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Zaggitz posted:Most insane game I watched my wife play that Everyone needs to know about : Harvestella ok, I think I might need to play this
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Dec 20, 2022 20:02
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bone emulator posted:ok, I think I might need to play this I had been playing stuff on my switch when she hit this moment and I immediately put my switch down and watched her do most of the story from that point on. It only gets crazier.
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Dec 20, 2022 20:16
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It’s nice that they finally had a decent hetero romance option for Life is Strange although you sometimes wonder why they still even bother.
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Dec 20, 2022 20:37
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harvestella rules. I'm trying to finish one more game before I write my list but it'll almost certainly be on it
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Dec 20, 2022 20:42
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Looper posted:
This is why I love these threads. Never would have known about this game without it. Sounds totally my jam. Thanks!
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Dec 20, 2022 20:54
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Is there any way that links to past editions of the thread could be included in the OP? After everyone posts their lists I like to come through and grab a whole bunch of games I would never hear about otherwise, and I'm sure there's plenty of material from the last few years that I either forgot about or never knew existed to begin with
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Dec 20, 2022 22:53
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Tosk posted:Is there any way that links to past editions of the thread could be included in the OP? After everyone posts their lists I like to come through and grab a whole bunch of games I would never hear about otherwise, and I'm sure there's plenty of material from the last few years that I either forgot about or never knew existed to begin with the images showing the previous top 3s are links
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Dec 20, 2022 22:55
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Tosk posted:Is there any way that links to past editions of the thread could be included in the OP? After everyone posts their lists I like to come through and grab a whole bunch of games I would never hear about otherwise, and I'm sure there's plenty of material from the last few years that I either forgot about or never knew existed to begin with They are! The images at the bottom of the 2nd post with the past winners also link to those threads.
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Dec 20, 2022 22:56
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BeanpolePeckerwood posted:gently caress yes. One of the best stories in all of gaming. i feel bad ranking it so relatively low, too many good games out there... Kull the Conqueror posted:Just writing to commend you on perfectly capping Hughette's dope-rear end ultimate. thanks! it took several attempts lol ToxicFrog posted:I missed these completely despite the fact that they're all laser targeted at me, probably because they're all console games and I do very little console gaming these days. Definitely need to check these out when I have a chance, though. people have already answered this but i didn't play the first game and had no problems jumping into the second. as far as i could tell everything of note from BR1 was summarized pretty succinctly in 2, though apparently the anime midquel is worth checking out theblackw0lf posted:This is why I love these threads. Never would have known about this game without it. Sounds totally my jam. hell yeah, people gushing about it so much last year is why i checked it out
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Dec 20, 2022 23:03
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bone emulator posted:ok, I think I might need to play this Harvestella will be appearing on my top 10 list and I have to agree with everything he said about it And I HATE farming games
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Dec 20, 2022 23:04
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I got my first gaming PC in nearly a decade last year after only having a Switch for several years before that, so I've been doing a lot of catch-up since then. This will actually be my first contribution to the GOTY thread  GOTY 2022 8. Modern Warfare 2 The UI is atrocious, the community is awful, and the game is buggy as poo poo, but I'll be damned if this game doesn't feel incredible to play. 7. Ghost of Tsushima I'm generally not a big open-world fan but something about this one just hit the right notes for me. The combat was fluid and enjoyable, the story and side stories were well-done, and the game itself was gorgeous. 6. Splatoon 3 It's more Splatoon and has my favorite soundtrack in the series. There are some disappointing aspects, like replacing shifty stations with a flawed 2v2v4 game mode and the general instability of the netcode, which is why this isn't higher on the list. Nevertheless I will still probably play 1000 hours of this game over the course of its life. 5. Disco Elysium I've put something like 10 hours into this game and haven't managed to get very far because of my tendency to pick the dumbest option presented to me. But I've had a blast rolling new characters and exploring this game. I think during my time off this month I'll try and make an actual push to beat the game, but I've no regrets about the way I've spent my time so far. 4. Death Stranding My first Kojima game, but certainly won't be my last. I enjoyed every minute of this one, including the dumbass 30 minute-long credit sequence at the end. Really looking forward to the sequel! 3. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Easily the best game in the series for me. The gameplay was consistently engaging and managed to have a stack of systems that never felt overwhelming. I particularly enjoyed the card-based chain attack system (which had some kick-rear end music to go with it). The cast of this game, particularly in the main party was excellent both writing and acting-wise. Everyone was really well fleshed out and the character's interactions with each-other felt very realistic. I did find the last dungeon to be too long and the final boss to be kinda "eh", but the actual resolution to the story was very bitter-sweet in a good way. I've still got loads of side content to get through so I wouldn't be surprised if this game manages to be on my 2023 list as well! 2. Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker I started XIV at the beginning of 2021, and poked at it periodically throughout the year, but it never really grabbed me. At the beginning of this year I picked it up again and finally reached the first 4-man duties that something finally clicked and I proceeded to spend the next several months playing through the main scenario to the exclusion of almost all other games. The story and characters resonated with me in ways that I didn't think an MMO was capable of. I've also taken a lot of enjoyment in watching the game improve in tangible ways as I play through ten years worth of expansions. Some of the latest trials really show off the mechanical improvements they've made over the years, and I'm excited to see what further patches and the next expansion will bring to the table! 1. Nier: Automata I actually first played this in 2021 hot on the heels of playing Replicant, which ended up being a bit of mistake because I was a bit burnt out by the end of it. Decided to replay it this year and found myself enjoying it much, much more. Yoko Taro's writing combined with the dynamic soundtrack by Keiichi Okabe and an actual competent studio behind the actual gameplay made for a truly special game. As someone who first played Nier on the PS3 it remains insane to me that this sequel was ever made, but I'm grateful it was and hope this won't be the last we see of this universe.
