least reuse old ones that rarely see any screentime. I've always felt these games need a bit of a "fear-of-the-unknown" feeling to really shine, and it's hard to do that when you're just forced to fight the same demons you've been fighting for the last five SMT/Persona games. It's one of the reasons I really like 4's toku-inspired demons - they were something I had never seen before in an SMT game and made me have to seriously think over my strategies. So yeah, props to this game for that. 6) Super Robot Wars 30 - After my local game store started getting import Switch games, I decided to play all the Switch SRW games throughout the year. My only previous experiences with the series were the first Original Generation game for GBA (which my 12-year-old self found dull compared to Fire Emblem and FFTA) and buying an import of Moon Dwellers (which I enjoyed a great deal more, though I found it a lot more difficult than I was expecting, not helped by its wonky translation) years ago. On the whole, I'd have to say I liked the story and characters in T the most with 30's being a close second. However, what pushes 30 to top spot for the year is its model and animation quality. Moon Dwellers had fantastic animations, and the VXT games didn't even come close to matching them. Glad to see this series on so many top 10 lists this year, and here's hoping that the game's success on Steam convinces Bamco to at the very least put the next game in the series up on the Western eShop/Playstation Store. 5) Divinity Original Sin II - The Gallant to Pillars of Eternity's Goofus, this game is a shining example of how a Switch port ought to be. No bugs, comparable graphics, and most importantly cross-save with Steam. But it's not just here for that, it's also a great game in its own right. I'm a big fan of how this game plays with the tropes of typical fantasy races. Cannibal elves with abnormally long limbs, imperial lizardmen, skeletons that used to rule the world and now have to hide among the other races. The character creator is robust and even gives you incentives for picking the premade characters (who also happen to be your potential party members), encouraging replays. DOS2 is one of those games that is made to be broken. A fight giving you trouble? Use telekinesis to move some oil barrels to give your fire magic extra power before the fight. Or in the middle of the pre-fight dialogue switch to your other party members and moving them into attack range. Or just use your teleport to skip the fight altogether. It's the kind of game that really rewards creativity (and investing in multiple skill trees). 4) Tales from the Borderlands - I hate the Borderlands games. I find the writing obnoxious, the characters unlikeable (and given the writing seems to really want me to actually care when one dies, that's not good) and the level scaling abhorrent. But I wound up adoring TFtB. Telltale was firing on all cylinders on this one. Great performances from Troy Baker, Patrick Warburton and Chris Hardwick. Each episode starts with a Borderlands-style title sequence, a neat nod for fans and a good way to generate hype for non-fans. And the writing is genuinely funny. It seems a lot of people (Telltale writers included, it seems sometimes) forget that The Walking Dead Season 1 was filled with lighthearted moments to counteract the dramatic ones, and that was one of the reasons the writing was so effective. The later Telltale games seemed to just wallow in drama with none of that relief. TFtB fixes that by being over 90 percent lighthearted humor so that when they want you to feel sad it can actually stick. Like a good movie, the moment I hit the end credits I immediately wanted to go through the game again. A big recommendation from me to both fans and non-fans alike. 3) Monster Hunter Rise - Like I said, I love me some Monster Hunter. Rise keeps a lot of the stuff that worked in World and Iceborne while addressing many of the complaints. The monster roster is dramatically increased, with many returning favorites like Mizutsune. The new wirebug mechanic is a drastic improvement over the clutch claw, giving each weapon a slew of new moves. And best of all, switch models being easier to make means that weapons from the new monsters are back to being unique and inventive. Another big criticism of World was that the maps were a big too big to navigate, so not only are the maps in this game much smaller but the new doggo companion makes getting around the environment take no time at all. Eagerly awaiting the upcoming expansion. And Switch Axe ftw. Now these next two games are special. They're the two games that, once I had beaten them, I just sat there for minutes just taking in what I had experienced. Only these two were able to affect me like that. Deltarune Chapter 2 - Deltarune Chapter 1 was a fine game, but nothing exceptional. Certainly not up to the standards of Undertale. Chapter 2, however, is a different story. Toby Fox's writing skills are firing on all cylinders for this one. The best example of how good his writing is is this: Deltarune features a character that is every negative stereotype of a gamer rolled up into one, and he's somehow my favorite character in the game. I wasn't sure about the entire game being computer-themed; it seemed like the environments would get samey after a while. Thankfully the game avoids that with a little creativity and a fuckton of puns. The music is stellar as always, and gameplay has evolved with the addition of allowing your party members to ACT as well. Unlike Chapter 1, at the end of Chapter 2 it really feels like the player has reached the end of a long, rewarding journey, but seeing as how this is just Chapter 2 of 7, the journey's just beginning. Potassium Resident Evil Village - Resident Evil has been on a hell of a winning streak this past half a decade. Sure it stumbled a bit in 2020, but tons of franchises would kill for its "disappointments" to be like 3 Remake. Village is the culmination of the previous games, a spiritual remake of fan-favorite 4 while being a sequel to smash hit 7. It's got the same gunplay as 7, but took a page out of Re2Make's playbook by making even the basic Lycaon enemy tough to kill. Underestimate anything and you could be looking at a game over screen. Like the Baker estate and Raccoon City before it, the most memorable part of the game are its environments. Standout among them is the titular Village itself. By the time you arrive there, the entire population has been killed or turned into Lycaon beasts, and it only gets worse from there. In between areas you'll return to the village to look for clues on where to go next. Each time you do new sections will unlock for you, along with new enemies for you to face. The place is littered with optional areas for you to explore, rewarding you with either upgrades or lore. But gameplay isn't all this game has. Village is one of those Residen Evil games with more focus on story; more specifically, its characters. Heavy emphasis is put on everyman Ethan Winters and his struggle to get his stolen daughter back from the lords of the village. Following in the footsteps of the Baker family, these are your bosses for the game. A lot has already been said about the towering Lady Dimitrescu, but it was the hilariously sociopathic Heisenberg who stole the show for me. But of all the characters, the star for me was The Duke. The Duke is a fitting successor to the famous RE4 merchant, mysterious but affable and always has Ethan's back even in his darkest hour. While the game stumbles a bit when a second playable character is introduced, it manages to stick the landing with its ending. The image of (MAJOR SPOILERS) a dying Ethan WInters, crumbling to dust while cradling his daughter, crying but still smiling in triumph is one of those images in games that is gonna stick with me for a long time. I can't wait to see what's next in store for this franchise. Kay Kessler fucked around with this message at 02:29 on Dec 30, 2021 |
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Dec 30, 2021 01:22
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Sir_Phobos posted:1. SaGa Frontier Remastered 
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Dec 30, 2021 01:27
