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I didn't finish nearly as many games this year as I wanted to. This list is a bit janky. Tally person: Skip to the end for an easy list. 12: FROG DETECTIVE: THE TRILOGY   These are very silly point and clicks/3D exploration games that are very Australian in tone about helping out some goofy animals. It's on gamepass and it's just plain fun goofy stuff. Games 1 and 2 are each, like, an hour long. 11: LATER ALLIGATOR :no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19238086/Screenshot_2019_09_25_12.20.01.png)  While Frog Detective was just a goofy point and click, Later Alligator is a goofy point and click that's also full of minigames! And time management! And still being really funny. 10: IMMORTALITY   Wow! Three movies and a metanarrative about art and what it means to us! 9: SPIDER-MAN MILES MORALES  Miles Morales cuts down on a lot of the tedious repetitive bits to provide a DLC expansion that offers enjoyable characters, some nice twists on gameplay, and boss fights that actually have more tactics to them than just whipping an object into the enemy. I found the last boss actually tough! 8: GHOST OF TSUSHIMA: IKI ISLAND   Feeling like a natural extension of the base game, Iki Island expands on Jin's relationship with his father. I'm happy to say it also makes much clearer a message of the base game that seemed to elude some people: the samurai sucked, honour was a lie, and they brutally oppressed the people of the lands they expanded into. On Tsushima, Jin Sakai was a miraculously surviving scion of the Sakai clan. On Iki, he's recognised as the son of a butcher and mass murderer, and has to reconcile with that. Also Iki is real pretty and similar to Miles Morales, it provides a nicely focused experience that's also pleasant to 100%. 7: AI the Somnium Files : Nirvana Initiative   Not as good as the first game in terms of plotting. But the puzzles are still mostly fun, and it's a wacky ride through pseudoscience and an extremely online lead writer. Also this track rules and was a nice musical change of pace. 6: I WAS A TEENAGE EXOCOLONIST    Surprisingly underrepresented among the narrative games here. Exocolonist is mostly a time-management VN/lifesim, except certain events add memories (in the form of your cards) to your deck to help you overcome challenges in the form of a basic hand-creation minigame. The card mechanic does drag a little on replays (and you will replay the game) but it was a very nice experience with events that really caught me off guard the first time and nice characters. As a bonus - it is possible to get a good (though not perfect) ending on a first playthrough - something I didn't manage to do, although I did accomplish some surprising other goals. 5: SCARLET HOLLOW   Still in early access. A very choice and consequence-heavy horror VN. Not sure how much I appreciate the 'dateability' of some characters, but they're good characters! The writing is great. Also, I love a character who has no particular love for you but who you can come around on, so Cousin Tabitha rules. 4: NORCO   Norco is that rare kind of narrative where you're pulled 5 minutes into the future. It's set in the world of our online discourse, but taken seriously... and in small-town Louisiana which is not a setting I have a lot of familiarity with, so that was interesting. You get to pet cats, do JRPG-battles with times hits, and meet strange people that are familiar to the terminally online. It's a nice story and probably one of the big winners of GamePass, otherwise I can't imagine a game like this getting much exposure. 3: PENTIMENT   Sometimes it's about the journey, not the destination. Pentiment's not really about solving murders. It's about being part of people's lives and learning what's important to them. It's about history, and what we choose to remember, and what we intentionally ignore. 2: CITIZEN SLEEPER   Like youtuber Jacob Geller, I basically had to play my entire first playthrough in one straight sitting, I was so captivated. I was first intrigued by its similarities to the setting of new tabletop RPG Hard Wired Island. Like all good scifi and cyberpunk (and CS is cyberpunk!), it's set in the future, but is about problems today. It's about priorities and tough choices. My first ending, I heartlessly booked it off-station, to the despair of a friend left behind - because despite all my character's failings, I didn't have a child I needed to babysit. Could I have made it? Could I have made time? 1: ELDEN RING https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wsE2Lm2LJ0 Literally the above video, what else can even be said. You're tooling around the starting open area, you find an elevator, you think you're headed into another minidungeon... and fuckin that happens. You can never feel that again for the first time like that. Elden Ring feels like the end (video worth watching!), it's something game developers are going to learn all the wrong lessons from. Can it be repeated? Can it be bettered without being diluted? I don't know. FromSoft took their shot and despite some stumbles they knocked it out of the park overall... and I don't know what that means for future games. QUICK LIST: 12 Frog Detective 11 Later Alligator 10 Immortality 9 Spider-Man: Miles Morales 8 Ghost of Tsushima: Iki Island 7 AI Nirvana Initiative 6 I Was a Teenage Exocolonist 5 Scarlet Hollow 4 Norco 3 Pentiment 2 Citizen Sleeper 1 Elden Ring EDIT: Dishonorable mention: A Plague Tale 2 A very pretty game. Also a hard swerve from the tone of the original, just very... weird in the way it presented itself, in its gameplay, and the way it ended. I love indie developers saying "we're going to better AAA games in just one or two specific areas instead of spreading ourselves thin", I love when they do it with something other than writing... I just wish it wasn't on graphics. edit 2: lmao I forgot Immortality too bewilderment fucked around with this message at 05:48 on Dec 30, 2022 |
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Dec 30, 2022 05:27
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Tulip posted:Furi is so loving good, I still regularly listen to the soundtrack and the next game by that studio, Haven, rapidly jumped into a fav of mine despite having zero in common in terms of mechanics, being only similar in aesthetics and storytelling. I picked up Haven purely from how much I liked Furi but haven't played it yet. Maybe one for the '23 list! And yeah, Furi's story is surprisingly good and not what you'd expect from a boss rush game. Ineffiable posted:I played this earlier this year (literally like a month ago) and I can confirm it rules. Yep, from PS+ back then. And yeah, def feel like the master warrior. There's that 1 fight where, after a bunch of longer spectacle-filled battles, is just a 1v1 katana fight. Pretty much have the "It seems like we're fighting eachother, but we both know we're fighting ourselves" line drilled into my head forever.