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Dec 20, 2022 23:15
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susan b buffering posted:7. Ghost of Tsushima Ghost of Tsushima caught me by surprise too. I dismissed it as yet another AAA open world game like all the rest but it really was something special.
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Dec 20, 2022 23:54
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McCracAttack posted:Ghost of Tsushima caught me by surprise too. I dismissed it as yet another AAA open world game like all the rest but it really was something special. I feel like the mission structure really helped it for me. Having side-quests be part of a larger story involving a particular character (and explicitly categorized as such) really helped avoid the typical "ok is this side quest I stumbled upon actually any good or just fluff" that I feel with other open world games. Generally everything just felt very well-paced and logically presented to me in contrast with other AAA open world games I've bounced off of.
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Dec 21, 2022 00:15
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Zaggitz posted:Most insane game I watched my wife play that Everyone needs to know about : Harvestella Not planning on playing this or watching my wife play it (she used to like farming games but got burned out on the whole genre by the terrible Doraemon harvest moon game), so just wanna ask about the spoiler tagged part: I hope that means that the entire game actually takes place on the Moon in the distant future?
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Dec 21, 2022 04:00
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Item Getter posted:Not planning on playing this or watching my wife play it (she used to like farming games but got burned out on the whole genre by the terrible Doraemon harvest moon game), so just wanna ask about the spoiler tagged part: Not the entire game, you visit earth and also spend a lot of time in a space elevator between them. But the bulk of game time and the core world is on the moon, yeah
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Dec 21, 2022 04:10
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Thanks to this thread I am losing my mind about Harvestella.
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Dec 21, 2022 04:26
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Rosalind posted:Thanks to this thread I am losing my mind about Harvestella. good
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Dec 21, 2022 04:37
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cheetah7071 posted:Not the entire game, you visit earth and also spend a lot of time in a space elevator between them. But the bulk of game time and the core world is on the moon, yeah 
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Dec 21, 2022 05:50
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special mention: i listed this in a previous year and didnt want to put it in again, but prodeus is out in full now and is absolutely incredible 20. vampire survivors  the best way to describe this game is as a sort of minimalist roguelike. fun for what it is, but the small number of complete weapons and lack of level variation means it runs out of steam sooner rather than later. cant complain for $3 or whatever tho 19. lost ark arpg mmo with a really really fun arpg combat systme unfortunately tied to really annoying progression. didnt take any screenshots or clips and i dont care to find any. 18. the cycle  the freest and least terrifying of the loot and extract fps games 17. last epoch a more standard arpg, takes cues from d2, d3 and poe in various ways. overall quite fun, but its early access and the end game is lacking, and thats teh part of an arpg that gets you to stick around. will go back to it in the future when its more complete though, the combat and builds are solid. just imagine theres a picture of 5,000 idol drops here. 16. siralim ultimate  pokemon, except everything is extremely overpowered and stupid. want a monster that buffs your entire team on stat loss which procs another monster to auto self buff and so on until a single turn takes 20 seconds on 4x speed? go hog wild 15. eco  a wipe based mp game where you start with nothing on a world threatened by an imminent meteor, with the goal being for everyone on the server to work together to advance to the end game tech: a big gun to blow up the meteor. lots of complicated systems with rooms having requirements to function, your xp gain being passive and influenced by the quality of your house and food, dirty industries creating pollution which destroys plant life and causes animals to no longer spawn limiting food sources etc. v interesitng how it all works and how it makes a game u can play online with randoms that is largely friendly and cooperative, driven by the fact that you can only learn a limited subset of the games skills, so you need to trade and interact with other people to progress and get things done. 14. dragon crawl stone soup  i played tons of nethack when i was younger but trying to return to it recently has been futile, its age is so apparent and the mystique is gone when i already know a lot of the games systems. dcss solved a lot of that. its still a v traditional style roguelike, but it has a much saner sense of progression and feels much more expansive and deep at the same time. also unlike nethack i actually managed to win a run, so its clearly the better game. 13. suzerain  cyoa/vn/map game hybrid thing?? about becoming the leader of a country, and then developing it