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Sir_Phobos posted:
oh hell yeah also that 13S gif 
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Dec 30, 2021 01:28
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Last year I wrote, "I didn’t play a lot of games this year." That's a huge loving bummer because I feel like I played even fewer this year. Regardless, here are ten more of them. Honorable Mentions: Lost Judgment (had no hope of finishing in time), Gato Roboto (indie metroidvania with surprisingly fluid movement), Deep Rock Galactic (more fun times with the goons mentioned below) 10. Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart I got a PS5! Uh, accidentally. I didn’t think it would go in the cart, and by then, I just HAD to click “buy”... Anyway, Ratchet and Clank is one of the few great showpieces for the next console. Not only are the console’s capabilities used for the oft-discussed wormhole mechanic, but for other things like split-screen cuts where two far away characters are shown in their respective environments at the same time, in engine. The game looks and sounds great. A particular stand-out moment is the first time you enter the bar full of robots and weird space creatures; this is the first time I have ever felt like I was in a Star Wars movie in a video game. (A good Star Wars movie, I guess.) 9. Great Ace Attorney Adventures (count as the Chronicles release for scorekeeper purposes) This is the game that kept this post so long. I started it in August but fell off at some point, and had to do a couple marathon sessions to finish in time for GOTY. However, I knew it deserved to make the list, so I needed to finish it. I played a bit of the original Ace Attorney games on the DS and more recently last year on the Switch. When I first heard about the Apollo Justice games on the 3DS, I was skeptical. New characters and 3D models? Why, when the original cast and the pixel art were perfect? Great Ace Attorney Adventures, the first of the two games in the recently localized pair, has quelled both concerns. Ryunosuke and his companions are as funny and well-realized as Phoenix and his, and the 3D models are painstakingly animated to be full of personality. There’s a lot of great gags that the new mechanics allow for, and Susato is an excellent heir to the Maya Fey role. Her animations are delightful the 100th time you’ve seen them. Great Ace Attorney 1 wraps up its own story nicely, but it leaves a few threads that have me excited to play 2 next year.  8. Final Fantasy 7 Remake I played the original FF7 this year and didn’t enjoy myself very much. After getting the PS5 I tried out FF7R and have got to say I enjoyed it so much I want to give the original another try. Even disregarding the modern trappings, like the stop-and-go team based action combat to some insane bullshit Tetsuya Nomura storytelling, at its core FF7 is the story of doing ecoterrorism with your friends. And I think that’s neat. 7. Guilty Gear Strive When this year started I didn’t know how to play fighting games. It’s never been a genre I had much interest in or remotely any ability in, so I generally ignored them. Earlier this year I started playing games with ShallNoiseUpon, Flower Rhythm REMIX, and Relax or Die. Frankly this has been my primary social outlet this year, and I’ve been really happy to have these guys around. Anyway, Tekken went on sale and our group caught a fighting game bug. This year we’ve played Tekken, Street Fighter III AND V, Power Rangers, Darkstalkers, Blazblue, Marvel vs Capcom 2, the Jojo game, and Guilty Gear. I didn’t take to Tekken (shout out to Ms. Unsmiley who took me aside for a training session; even if Tekken didn’t stick her advice was widely applicable to other games). Guilty Gear did, to the point where I ended up buying an arcade stick. After a brief flirtation with Millia I found my main in Potemkin, and managed to land some good heavenly pot busters. Guilty Gear’s not necessarily better than the other games I listed, it’s just the one I enjoyed more due to its soundtrack, visuals, and over-the-top aesthetics. For giving me many weeks of trash talking with my friends and showing me that I could be halfway decent at fighting games, Strive had to make this list. 6. Metroid Dread Two impossible things happened in October. The first is that “Metroid Dread,” which is the title applied to multiple attempts to make the fifth 2D Metroid game and the latest one in the timeline, was released. The second is that it actually managed to meet expectations. In the first few hours, Dread seems pretty linear. There is a robot that will chase you several times throughout the adventure. Sometimes you are “soft locked” into a path, where something has happened behind you preventing you from backtracking. (On one occasion this saved me from wasting several hours when I didn’t realize I was right in front of the gravity suit.) However, it isn’t linear at all. After the game had been out for a few days speedrunners started noticing that there were optional paths, for example it is possible to fight a certain boss after acquiring the morph ball bomb, which gives you a quicker way to kill him and a unique cinematic. Samus herself is a badass in this one, far gone from her Other M appearance. Her emotes in the game’s few cutscenes are for the most part cold, aloof, and maybe a little bored. She is easily equipped to deal with her enemies even without her abilities. By the end of the game, you are a powerhouse, dispatching foes with ease. I’ll spoiler the description of a standout boss. Flappy Bird as I call him is a boss in the latter half of the game that requires the space jump (infinite screw attack) to deal with. He is pushing you back with wind at the time. The boss fight is fun and features several very cool cinematic attacks, but someone discovered that you can queue up a shinespark (infinite dash) while running against the wind. If you shinespark into the boss he dies instantaneously. https://youtu.be/F-GMo_farJc 5. Bloodborne  After years of false starts I have finally grown eyes on my brain. Bloodborne is a loving masterpiece, with a richly constructed world and perfectly tuned combat. But I don’t need to tell you Bloodborne is good because you’ve already read VideoGames’s post. I’ll just say Cainhurst Castle is one of my favorite areas in a video game ever. 4. Chicory  Of all the games on this list, maybe save #2, I think Chicory is the one I will become the biggest evangelist for. Chicory: A Colorful Adventure is the world’s first coloringbooktroidvania (royalties owed to SexRex). You paint the world by clicking on things, and interacting with various environmental structures with paint will allow you to traverse the world. As you progress, your bond with your magical paintbrush grows, and with it, your ability to traverse the world. The titular Chicory is not the cute puppy player character, but rather the Wielder, a bunny rabbit who wielded the magic paintbrush before it fell into the player character’s (whose name is your favorite food and whose gender is up to your interpretation) hands. Chicory doesn’t want the brush anymore, so now it’s yours. Why Chicory doesn’t want the brush is where the game’s plot picks up, but basically, Chicory is a story about burnout, depression, and the way the expectations of society can dehumanize us. It is also much cuter than the previous sentence implies. So, for those who don’t know, I’m a college teacher. This year has been the toughest of my career. Upon the return to face-to-face instruction in the fall semester, the emotional and psychological toll of my job increased as each individual student needed something from me, either for their physical or psychological well-being. It’s my job to meet my students’ needs, but there is little to no institutional support for meeting each individual accommodation. At one point in the game after a particularly nasty encounter, the player character is talking to their sister, Clementine, when in a very video gamey way a NPC asks for a favor. Clementine tells the NPC off and tells the player character, “You can just say no.” It was like Clemtine was speaking directly to me, telling me to set firmer