and steering it thru various events. its not a map game in the sense of a paradox game, and the trajectory of the country is somewhat set by the bounds of the vn style story telling, but despite that its broad and detailed in what is possible. my first playthrough i tried to push through various reforms, but i struggled to get the right backing to pass it. my popularity plummeted even as i kept trying to do the right thing, and eventually there was an outright attempt on my life. i ended the game losing my bid for reelection (the game ends after this point anyway, you only get one term). i thought a lot of this was basically me hitting the restrictions you usually hit in vn/cyoa games like this, but i played again and no, i just failed lol. ive not played a game in this style that has so much flexibility, and the world and its politics are extraordinarily coherent and well fleshed out. 12. djmax respect v  not much to say about a rhythm game. this is probably the best one ive played because the tracklist is gigantic and there is a huge difficulty/skill ceiling. theres 4, 5, 6, and 8 button modes, with the charts having 30 difficulty tiers. turn off the backgrounds because therye unbelievably annoying, and a lot of them have insane flashing/strobing. also i suck thaht gif is from like, a tier 11? 12? chart lol. some people full clear the hardest tracks with 100% hits only... one day... 11. victoria 3  after ck3 i was a bit worried about getting a paradox game on release but v glad i did. this is instantly one of the better paradox games alongside eu4 and hoi4, earning its place by having a really interesting economic simulation to play around with. you already know if this game is for you or not but if you like paradox games and havnt tried it yet, its very much wroth it, although ck2/3 players probably will hate it because its very much about mechanics rather than storytelling. 10. caves of qud    i have a weird problem where roguelikes with an overworld instantly turn me off of the game for some reason, so i initially bounced off this game when i first tried it a couple of years ago. hhwoever a combination of a friend enthusing about it and a couple of youtube videos about its complexity got me to give it another shot and im v glad i did. the overworld is static each run, with the tiles being procgen, which gives a good sense of how to progress your game each time, a bit like dcss and its various sub areas. and the complexity... i dont think theres another game in the genre with this many options for how to approach each run and character build, and some of what you can do becomes truly absurd. the game lets you play either as a mutated human, or a "pure" human, with both having their own power building structure. a mutant will unsurprisingly mutate to become more powerful. you can absoltuely become a 4 armed 4 gunned psyker that can create forcefields around yourself. you can absolutely run around blasting everything with pyro and cryo kinesis while flying around with mutated wings. the pure humans cannot mutate but they start with more equipment, they are tolerated by the purist faction, and they get an array of cybernetic enhancements in place of mutations. you cant mutate more arms but you can surgically reform your face into an angelic visage to increase your ego, or turn your skin translucent so you are some insane biology diagram running around, which somehow makes you harder to hit?? probably the most insane options though would be the mutations that let you control others or even take over other bodies temporarily, although if your real body gets hit youll snap back to it. but what if your real body died in one hit before you could snap back? well obivously you simply stay in the body you had hijacked, permanently. for some reason this is all accounted for in the game and works lol extremely cool game. 9. splatoon 3   next in my running theme of games/series i had written off and now enjoy is splatoon 3. i had played some of the first one before, but the motion aiming was extremely annoying and a lot of the weapons felt unsatisfying to use. hwoever i ended up watching someone else who had also discounted the series have a lot of fun with this one, specifically w salmon run, and i wanted to give it another shot. the game, is very fun it turns out. its a really solid shooter, with some extremely fun game modes. the single player mode is almost worth it alone, although its a bit too short to be the only reason to get the game. but its a lot of fun and very welcome in game that probably couldve just released without any single player at all. salmon run is one of the better horde modes, and it scales up to get quite hard to clear with matchmade team mates. lots of variation in the runs and rewards that are relevant to the main modes too. the pvp modes are all really good, although i think the unranked objectiveless "paint the map" mode is the weakest. some of the guns still feel like rear end, but theres also 70 of them so it doesnt matter. 8. sephonie   anodyne 2 devs make a parkour platformer with puzzle based boss fights. this game is a bit, bittersweet. its a good game, its up this high for a reason, but i couldnt help comparing it to anodyne 2 constantly and even though thats unfair, it doesnt compare in the story and writing. the gameplay however is better. the movement is awkward at first but has a really unique flow to it you get accustomed to and lets you sneak up into spots you thought you shouldnt be in, but that the devs knew you would get to. the little puzzle game is a pretty fun twist on various block placing games, its immediately recogniseable but doesnt play like any of the games it evokes. the levels are beautiful and strange and much more interesting to explore than the 3d parts of their previous game. but it sort of falls apart at the end, unfortunately, in the writing. for probably 80-90% of the game the writing and characters are solid. the end of the game and its epilogue are a rushed mess that sort of spoil a lot of the story. the epilogue especially i would say is the worst offender, and if you skip it the game is immediately improved. however its still worth playing, its still one of the best games i played this year lol but just ignore the epilogue. pretend it doesnt exist. there is still a full game here to play that is worth your time.   7. path of exile  can u believe this is another game i had written off and finally got into??? i had tried playing this probably 4 or 5 times to this point, because i like arpgs, i have the brain thing where loot makes me hoot like an ape. what finally got me into the game was giving in and using a build guide to get off the ground. this is the most complex arpg by quite a margin and copying someone else let me ease into it, whereas before i had been trying to jump into the deep end without understanding even the basics. this is my most played game this year by an embarrassing amount and also already one of my most played games on steam ever. its complexity is compelling, the end game is absolutely incredible and the feeling of progressing a chracter is top tier. i still think the game drops too much pointless loot for no reason but at least you can filter it out. also having to play the campaign every time is "suboptimal". looking forward to making my own builds that are completely flawed and unusuable in the future. 6. disillusion     the pictures are pretty self explanatory. just your typical dungeon crawler. the wheel of samsara is turning golem, ack ack.     5. xenoblade chronicles 3    i tried xbc2 a year or so ago and i bounced off it really hard (this is the last time i promise), so i wasnt really thinking about this game. but when it came out i wasnt playing anything so i tried it out. basically instantly the game grabbed me, the setting and characters were just way more in line with what i like and were engaging the whole way through. more than that tho this is one of the best main parties in any jrpg. none of them fall flat, theyre all really fantastic and the in group dynamics are fleshed out incredibly well. the game also doesnt make you pick and choose who to use, everyone is in every fight, no ones just appearing for a cutscene and disappearing, and no one feels forgotten or underwritten. and this level of quality is maintained for the villains and many of the non-party friendlies you encounter. the very first antagonist is one of the most fun bad guys ever, just a complete fucker who loves being evil. theres side character arcs that are better than main character arcs in most other games. the only dip is in a handful of the optional party characters, some are a bit rushed and their story is blasted through without enought ime, but that applies to maybe 2 of the 16 or so available, and its more than outweighed by the really good ones. the combat is very fun, with the game adding more and more complexity for basically the entire run time. this works well overall but there are one or two mechanics i wish came a bit earlier. one in particular thaht i dont even need to name, adds an incredible amount of flexibility to your party but comes so late theres very little to use it on and developing it requires a ton of back tracking. its "open" world, although its more large maps that you travel between than a single contiguous space. but this works to its benefit and lets them make some v detailed areas that are fun to explore, with tons of side quests hidden all over the place. i eventually had to stop trying to complete them all and finish the game bcos i was getting burnt out but theres enough here to make the world feel dense w stuff to do, and the quality of writing is consistent over all of this. in fact some completely optional quests i found had pretty big character moments for the main party within them whcih i really appreciate. the main story itself is incredible, its probably one of my favorite jrpg stories, with some unforgettable moments. this is extremely wishy washy but i dotn want tos poil anything lol somehow making me worried a main character was going to be gone forever while not doing that, and having it feel earned, is an incredible feat. if youve played you know, if you havnt and you like jrpgs you should. simple as that.    4. neon white   speedrunning first person shooter puzzle virtual novel breakcore album. absoltuel ydivine gameplay, ludicruous soundtrack, ultra stylish, extremely stupid writing thhat manages to stay on the entertaining side of dumb for most of the game. sitting down and playing one level for 30 minutes straight even though its a 10 second level to try and get the best time out of your friends leaderboard. somehow has 100 levels of this and it only keeps building and building. no dip. you will begin to create shortcuts only to realise the game expects you to use that route to get the best times. gameplay is pure time attack, you have to get to the goal as fast possible, but it will only open when every enemy is defeated. the weapons are collected in level as cards, and discarding the weapon causes it to trigger its secondary ability; the pistol will give you an extra jump, the rocket launcher doubles as a grappling hook etc. level routing consists of working out how to spend your limited resources to destroy every enemy and get around the