boundaries. Chicory is a cute game, at times laugh-out-loud funny, with another banger of a Lena Raine soundtrack. I’d recommend it to anyone who likes video games and most people who don’t. 3. Persona 5 Royal  The Persona 5 cast weighs large in my heart. I originally played P5 in 2018 and started Royal in 2020, and in fact it’s on my list from last year. You can read that post here. I finished it this summer, and buddy, Royal is a perfect update to the base game. I talked earlier about the new mechanics making the dungeon crawling a little more user-friendly and exploration more worthwhile. What I couldn’t talk about then that I can now is the new chapter. Without getting into spoiler territory, the third semester brings the mechanics of Persona 5’s world to their natural extreme and feature the most interesting villain in the game’s rogues gallery. It was nice to see again a cast that, frankly, feels like my friends. If you can deal with the game’s absurd run time and more problematic elements, Persona 5 Royal is an incredible game. 2. AI The Somnium Files  PORNOOOOOO MAAAAAAAAG After enjoying Everyone’s VN Of The Year 2020, 13 Sentinels, I was strongly encouraged to play AI. Despite some technical hiccups with the Switch version of the game, I was delighted the whole way through, and it was nearly my GOTY. Its sequel is certainly one of my most anticipated games of 2022 – I have already pre-ordered the stupid Aiba statue. Anyway, AI: The Somnium Files is a game about artificial intelligence (AI), eyes, “I” (the self), and “ai” (the Japanese word for love). Yes, it is extremely far up its own rear end, in the best possible way. You play as a pervert detective, Date, as he and the Erika Harlacher-voiced Aiba who lives inside his prosthetic eyeball investigate a gruesome murder. The game plays out over five different routes depending on the choices you make in the investigation scenes and features an incredible cast, even the most annoying of whom (Ota) turn out alright. 1. Monster Hunter Rise  Could it have been anything else? I don’t think I need to explain Monster Hunter to the people here: it’s a dense action game where at any moment you can execute a wide variety of actions (if you are willing to awkwardly claw your hands to use a menu while you run). The combat is fighting game-like in the sense that you have to fully commit to your animation, and mistakes in footing and timing can be costly. Each of the monsters have their own personality and behavior, and there are more than a dozen different weapons to learn and build. I’ve always wanted to get hooked by a game that I can sink lots of hours into, but I never do, and I hop from game to game pretty quickly. I’ll occasionally flirt with a multiplayer game like Splatoon or Apex Legends, but those don’t typically last very long. Then, Monster Hunter Rise came out, and it was a perfect storm of a few factors for me. First, I had already played a little World and knew that I liked the basic thing that Monster Hunter was doing. Unfortunately, World is dragged down by its attempts to be a big budget AAA game: too much goddamn talking, and so many bells and whistles that joining friends for co-op is its own monster to hunt. Second, Rise is handheld, and having something available on the Switch means it is ten times easier to fit into my life. Finally, Rise came out the weekend before spring break gave me a week off work. I sank 100 hours into Rise in its first week of being available, and barely touched it again for a while after. To be clear, the 1.0 release of Rise was not finished. Not all the monsters were in, and the game ends on a cliffhanger teasing its real final boss fight. That’s not to say it is light on content. However, I had burned myself out on 1.0, so when 2.0 and 3.0 launched over the summer (with the true final boss), I didn’t play very much of the new content. That changed when the Mega Man collaboration happened. Rise had started doing collaboration events with various other Capcom properties (and eventually non-Capcom properties), and you can get a loving RUSH costume for your dog. So, I was back in. A few weeks later, you could get a loving SONIC costume for your cat. I was all the way back in, and ended up beating the true final boss from the 3.0 update. The music was incredible, and it was one of the coolest final boss fights I’ve ever played (easily, I think, the best one of the year). For finally giving me a game I can keep going back to, an incredible final boss, Sonic and Rush costumes for my pets, and good times with goons, Monster Hunter Rise is my game of the year. truncated list 10. Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart 9. Great Ace Attorney 1 (can be counted as Chronicles) 8. Final Fantasy 7 Remake 7. Guilty Gear Strive 6. Metroid Dread 5. Bloodborne 4. Chicory 3. Persona 5 Royal 2. AI the Somnium Files 1. Monster Hunter Rise wuggles fucked around with this message at 02:17 on Dec 30, 2021 |
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Dec 30, 2021 01:43
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Chairchucker posted:LIST I edited this to significantly promote Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous
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Dec 30, 2021 01:44
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BeanpolePeckerwood posted:oh hell yeah
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Dec 30, 2021 01:48
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Zaggitz posted:Rarity's favorite Something Awful poster Zaggitz 
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Dec 30, 2021 01:55
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Kay Kessler posted:4) Tales from the Borderlands - I hate the Borderlands games. I find the writing obnoxious, the characters unlikeable (and given the writing seems to really want me to actually care when one dies, that's not good) and the level scaling abhorrent. But I wound up adoring TFtB. Telltale was firing on all cylinders on this one. Great performances from Troy Baker, Patrick Warburton and Chris Hardwick. Each episode starts with a Borderlands-style title sequence, a neat nod for fans and a good way to generate hype for non-fans. And the writing is genuinely funny. It seems a lot of people (Telltale writers included, it seems sometimes) that The Walking Dead Season 1 was filled with lighthearted moments to counteract the dramatic ones, and that was one of the reasons the writing was so effective. The later Telltale games seemed to just wallow in drama with none of that relief. TFtB fixes that by being over 90 percent lighthearted humor so that when they want you to feel sad it can actually stick. Like a good movie, the moment I hit the end credits I immediately wanted to go through the game again. A big recommendation from me to both fans and non-fans alike. "CATCH A RIIIIIDE!"  I absolutely love this game, I long ago gave up on Telltale Games, whatever magic was there seemed to have been lost, but TTB was the high watermark and just a studendously enjoyable game.
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Dec 30, 2021 02:23
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Harrow posted:
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Dec 30, 2021 02:48
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wuggles posted:Anyway, AI: The Somnium Files is a game about artificial intelligence (AI), eyes, “I” (the self), and “ai” (the Japanese word for love). Yes, it is extremely far up its own rear end, in the best possible way. You forget that Aiba, Date's AI eyeball, is his aibou (partner)
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Dec 30, 2021 02:49
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I individually painted every screen on Chicory’s map because it made the screaming in my head go quiet for a little while
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Dec 30, 2021 03:01
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Oxxidation posted:I individually painted every screen on Chicory’s map because it made the screaming in my head go quiet for a little while Pro tip, hold the brush down for a few seconds to get a fill tool. If the game ever tells you about that I sure didn't hear it.