various obstacles. missing a few too many shots or discarding at the wrong time will mean resetting to try again. perfecting a route involves working out how to skip as much of the level as possible while still popping every enemy, requiring extremely efficient thinking and exploration of the space. you need to get at least gold medals to progress, and getting higher tier medals unlocks gifts to spend in the vn section, leaderboards and ghosts, and even hints on major skips. the top level medal is a hidden dev time medal which usually involves truly creative thinking to cut levels down by huge amounts. even if you dont like the writing the game is good enough on a mechanical and aesthetic level to recommend playing and mashing through the dialog. v pure gaming experience, the soundtrack is gorgeous and matches the speed and intensity of the game perfectly, and the visuals are striking while keeping everything supremely clear and readable.   3. pokemon violet     bad frame rate cant stop this from being the best pokemon game ever made. sword and shields dlc concepts pushed out to a full open world, with the best characters in the series. an open world Pokemon Game, rather than an Open World Game with pokemon in it like arceus. god like. theres really nothing else to say bcos this is exactly what it looks like and its either something youve always wanted or something you dont care about at all. also the area zero theme is nuts.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuMHCJ_fWJg 2. milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk/milk outside a bag of milk outside a bag of milk     finally a game where i can play as a girl with schizoaffective disorder who hates milk. counts for milk outside a bag of milk outside a bag of milk for pruposes of scoring.     1. elden ring      easily the best game of the year, this would be the best game of the year in nearly any year. one of the best video games ever created, and without question or even anything that comes anywhere near it the best world in any video game ever made. even replaying it this week, after 150 hours when it came out and seeing every location in the game, the world is truly unbelievable. it does not seem like it should exist, and it makes every other open world game look pathetic in comparison. its shocking that it is this huge, this unique, and this dense, with so little padding. not only resisting pointless busywork to fill up the world, its confident enough to hide entire zones that in other games would be capstones and let you completely miss them. even the smaller dungeons that share tilesets have more compelling and interesting design than most games main content. some other posts mentioned the end portion of the game being worse than the rest but i cannot disagree more, the final run of end game boss fights contains the best from soft bosses in a non sekiro game, and many of them rank with sekiros best fights. maliketh, malenia, mohg, godfrey, radagon and elden beast is an insane final run of bosses, and anyone complaining about it is likely dealing with a severe skill issue, coping, and seething. godfrey/hoarah loux in particular is on par with owl and isshin. an incredibly special game, a high water mark, a flawless masterpiece. sublime. no notes. goty.           ez list 10. caves of qud 9. splatoon 3 8. sephonie 7. path of exile 6. disillusion 5. xenoblade chronicles 3 4. neon white 3. pokemon violet 2. milk outside a bag of milk outside a bag of milk 1. elden ring
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Dec 21, 2022 06:48
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I’ma buy those bag of milk games. I love milk (that’s unrelated to why I would buy them though)
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Dec 21, 2022 07:20
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Escobarbarian posted:I’ma buy those bag of milk games. I love milk (that’s unrelated to why I would buy them though) They're really good!
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Dec 21, 2022 07:24
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Some more epic lists itt, ops
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Dec 21, 2022 09:23
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great list stux
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Dec 21, 2022 09:28
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I bounced off every one of those games too, but I guess I’m going back to check them out again once I’m done with Elden Ring (my first Soulslike, I’m so bad, the game deserves a better player)
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Dec 21, 2022 09:33
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Stux posted:6. disillusion Hell yeah I love when a list shows up with games I have never heard about but are totally My Jam. Bag of Milk looks so cool. Stux posted:some other posts mentioned the end portion of the game being worse than the rest but i cannot disagree more, the final run of end game boss fights contains the best from soft bosses in a non sekiro game[...] and anyone complaining about it is likely dealing with a severe skill issue, coping, and seething. but also you're mean 
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Dec 21, 2022 10:21
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the milk/bag games are great. the kind of games that you play and then think to yourself, ahh, video games, what are you doing to me
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Dec 21, 2022 12:26
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Stux posted:i have the brain thing where loot makes me hoot like an ape.