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Dec 30, 2021 03:06
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McCracAttack posted:Pro tip, hold the brush down for a few seconds to get a fill tool. If the game ever tells you about that I sure didn't hear it. You can also find a brush style that is a quicker fill tool. Waffleman_ posted:You forget that Aiba, Date's AI eyeball, is his aibou (partner) lol nice
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Dec 30, 2021 03:49
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That's that Uchikoshi poo poo.
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Dec 30, 2021 03:52
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Like last year I played another game after posting my list but I just slotted it into my honorable mentions, so it's no big deal. Just thought I'd mention it since I doubt many people are gonna randomly go back to page 5 or whatever to re-read lists.TriffTshngo posted:Final Fantasy 7 Remake - Intermission: While I probably liked this on the whole a bit more than my #10, Arkham Knight, I don't think I can quite justify including it. It's really just a fun little bite-sized side story. I never quite perfectly gelled with Yuffie's fighting style and I kind of feel like they overtuned the combat ever so slightly in this one, expecting you to be fresh off finishing the main game (which I hadn't touched in a year and a half), but all in all it was a good time. Nice to see my trash bag bdsm boyfriend Nero von Edgegoth and his stupid brother Weiss the Definitelynotsephiroth brought back into the fold. I'm not joking, I genuinely love that Dirge of Cerberus material is part of this universe and I am positively energized when people complain about it.
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Dec 30, 2021 05:02
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HONORABLE MENTIONS I played a lot of remasters this year. I love revisiting games I'm nostalgic for and remasters are the perfect opportunity/excuse to indulge. I've decided to arbitrarily exclude them from my list to make room for newer releases, even though Nocturne, Nier or Quake could have all made the cut. I also played some unofficial "remasters" as well like Heavily Modded Morrowind (still the GOAT), various Doom wads and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Anomaly. I'd say overall my time this year was split pretty evenly between old and new games. So while this list is representative of just the newish games I've played this year, know that old games rule and will forever have a place in my heart. 10. INSCRYPTION Truthfully I don't really care for deckbuilders, but I had to give this one a shot if only because of the fun meta narrative elements. It really delivers in that regard and manages to effectively drive the player forward using the overarching mystery. The card game itself has enough meat to stay interesting, and while its not my favorite thing I can appreciate that for the right person this is a slam dunk. Gotta give props to art direction as well, perfect use of lo-fi graphics to create a sense of horror. 9. METROID DREAD They went and done it, they made a good Metroid game. I was pretty skeptical, having not really liked Samus Returns too much but Mercury Steam pulled out all the stops with Dread. It can't be overstated how much they nailed the controls here and half the fun is in how effortlessly Samus navigates her environments now. A solid map, good enemy design and fun boss fights round out the experience and though I'm not a huge fan of the EMMI sections, they don't wear out their welcome either. 8. GRIME GRIME lives on the opposite end of the metroidvania spectrum from Dread, and I think I prefer this side just a bit. No fluid controls here, its stiff and janky, but with a wonderfully oppressive atmosphere and some interesting tweaks to the usual metroidvania formula. Like what if parrying was really, really important. The lore and worldbuilding is interesting enough that it kept me playing through some extremely tough sections and ultimately I found the game manages to straddle the line between challenge and frustration, if just barely. 7. HALO INFINITE The first competitive multiplayer fps I've cared about in years, and wouldn't you know its free to play as well. The gunplay is crisp, the sounds are crunchy and the action is immediately readable and clean. Its just the right mix of hardcore twitch aiming and silly objective focused antics for my friends and I, and I imagine this will be our go to party game well into 2022. 6. NIOH 2 An amazing expansion and refinement of the first game's mechanics... and not much else. Its Nioh again folks but good thing Nioh rules. Turns out I have the right kind of brainworms to actually enjoy the oft-maligned diablo-style loot system and the associated grind. The incredibly deep and expressive stance based combat is back and better than ever and the feeling of Getting Good at Nioh is top tier satisfaction. The story is also there and it does the only thing it needed to do: show me cutscenes of guys in cool armor right before they kick my rear end. 5. RESIDENT EVIL 8 I love the direction the RE franchise has been going lately. The style, tone and structure of everything since RE7 has been right on the money for me and RE8 is no exception. Its not quite as masterfully paced as RE2make managed to be, but it has the right ratio of horror to action and the setting and characters are all pitch perfect. I also can't get enough of the RE engine's specific brand of photorealistic graphics. I can't put my finger on what exactly makes them so appealing but the ultra sharp stylish-realism is extremely easy on my eyes. Yes the late game was a bit of a slog but an improvement over RE7's so progress is being made. 4. FINAL FANTASY 7 REMAKE The reason this list is coming in so late is because I've spent the last two weeks mainlining this game in an effort to finish it before the year ends. Its with a heavy heart I report that I won't quite make that deadline, but I have put enough time in to determine that this definitely deserves a prestigious top 5 slot. I'm honestly overwhelmed with all the things I love about this game that I won't be able to fit into this short post. The lengths they went to flesh out characters and events from the original game is kind of staggering. Its completely different than what I would have imagined they would do, and its often done with a sort of subtleness and nuance that I'm not used to seeing from SE. The combat is fun and flashy with just enough depth to keep you paying attention and I love how they reworked and balanced the materia. The music is incredible, they went so wild with the remixes and it all totally works. At this point even if it biffs the ending it'd still make my list but I have a feeling its going to nail it and I'm already looking forward to this Yuffie dlc. 3. DEATHLOOP It seems like everyone is always comparing this game to whichever Arkane joint they liked best. I like to see DEATHLOOP in the same light as Fromsoft's Sekiro. They're both departures from their respective studio's signature formulas, and act as sort of diversions where the devs can tinker with mechanics that would be too bold or outlandish in their usual works. DEATHLOOP comes through feeling incredibly confident in both its style and structure, and while it doesn't always hit every mark it aims for, it manages to be so fun in your hands that its easy to forgive its shortcomings. Is it "better" than Prey or Dishonored or even Mooncrash? Maybe not, but it certainly makes me excited to see what Arkane do next. 2. PSYCHONAUTS 2 Absolute joy to play, front to back, all killer no filler. Okay well there is explicitly some filler but if you can contain your collectionist urges then you get a game that is exceptionally breezy and well paced. I truly didn't want to put it down, especially when each new section is more vibrant and expressive than the last. The decision to pick up right where the first game left off is not only hilarious given how long its been, but eerily appropriate. In no time at all you will feel right at home again, like these characters and this world never left. Beyond the amazing art direction and strong writing the game also feels infinitely better to play than its predecessor, addressing nearly all of the issues that made the original so clunky. Its the total package and I'd recommend it to literally anyone. 1. MONSTER HUNTER RISE Speaking of joyous games, this is the one that definitely delivered me the most happiness this year. I wasn't sure Capcom could pull off a game to rival MH: World on Switch hardware but drat did they pull it off. Rise has no business looking as good as it does, much less playing so fluidly with barely a hiccup in the action. The wirebug is of course MVP here, but not just for the movement options. The way that it effects the relative balance of the weapons is overall very positive and each one feels fresh again. Sure its a bit on the easy end of things but it doesn't make clowning of mons from 30ft in the air any less fun. Further QoL improvements over MHW are also greatly appreciated and dropping the semi-GaaS stuff in favor of a more traditional model is a big improvement too. If Monster Hunter somehow didn't get its hooks in you a few years ago with World, well here's the next best point of entry.