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Dec 21, 2022 15:53
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Looking back over my notes from this year it’s not apparent that I actually like playing video games all that much. I mean I do like video games, but what I mean is that the reason I play video games isn't always the video games themselves. I like is being part of a community, and video games gives me an in for that. I’ve made some great friends from talking about video games with goons, and some of those friends stood next to me at my wedding this year. All of this is to say that my 2022 Game of the Year is The Friends I Made Along The Way. Not really. I didn’t play many games this year, between planning the wedding, working, and getting a new puppy to close out the year. I have ranked the best 10 games that I did play. Lots of people complained about a dearth of releases this year, but I had no such issue finding things to play. I didn’t give sufficient time to a few games I bought – Sonic Frontiers may have made this list, Pokemon Scarlet/Violet definitely would not have – and didn’t buy several others – I’ll have to wait until next year to try Stranger of Paradise and Project Triangle Strategy. Some of the games I played this year are some of the best I’ve ever played. You should consider the top 3 all #1 for different reasons, ranked just so that Rarity and VG can do the spreadsheet thing. So, let’s get started. The 2021 Game Most Likely To Make The 2022 List: The Great Ace Attorney 2 …I only played one case of this. Reading puts me to sleep, okay? The 2022 Game Most Likely To Make The 2023 List: Need for Speed Unbound I started playing this in December and while I don’t think I want to remove anything from the 2022 list to add it, it’s really great if you are itching from a clearly Fast and Furious-inspired arcade racer on your next gen console. On PlayStation, anyway, arcade racers are sorely lacking. The game looks great, plays well, and the races all feel personal thanks to the game’s systems. It’s captivated me in a way that other games have failed to, and I’m excited to play more of it in 2023. Honorable mention: The Digimon Card Game I’ve had my eye on the new Digimon TCG since it released in 2020, the ideal year to start a new card game. In September, a local store announced that they were going to do Digimon locals on Wednesday nights, and that’s all she wrote for me. I am now hundreds of dollars and several decks into this stupid game, and I’ve made several three-hour road trips to take my friends to play in a more populous scene (and have another planned for early January). So if it looks like I haven’t played a lot of video games this year, or fell through on giving the proper time to even some stuff on my list…this is why. The Digimon TCG has occupied most of my vastly diminished free time in the latter third of this year. I love card games, and Digimon has always held a special place in my heart (more so, possibly, than Pokemon). #10: Poinpy As Geoff Keighley’s “Summer Geoff Fest” raged on, showing minute after minute of space horror games, Netflix had a showcase. “Whatever.” I said. “Netflix games will be a stupid thing I don’t care about.” Then they announced Poinpy, a vertical scroller by the developer of Downwell, which is also a vertical scroller and a very good one. In Poinpy, you climb a level, bouncing off walls and enemies to collect fruit and make a smoothie for the large beast chasing you. As you play, you gain extra jumps and items that make the experience a little easier. This is all typical post-gacha mobile fare on a curated service like Apple Arcade, or *spits* I guess Netflix Games. What is interesting about Poinpy is that it ends. You get to “Gourmet Level 20” by making increasingly difficult smoothies, and then play a definitive final level. Then, you are treated to a fully produced cutscene that recontextualizes the entire game. The context is heartwarming, the gameplay is perfect, and I think Poinpy is just really good. #9: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge Speaking of friends, this game is a great way to kill two hours with your buddies. Shredder’s Revenge is a throwback to the old TMNT beat-em-ups that incorporates some modern developments like supers and dodge rolls alongside a kick-rear end soundtrack by Tee Lopes that involves Mega Ran and Ghostface Killah and features really clean pixel art reminiscent of the best of the GBA. That should be enough for anyone, frankly. #8: Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak I feel like I owe this game an apology. I banked 100 hours on the Switch version of Rise, and it was easily my GOTY last year. I bought Rise again for the PC, and Sunbreak for only the PC when it came out over the summer. And then…I just didn’t play it a lot. I don’t know if I burned out on Monster Hunter on the Switch, or having the game on the PC makes it less accessible to me than it was on the Switch, but I don’t feel like I’ve given this game the shake it deserves. Regardless, Monster Hunter Rise still kicks rear end, so here it is on this list. #7: AI The Somnium Files: The Nirvana Institute You can make a lot of hay over whether the original Somnium Files game is better than The Nirvana Initiative. The sequel is more up its own rear end, which is saying something. It is a matter of some debate whether this works for it. Some criticisms are that it is less tightly plotted than the original, and that some of the supporting characters are not as interesting as the cast of the first game, and I think I do agree with those criticisms. However, what AINI does do is laser-targeted to appeal to me, forums poster wuggles specifically, and for that I love it very much. And…that’s all I can say! To say anything else would be to spoil an insane reveal that (to me) is incredible and sufficiently justified. Play this video game please. Mizuki is the best video game character of all time. Thank you. #6: Kirby and the Forgotten Land I’m not really excited to talk about Forgotten Land in the same way I’m not really excited to talk about Elden Ring. It’s just an insanely competent video game with a lot of content. I’ve only rolled the credits once, which means there is a lot of stuff left to do, and maybe one day I’ll get back to it because I know the post-credits stuff is very fun. I will say that all Kirby games should be 3D adventure games that lean into character action boss fights from now on. I don’t think the series will continue to appeal to me in 2D after playing this game. #5: Neon White  Neon White (the game or the character, you pick) stands before the armies of hell and heaven and dares to say, “I’m not cringe. You’re cringe.” Neon White is a game about being good at video games. It is a first-person speedrunning platformer-shooter. There are cards, but it’s not about the cards (they are just a visual language for managing a different finite set of power-ups in each level). I was in on Neon White early because its developer, Ben Esposito, made the excellent Donut County, and Neon White looked completely different. What captivated me about the game immediately was seeing that Relax or Die had beat my time on the tutorial stage by ten seconds. “I must destroy my friend,” I thought, and played the tutorial level a dozen more times to limited success. Regardless, I was hooked. So, Neon White is a game where you are incentivized to play its short (typically sub-minute) levels over and over for perfection (a Gold, Ace, or even Developer Medal if you’re a real sick gently caress) and for the hidden gifts in each one. You traverse levels by “discarding” your weapon to trigger its single-use traversal effect, which might be a double jump or an air dash. They get cooler as the game goes on, but I don’t want to spoil. The other, far less baked side of this game is the visual novel. In Heaven (you’re in Heaven fighting demons I don’t think I mentioned), White talks to his friends and acquaintances, giving the gifts you collect in the action stages to unlock typically middling dialogue, typically excellent bonus stages, and occasionally memories to White’s past that are key to unlocking the game’s “good ending.” Look, you’re either going to like or hate the writing. There’s references to John Cena, My Chemical Romance, Sonic the Hedgehog, and the game is incredibly horny. Even as someone who doesn’t mind a horny video game (see: AI), I found the writing usually below average. However, writing and plot are separate. Once it got rolling in the last third of the game, I thought the plot was extremely interesting, and asks some provoking questions about the nature of the afterlife even if it doesn’t seem interested in answering those questions. The thing is, no matter how you feel about the visual novel, the action stages own. Anyone interested in platformers, so-called “boomer” shooters, or going very fast and getting salty about your friends owes it to themselves to play this game. #4: Snowrunner  A game I never would have touched if not for the fact that it was constantly being discussed in the CSPAM games thread. (You do not need to tell me how you feel about CSPAM.) I have been playing video games for at least 25 years and so I’m pretty good at a lot of different types of them, fighting games being a notable exception (though I’m getting better). Snowrunner, a simulation game about driving trucks through inhospitable terrain, is not in my wheelhouse. Once I took some advice from my fellow goons – use your pickup truck to scout the area for upgrades, prioritize getting your big truck some better tires and raised suspension – I have always had a good time when I booted up this game to drive around. And I haven’t even left Michigan yet! Snowrunner and other goon darling Death Stranding share the commonality of being my favorite type of open world game, where traversing the terrain is the game. Even in Elden Ring, traversing the world is sort of a frictionless experience (turn of phrase thanks to Waypoint’s Renata). The game is elsewhere. In Death Stranding and Snowrunner, the game is the open world. Yeah, Snowrunner’s got towers, but getting to any one of those towers is a triumph. #3: Vampire Survivors  ShallNoiseUpon summed this up perfectly (I’m paraphrasing): “What if we used casino mechanics to make the game more fun instead of to take your money?” Vampire Survivors, which I came to long after everyone else did, is a constant dopamine drip. The experience bar fills quickly, items drop constantly, and the goal is to fill the screen with your poo poo faster than the screen can be filled with other poo poo. It’s a great game to play while you chat with your buddies or listen to a podcast, and I was delighted to learn some parts of it are straight up weird. I said earlier that the top three are all #1 in their own way. In an era where many games are overwrought – games are delayed constantly because AAA development is unsustainable – Vampire Survivors is the opposite of that. It is deliberately lo-fi, streamlined as much as possible to get to the fun part. #2: Rogue Legacy 2  Rogue Legacy 2, like Spelunky 2, is a game that is harmed by its predecessor. Some people who loved the first game skipped the second, since both are refinements on the formula. Fortunately, I have never played Rogue Legacy, so I love this game. Rogue Legacy 2, like Vampire Survivors, is the worst offender in the “Just One More Run” category. You say that you’re done for the night, but then you see your new heir, you buy some new upgrades, and now you HAVE to see how the new character is going to play out, right? I usually finish a video game and then bin it, but I’m on NG+2 of Rogue Legacy 2. For that reason – keeping my attention when it is so fleeting – it was really hard not to make Rogue Legacy 2 my GOTY. But of course… #1: Elden Ring  There is nothing to say about Elden Ring that you have not already read by this point. The first two-thirds of the game is a 11.5/10 and the last third is a 7/10, averaging out to a 10/10. It’s a masterpiece. Bring on Armored Core. Easy list for scorekeeping: 10. Poinpy 9. TMNT Shredder's Revenge 8. MH Rise Sunbreak 7. AI:TSF The Nirvana Initiative 6. Kirby and the Forgotten Land 5. Neon White 4. Snowrunner 3. Vampire Survivors 2. Rogue Legacy 2 1. Elden Ring