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Dec 30, 2021 08:25
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2020 was the year I really got back into gaming as a whole after health and financial circumstances forced me to sell off my PS2 in 2004 and prevented me from being able to spend on anything that wasn't absolutely essential for a good long while after. The announcement of FF7R in 2019 pushed me to buy a PS4 on sale that Christmas, and it ended up being my favorite game of 2020. That game was pretty much a ripping off of the gaming band-aid for me, specifically JRPGs, and those pretty much dominate my list for 2021. Thanks to the goons in the RPG thread for recommending almost everything that's on this list, and for helping me rediscover the love I had for the genre. 10. Battletech (PC/Steam) XCOM but with stompy giant robots in a setting that's relatively grimdark but not quite WH4K levels. That's pretty much the best way to describe this game. This was my number 3 game last year, and I somehow sunk yet another 100 hours into it this year. The multiple massive mods set at different periods in the Battletech timeline gave this game huge replayability and kept things fresh for me. 9. 80 Days (PC/Steam) A steampunk re-imagining of one of the classics, this was recommended to me on Discord after I mentioned playing the Lone Wolf gamebooks as one of my favorite childhood memories. I ended up really liking the interactive fiction genre and this quickly became a nice way to relax and decompress with a glass of wine at the end of a long workday. I still revisit this a couple of times a month to see if there are any events or paths I have yet to explore. 8. Final Fantasy IV Pixel Remaster (PC/Steam) The original FF2 (US) was the very first JRPG I ever played and was the catalyst for my love of the genre; to this day, I will still defend it as my second-favorite mainline FF game. This Pixel Remaster was the first time I've played it (without emulation) since the original SNES version, and it retains all the charm it had then. The previous poster calling it a 'comfort game' is 100% on the money. 7. Super Robot Wars X (PC/Steam) My first foray into the SRW franchise, and it was a memorable one. In my experience, this was a comfortingly familar tactical JRPG skeleton surrounded by an insane 'how many Mecha Anime can we gather together' premise. While the plot had me scratching my head at multiple times, getting to wreck poo poo with the Gundam Wing, Mazinger Z and Gurren Lagann crew was boatloads of fun, and I've started watching the G-Reco and Code Geass anime as a result. Once SRW30 goes on sale, you better believe I'm playing that poo poo next. 6. Final Fantasy VII Remake: Intergrade (PS5) FF7R was the main reason I caved and bought a PS4, and FF7R: Intergrade was the main reason I ripped the band-aid off and bought a PS5. As mentioned earlier, FF7R was my #1 game in last year's GOTY thread, and a personal indicator for me of how much I love a game is how much time I devote to getting 100% completion of everything, and boy, did I spend a lot of time last year on getting 100% both in-game and in the PS trophies. Intergrade makes this year's list because I wanted to play through everything again with the PS5 QOL upgrades, and the overall experience of the main game was even better than last year. The INTERmission chapters were a welcome addition storyline-wise and seeing Yuffie's personality and motivations fleshed out and reworked turned her from someone I loving HATED in the original FF7 to an actual relatable and sympathetic character. The ending teaser just furthered my desire to see where the revamped FF7R storyline goes, which means Nomura, Toriyama, and the rest of the crew have done their job well. This was the game I actually had the hardest time placing in this list. I wanted so badly to put it higher because of how much I appreciated the QOL upgrades, despite the new content being only two additional chapters. Ultimately, the reason I'm leaving it out of my top 5 is that I have lost the motivation to get 100% completion on the expanded game, and it all boils down to the loving Shinra Box Buster game being a source of nothing but pain and frustration. Not even the pullup contest in the main storyline made me want to throw my controller at the wall as much as this minigame did. I still love this game to bits, but holy poo poo Squeenix, please release a loving targeting patch. I'm begging you. 5. The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky FC (PC/Steam) Yet another goon recommendation, I had some initial doubts about how I would enjoy playing this when I saw that this was a 17-year old game. I should have never doubted the collective goonmind.  The combat tries to marry elements from three different Final Fantasy games (the grid-based movement with knockback in FFT, the materia system from FF7, and the turn tracker from FFX), and it comes together really well. Planning out turns to maximize combat advantages was extremely my poo poo. The other elements of this game hold up their end as well. The atmosphere is light and whimsical thanks to the music, the pace is easy with subquests galore, and the main characters are charming and easy to get invested in. And holy gently caress did the developers not skimp on the world-building, pretty much my favorite thing in the genre. This might have the most expansive NPC dialogue in a game I've ever played to date, and scurrying back and forth to see how narratives change after key events quickly became the main reason I got so immersed in this. I've got the other two games in the Trails in the Sky trilogy in my Steam library for next year's play, and the only reason I haven't bought the Trails of Cold Steel series yet is the fact I still have a metric fuckton of backlog I still wanna work through. 4. Persona 4 Golden (PC/Steam) I asked the RPG thread last year about other turn-based RPGs I could get into after finishing FF7R, and the Persona series pretty much topped the list of recommendations. Ended up buying and playing P4G first because I felt I should play the older game first if I'm going to try out multiple entries in a series. That ended up being the right call. I don't know what I was expecting when I started up the game, but a whodunit/life sim with Jungian philosophy underpinnings wasn't it. But holy poo poo, it works. The modern-day setting and relationship building aspects really got me immersed, and the supernatural portions gave pizazz to the murder mystery storyline. Not to mention the earworm soundtrack that is one of the best I've heard in JRPGs outside of Squeenix titles. Combat added weakness-hunting on top of a fairly standard turn-based formula, and creating and customizing Personas to break the game open became a huge (but still fun) time sink. While I wish a few characters were a little more well-developed (Teddie is loving ew, Kanji is sadly an example of what could have been for certain gamers, and most of the Investigation Team don't get much character development outside of their dungeons), the rest of the game was still more than enjoyable enough that I had no problems putting it this high on the list. 3. Valkyria Chronicles 4 (PS4) The first game I played in 2021, and the first tactical RPG I've played since Front Mission 4, which ended up being the final game I played on the PS2 before that was sold. The dieselpunk, anime WWII setting was something I was very much into as a military hardware and war history geek and I found myself reading up on the overarching war storyline between the Atlantic Federation and the East Europan Imperial Alliance covered in the other games. I definitely want to revisit this setting in the future. The gameplay is a combination of turn-based tactical unit selection and placement, and real-time action where you have the unit run, duck, shoot and interact with the environment during the unit's actual turn. I loving LOVED this twist on the classic tactical JRPG and wish more games would adopt this moving forward. The character development isn't the best (most of the Squad E members' development are hidden behind missable sidequests, Raz can go gently caress himself and Claude is the RPG protagonist I've liked the least since Squall), but the setting, overarching storyline and gameplay were more than enough to offset that. Hopefully the next game in the series can build its characters as well as it has the in-game world. 2. Persona 5 Strikers (Switch) I really went on an Atlus tear this year. I even started Yakuza 7 a couple of months ago but fell off for reasons I'll explain later - definitely gonna revisit that game in 2022 though. P5S was the last Atlus game I finished this year, and the first game I hit 100% completion on in 2021. Japan is undoubtedly my favorite place to visit as a tourist, and I had plans to travel there in late 2020 or early 2021 before everything went to poo poo. With the recent closure of the borders until around spring next year at the earliest, being able to travel back there under the same conditions is going to be a huge question mark for the foreseeable future. This is why this game's setting of the Phantom Thieves roadtripping through Japan, full of locations I loved visiting and want to go back to, really struck a chord with me. While the musou combat system took some getting used to (and I finally adjusted to it by treating it like FF7R where selecting Persona abilities gave me a chance to pause, take stock and strategize), and the storyline became a retread of the base Persona 5 game near the end, what made me love this game so much came down to two things. First was the outstanding job done with remixing the P5 OST and adding some excellent new tunes. Second was the effort put in by the writers and VAs to really flesh out the characters of the Phantom Thieves and really make them feel like a group of friends with close ties to each other embarking on a grand adventure rather than a bunch of people revolving around Joker. The introduction of the new Phantom Thieves was also done very well, and Sophia in particular reminded me a lot of Vivi from FFIX in that her journey of learning and growth was also central to the story. This was a sequel that I didn't know I wanted but am now thankful I got to experience. 1. Persona 5 Royal (PS4) I wasn't really planning to play P5R this year with the sheer size of my backlog, but after finishing P4G in February, I ended up caving in and started playing this two weeks after. I ended up stranding at least half a dozen other longish games on my backlog in 2021 (including the aforementioned Yakuza 7) due solely to this game, and I have absolutely no regrets doing so. First off, I do wanna acknowledge what other people have said in this thread. As I mentioned earlier, the character writing wasn't the best - there's a lot of dissonance between several characters in their sidestories vs the main storyline. The pacing is very uneven - the beginning literally takes hours before gameplay opens up and actually gives you poo poo to do, and there are regularly-occurring lulls where options get constricted and you're left hitting the X button continuously to progress. The Jungian elements getting pushed to the background in favor of an overarching theme of rebellion against an unjust society, then being resolved the way it was in the main Persona 5 storyline was problematic from the start and ended in a somewhat unsatisfying manner for me blowing a god's brains out notwithstanding. Even with those flaws, I ended up putting 176 hours into finishing this game last March and April. On my first playthrough. I started New Game+ last month to get 100% completion and take on the secret boss and as of this writing am another 100+ hours in. There was no way I wasn't putting this game on top of my 2021 list with how much time I put into playing it. Why do I love playing this game so much? First, the soundtrack. Holy gently caress, the soundtrack. I thought Squeenix had no rival in terms when it came to JRPG OSTs, but when a game's songs and covers of those songs end up dominating my Spotify 2021 Wrapped results, that means the OST was otherworldly. Second, the setting and backdrops were A+ for me. The realistic and accurately-rendered locations I had actually visited in Tokyo and the aesthetically-pleasing and wide variety of dungeons were a visual delight. And the general storyline (rebellion theme aside) making this a heist film compared to the murder mystery of P4G was well done, especially the key plot twist in November. The theme of Royal's Third Semester pivoting away from rebellion towards something more introspective, culminating in probably the best-written antagonist I've seen in a JRPG to date was also a big highlight. Third, the gameplay mechanics were top-notch. They added several welcome elements to the Persona customization from P4G, and the combat might be the best execution of traditional turn-based combat I've seen. The relationship-building and life sim aspects were also enjoyable because for the most part, you aren't really penalized for a 'suboptimal' decision on how to spend your time. All those reasons put together result in a game that's just dripping in style and swag, and was far and away the most enjoyable gaming experience I had this year. TLDR list: 10. Battletech 9. 80 Days 8. Final Fantasy IV Pixel Remaster 7. Super Robot Wars X 6. Final Fantasy VII Remake: Intergrade 5. The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky FC 4. Persona 4 Golden 3. Valkyria Chronicles 4 2. Persona 5 Strikers 1. Persona 5 Royal anakha fucked around with this message at 16:44 on Dec 30, 2021 |
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Dec 30, 2021 11:17