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Dec 21, 2022 20:50
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Trying to write this list made me realise how few games I played this year. The top 3 are probably among my favourite games ever though... 8. Katana Zero Tight, looked and sounded great. 7. Valheim Had lots of fun building things in this. Less fun fighting things. It's the only multiplayer survival/crafting game I've enjoyed. 6. Metroid Dread Had a blast with this. Suffered in comparison to Hollow Knight though. 5. Slay the Spire Just a great game. For some reason I picked this up despite not liking the art style or the concept of deck building. I still sunk 30+hrs into it, which is a lot for me. 4. Slice and Dice A wonderfully balanced and moreish roguelike (?) dice game. Much like StS, it presents so many interesting choices and ways to mitigate risk or optimise attacks. Probably the best phone game I've ever played. Made by a goon. The thread is here. 3. Hollow Knight No Metroidvania can compare to this. The atmosphere and care in the worldbuilding is up there with the next two games. 2. BotW I only got round to finishing BotW in January this year. It was a perfect escape from the shittiness of last winter. Obviously it pales in comparison to Elden Ring in direct comparison, but I love it for different reasons. It's beautiful in its own way - the low-key soundtrack worked perfectly for me. 1. Elden Ring The greatest game world ever probably. I couldn't believe how often it surprised me with awe-inspiring locales and unforgettable moments. getting on that innocuous lift and wondering what was taking so long as it descended, then being absolutely blown away by the underground area Chas McGill fucked around with this message at 22:17 on Dec 21, 2022 |
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Dec 21, 2022 21:19
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Looper posted:i feel bad ranking it so relatively low, too many good games out there... I think most people don't even end up playing it so any attention is good attention.
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Dec 21, 2022 23:32
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cheetah7071 posted:the images showing the previous top 3s are links Epic High Five posted:They are! The images at the bottom of the 2nd post with the past winners also link to those threads. thanks, hadn't noticed this and I've already written down a few titles from the 2021 thread
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Dec 21, 2022 23:44
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Harvestella is really good, it unfortunately got lumped into a Direct with a dozen farm sims and SE didn't advertise it at all. So people expected a Rune Factory, where it's more Legend of Mana.. separate cities/quests/people randomly at times that all link up at points, absolutely great music, and lovely combat. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wwsD9xRtbw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCQf03b_UnE Barreft fucked around with this message at 04:27 on Dec 22, 2022 |
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Dec 22, 2022 04:25
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10 days left 
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Dec 22, 2022 04:59
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I should have mine finished tomorrow, it's just been a busy/stressful season and I haven't had the mental bandwidth to do too much at a time
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Dec 22, 2022 06:02
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I'm playing games as fast as possible to lock my list down but drat, too many fantastic games this year and too little time. Some of these are going to inevitably wind up in my Honorable Mentions category. along with Elden Ring 
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Dec 22, 2022 06:17
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I've not even started my list 
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Dec 22, 2022 06:58
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Rarity posted:I've not even started my list I'm already planning out my 2023 one.... 
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Dec 22, 2022 07:05
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Rarity posted:I've not even started my list oh no! 
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Dec 22, 2022 07:15
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Rarity posted:I've not even started my list Last minute gang, let's go. I'm still putting together my list but I figure I'll get some gaming in during my break next week. Gonna see if I play enough of anything to feel like I can properly put it on a top 10. I have enough games to make an actual top 10 but y'know, you always want to put together the best list you can.
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Dec 22, 2022 07:20
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I just decided anything I play in December after posting my list will be considered part of next year's because I don't want to inconvenience anybody by editing my list again a week after posting it. Because I literally did the exact same thing as last year where I posted, then played a really good Mega Man game like 4 days later.
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Dec 22, 2022 14:20
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