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- 10. Halo: Infinite - My focus here is the singleplayer campaign, which I thought was decent for a Halo game. I'm far from being the world's greatest Halo fan but there is a lot of potential here, even though it feels like the devs had to cut many corners to ship the game. Maybe there will be post-launch updates to fix some aspects of it? I don't know. The story is, uh... kinda terrible but 343 made up for it with really fun shooting mechanics and movement. The multiplayer is also solid - when it works and you ignore the terrible F2P progression mechanics. Honestly, this game's launch was kind of a mess but the strength of the gameplay alone is what gets it on my list. This is right up there with Destiny 2's moment-to-moment gunplay; 343 finally made a modern Halo. - 9. Humankind - Like the above entry, this game is also a mess when it comes to bugs. However, it puts enough unique twists on the traditional Civilization formula that it captivated me for many, many hours and I was able to overlook some of the larger balancing issues the game has. Highly addictive 'One More Turn' gameplay while allowing for many different playstyles, at least in theory. - 8. The Forgotten City - With a core team of just 3 people (plus additional collaborators and actors), this game manages to tell a compelling time-travel story in a unique setting. The story goes places and has unexpected twists that I thought were a lot of fun. A nice, self-contained little adventure. - 7. Hades - Supergiant's games have never fully clicked with me before. I considered Bastion a visually impressive game but found the combat tiresome. I fell off Transistor within the first few hours and didn't even try Pyre. However, Hades absolutely got its hooks in me - the game's trick of having an endless pool of dialogue to pull from means that you're always seeing new conversations and characters are constantly developing, even when you don't make much progress on a run. This is a game that keeps rewarding you for spending time with it. - 6. Prey - Several years old by now but I finally got around to playing this. The space station is fun to explore and the gameplay is infused with the DNA of the best immersive sims from the past. I'm glad that Arkane is still making these. - 5. Control - A little bit Max Payne, a little bit Alan Wake and even a little bit Quantum Break, Control wouldn't exist without Remedy having made all those other ones. It doesn't just commit to its own atmosphere and setting - it breathes it. Absolutely oozing with style, this is the writers throwing a bunch of conspiracy theories and cosmic horror into a blender. - 4. Psychonauts 2 - A direct sequel to a platformer action game from 2005? And it's actually really good? Yeah, I couldn't believe it either. I think Double Fine surprised everyone here. A weird nostalgic trip to the past, rendered using modern tecnhology. - 3. Hitman 3 - A wonderful follow-up to the previous two games and a conclusion to the story, Hitman 3 nails the landing almost perfectly - which is remarkable considering the publisher troubles Io Interactive had to go through. There's some standout missions and, as is usual for the series, a great deal of freedom for how targets are taken care of. I'm excited to see what these folks do with the 007 franchise. - 2. Desperados 3 - If Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun was the warm-up act, then this is Mimimi firing on all cylinders. Desperados 3 is both a phenomenally good prequel to the original Desperados (we don't talk about Desperados 2) and one of most enjoyable squad-based tactical stealth games I've ever played. This is the peak of what the genre has to offer right now. If you care about stealth games at all, go check this out. - 1. Yakuza: Like A Dragon - I'd only really put time into Yakuza Zero before this one, but it hardly matters - this is a fine entry point for newcomers. This game is just fantastic from top to bottom. The story, setting, characters, art and gameplay are all excellent and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio are at the top of their class here. It's a very human story wrapped in a JRPG package that pays tribute to the genre.
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Dec 30, 2021 12:23
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Oh god I realize now that I have so much to say about FF14 that the full version might not be really appropriate for a goty ranking thread
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Dec 30, 2021 12:46
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Runa posted:Oh god I realize now that I have so much to say about FF14 that the full version might not be really appropriate for a goty ranking thread Say it all I double dog dare you
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Dec 30, 2021 12:52
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Rarity posted:Say it all I double dog dare you !!!
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Dec 30, 2021 13:24
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Runa posted:Oh god I realize now that I have so much to say about FF14 that the full version might not be really appropriate for a goty ranking thread Do it so that the rest of us in the 14 camp don't have to.
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Dec 30, 2021 14:20
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Runa posted:Oh god I realize now that I have so much to say about FF14 that the full version might not be really appropriate for a goty ranking thread Ibblebibble posted:Do it so that the rest of us in the 14 camp don't have to. If you don't do it, I will post all the things I don't like about FF14 2.0, so unless you want an insanely bad post in this very good thread you're gonna post your reasons for liking 14. Barudak fucked around with this message at 14:59 on Dec 30, 2021 |
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Dec 30, 2021 14:22
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Barudak posted:If you don't do it, I will post all the things I don't like about FF14 2.0, so unless you want an insanely bad post in this very good thread you're gonna post your reasons for liking 14. I already did on page 3, I was being rhetorical 
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Dec 30, 2021 14:43
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Ibblebibble posted:I already did on page 3, I was being rhetorical Sorry I was talking to Runa, following up on your comment of encouragement, updating my post to help clarify
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Dec 30, 2021 14:58
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TBH I don't think many of the current players in 6.0 would want to go back to 2.0 in terms of game mechanics and fight design etc. Unless you meant 2.0 in a more general sense rather than the literal patch 2.0.
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Dec 30, 2021 15:01
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Ibblebibble posted:TBH I don't think many of the current players in 6.0 would want to go back to 2.0 in terms of game mechanics and fight design etc. Unless you meant 2.0 in a more general sense rather than the literal patch 2.0. I was grandfathered in and in the transition credits from 1->2 and then immediately lost interest because 2.0 was just not my thing at all but, obviously, was the correct move
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Dec 30, 2021 15:06
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Thank you everyone for the very kind words about my words. There was a lot and I still feel I missed out tons of stuff - especially with Sekiro, Outer Wilds and FFVIIremake.Runa posted:Oh god I realize now that I have so much to say about FF14 that the full version might not be really appropriate for a goty ranking thread If I can write a dissertation you most certainly can write however much you wish! Also after I finally play FFXIV I can come back and bathe in the words  (Which is what I do all the time - so many great words read after the fact!) Please write as much as you wish!
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Dec 30, 2021 15:40
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I love this thread and reading all your lists!!
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Dec 30, 2021 18:20
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Okay I make list. I will not put it in descending order, however, gently caress you. 1. Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker The ultimate culmination of 10 years of continuous storytelling, that addresses and wraps up just about every lingering plot thread to pretty much everyone's satisfaction. That's almost an impossibility not just in games but in any medium, look at every other loving pop culture trainwreck that self immolates at the very end. Then doing all that, giving this little fictional world one last victory lap, while also tying it all together into an incredibly positive and life-affirming story, is great stuff. (and also honestly hard to read it as anything but a pandemic game, that I see as bookending the last two years in a canon alongside 2019 GOTY Death Stranding, Endwalker is, most definitely, a Strand Game) Mechanically also, the game is probably in the best place its ever been. The job design, for the new ones but also the revamps for the old ones is fantastic, and the dungeon/encounter design is brilliant and honestly, in some places without getting into spoilers, insanely ambitious for this kind of game. Endwalker is the whole package, its everything an RPG should be. 2. Gnosia A single player Werewolf simulator should be the worst idea that anyone's had since single player Mario Party. A digital recreation of a genre of game totally predicated on trying to determine if people are lying to you or not, it shouldn't work, what is the fun in determining if a computer was programmed to lie. Through the incredible strength of its characterization though, Gnosia makes it work, as you play more and more rounds you learn how these characters normally act, and become immensely aware when things Aren't Normal. Why are these people not following their normal script? Is it because they're the alien or something else? You learn to predict that too. That's when Gnosia hits you with its greatest trick. To see all of the story it weaves through loop after loop, Gnosia asks you to play it Wrong. To engineer impossible situations, sometimes playing for the other team, and doing all that without loving things up too severely that the suspicion turns towards you. Then the realization comes that, Gnosia isn't Single Player Werewolf, its a puzzle, a finely balanced system that you are repeatedly asked to unbalance. And its a good loving puzzle. 3. Monster Hunter Rise I don't have much to say about Rise, a new Monster Hunter would have to be completely hosed up to not be an obligatory goty, and Rise, Is Not hosed Up. Monhan is one of those serieses that, for better or worse, is wildly variable from game to game. Between the dueling teams that alternate developing each game with their just fundamentally conflicting visions about Monster Hunter, to each game's individual digressions with their own weird sometimes experimental twists, that contributes to what's been essentially a biannual series since the PS2 staying pretty fresh for each entry. Rise instead though, does exactly what it needed to do following a game that made some pretty drastic changes to Monhan In General, and it does it amazingly well: to take account of everything new in World and everything worthwhile in the old games, and to synthesize them into a new coherent vision of Monster Hunting. Everything that's brought forward in the best form its ever been. Its, the definitive Monster Hunter in terms of mechanics, and if its not my favorite then its easily #2, but only because its hard to compete with the sheer volume of poo poo that was available to the 4th gen games. 4. Final Fantasy 7: The First Soldier The platonic ideal of a battle royale mobage adaptation of a mid-90s JRPG. Final Fantasy 7 is fully represented, from all of the iconic locations of Midgar (courtesy of PS3 quality downscaled FF7R assets), to its frequently weirdass sense of humor. Cruically though, the representation isn't just aesthetic but every element of the design of the thing is some kind of attempt to reinterpret the mechanics of FF7, and FF in general, into a third person shooter. The end result is a hybrid action-RPG/battle royale with a pretty good variety of playstyles and builds, reinforcing a really interesting three-way dynamic between guns, melee, and materia that keeps battles in the final circle consistently tense and actually legitimately cinematic. Two good and evenly matched players fully leveled up and geared out, just loving dueling each other into exhaustion for minutes at the end of the round, feels like you're actually doing the thing that a JRPG battle system implies in its abstractions. And that's the most Final Fantasy 7 you could possibly get. This is the game of 2021 that is most likely not to exist in 2022 though, unless they manage to get a PC/console port out. Mobile is already struggling to fill lobbies with real players. IMO play this game while you are able to, its a gem. 5. Inscryption Inscryption is, a roller coaster masquerading as a video game. The ride it takes you on has its highs and lows, but over its entire run time it never stops surprising you with new mechanics and systems that change everything you understand about the game, over and over again. Most impressively, it always diegetically makes sense why poo poo doesn't quite work mechanically the way it did before, thanks to the deeply interwoven storytelling. The plot of it, you can take or leave, I'm not super into it which is the impression that I get from most people also, but its insanely successful as a narrative device. Honestly, the card game you can take or leave also, its very much a gestalt, sum of its parts, kind of thing. 6. Uma Musume Pretty Derby At its core, Uma Musume is a roguelike visual novel about training horses to win a succession of increasingly difficult horse races. The horses, however, take the form of anime girls (anthropomorphized versions of famous Japanese race horses) that have their own extremely distinct personalities, strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes, and varying relationships with the other horse girls, that you have to manage while organizing their training schedule. On top of all that, there's a ridiculous amount of optional and secret scenes that require careful organization to see without neglecting your responsibilities. If you wanted to be incredibly reductive about it, its like the entire school year of Persona reduced down to a 45 minute run with, hella protagonists to choose from. Then win or lose, you take their strengths and pass them onto the next generation of horse girls, building out your stable and hopefully starting your next run out even stronger. There's a reason that its rightfully the most successful mobage in Japan this year, its an incredibly compelling game. 7. Cruelty Squad The Most Immersive Sim, the best Build Engine game that's actually on the Godot Engine, the 3D remake of Hakaiman that you've always wanted. Cruelty Squad is a deeply, comprehensively, aesthetic game, that draws you into its garbage world by violently assaulting you from every possible direction, the amazing visuals and soundtrack, the absurdist level design, and frequently confusing (but extremely internally coherent) mechanics and systems. Its also just, a goodass tactical FPS with a bunch of largely open-ended levels and a huge toolset of weapons and gear, and the freedom to approach those levels however you want, even if more than likely you're going to be equipping the biothruster, the gunkboosters, and the grappendix, because they're the best ones. 8. Highfleet Like Cruelty Squad, Highfleet refuses to compromise on its aesthetic, you either meet it on its terms or you get a Steam refund before you finish the tutorial. In the case of Highfleet, that aesthetic is an incredibly crunchy military simulation of sneaking a fleet of airships through hostile territory, presented through radar consoles and signal intelligence screens that could just as easily have come out of a submarine sim. Then constantly and seemlessly transitioning in and out of super visceral arcade combat reminiscent of (probably one of my top ten games, ever) Gravitar. On top of all that, you're scrapping and scrounging for parts to make adhoc modifications and repairs to your ships, that for better or worse are extremely prominently reflected in every other part of the game. All of those elements come together to form an oppressively relentless gestalt, that Highfleet uses to pull you into its world of desperate strategy. 9. Shin Megami Tensei 5 I have, nothing to say about SMT5 other than, it exists, is a new SMT, is good, and by virtue of being a good SMT game is probably better than, all the stuff that isn't on this list. But if it was up against Nocturne it probably wouldn't rate. 10. Jupiter Hell Essentially a 3D remake of DoomRL, but forced to find its own identity without being literally just, The Doom Roguelike, and honestly its all the better for it. Every piece that didn't really make sense in the context of DoomRL but obligatory because It Was In Doom, discarded and replaced with something that works way better, and all the stuff that DoomRL had that didn't exactly fit the setting, Jupiter Hell is much more confident about and blown the gently caress out. in conclusion, 2021 was a powerful year for video games, and just go ahead and give the award to Endwalker, no need to count votes homeless snail fucked around with this message at 19:59 on Dec 30, 2021 |
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Dec 30, 2021 19:56
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homeless snail posted:in conclusion, 2021 was a powerful year for video games, and just go ahead and give the award to Endwalker, no need to count votes Sadly ffxiv is not a game, it’s an mmorpg (the “g” in “mmorpg” stands for “groin”)
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Dec 30, 2021 20:04
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games forum groin of the year thread '21
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Dec 30, 2021 20:06
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Endwalker wins that one too
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Dec 30, 2021 20:06
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Relax Or DIE posted:games forum groin of the year thread '21 This site doesn't need any more mod scandals
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Dec 30, 2021 20:14
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| # ? May 23, 2024 09:41 |
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It’s called endwalker because that’s what happens after you get hit there
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Dec 30, 2021 20:16
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