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Dec 30, 2022 05:29
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lunar detritus posted:Huh, I got the complete opposite from it. I absolutely loved the one playthrough I finished but most of my interest was seeing what was going to happen. Once you get past that awesome "boss" event, there's nothing new to see. Agreed. I played this war of mine a zillion times, and was so hyped for frostpunk which I played about three times, and will never play again.
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Dec 30, 2022 05:34
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ultrachrist posted:I picked up Haven purely from how much I liked Furi but haven't played it yet. Maybe one for the '23 list! And yeah, Furi's story is surprisingly good and not what you'd expect from a boss rush game. Haven's very different but I'm kind of jealous of you for getting to play it later, they've added some great updates (most notably, gay boy mode and gay girl mode). I will admit I'm a huge sucker for romances, and Haven is legit a really sweet one with characters that I found incredibly charming. e: Also in May, Furi is getting a DLC that adds a new playable character (!??!)
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Dec 30, 2022 06:11
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Grapplejack posted:whoops I got distracted while writing my little thing, I updated it. Also I never saw that scene with the Miller, There's so much of this game I never saw and that's kind of amazing. I did like four playthroughs and did as much as I could, when I was finally done and uninstalled the game to free up some space, the very next thing posted in the Pentiment thread was somebody discussing a scene I had never seen or had any idea was possible (Act 1 - Paul, Anna and Bert playing by the Salt Mine in the forest). It's incredible.
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Dec 30, 2022 07:07
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For my lists, I usually just go with stuff I’ve beaten in the year, just because it’s easier to manage, and if something is good enough I usually finish it. Aside from one possible exception. Games Beaten This Year That Missed Being Listed (Order of Completion in the Year for Category): Beaten Previously: Metal Gear Rising Revengeance, Mega Man 2, Final Fantasy VI (via the Pixel Remaster), Megaman X4, Illusion of Gaia, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island, Earthbound, Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse, Bayonetta, Klonoa 2: Lunatea’s Veil (via Phantasy Reverie Series) No shade on missing the list for these, I heavily deprioritize these just for the novelty. Otherwise Illusion of Gaia would probably still be in the top 5 every year. Newly Finished This Year: 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, Streets of Rage 4, Everhood, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, Echo Generation, Little Nightmares, Mr. Driller Drill Land, Yoku’s Island Express, OneShot, Dragon’s Dogma, Bayonetta 3 Also no shade, most of them just because they didn’t grab me as hard as the list games, though at least one of those is because I can’t mention them in the positive thread. Honorable Mentions: Azure Striker Gunvolt, Azure Striker Gunvolt 2, Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX, Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX 2, Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 AKA the entire main Gunvolt series, each of which I beat for the first time this year. I had tried the first many years ago and kept getting irritated about the rerez power where you just don’t die when you lose, as when I lose to a boss I want to learn their moves and get good at countering them, rather than beasting them with cutscene powers. Once I learned how that mechanic operated and I could mostly keep it off and turn off prevasion, it was a lot more fun to learn the bosses. I’m surprised at how experimental they get with the basic gameplay, it’s kind of funny that Gunvolt is my least favorite character to play in this series. He’s not the default in 3, but you can swap to him in a pinch and I just never did, lol. Sonic Origins Story Mode This also got deprioritized because you know, beat these all before, but there is something to be said for just running through them all at once in widescreen that felt great in a way I hadn’t experienced with these games prior. Felt like I played better than I ever did in these games, and also letting you retry special stages (and the 3D redone Sonic 2 special stages) got me to actually go for the emeralds for the first time ever, although it almost feels too easy to do now. My one complaint was that story mode saddled you with Tails in Sonic 2 and 3, but that was more because at launch he’d get stuck somewhere early on in a level and you’d just hear his dumbass jumping for the entire stage because of a glitch. That supposedly got fixed after I beat it though. Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth - Record of Lodoss War Just barely getting edged out of the list is this excellent game that I actually owned pretty early on into its early access period and decided I’d play later when it’s complete. I maybe waited longer than I needed to, but to be fair I tend to not like most games that are considered Metroidvanias, I think I just straight up like Metroid and Castlevania more. So it’s good that this game is a particularly gorgeous sendup to Symphony of the Night that plays well, has great music, and doesn’t outstay its welcome. I feel like I’ve been meaning to watch Lodoss War forever, should probably get around to that someday. Anyway, time for the main list. 10. Terranigma  Quintet, The Sacred Summit, “On this day, N. America was resurrected” Terranigma is in the same series as Soul Blazer and Illusion of Gaia, the latter of which is one of my favorite games from the SNES and I replay it every year. You’d think the immediate followup would have been a higher priority to me, but it didn’t come out in the US back in the day and there was definitely a weird mental block keeping me from playing stuff emulated for a long time, which a Mister has definitely helped alleviate. There’s something about making your fantasy JRPG take place in the real world during a fictionalized age of discovery where you’re having to rebuild the earth piece by piece, and then re-animate all living beings, and only then you start getting plot details of why the world is this way and what you’ve been doing for half the game because now there’s people to talk to that is just super interesting. I don’t think I like the gameplay as much as Gaia, I don’t think the leveling or magic really adds much of anything (other than grinding), but there’s still a lot to like here, other than the hardest boss in the game being in service of saving Columbus. 9. Star Ocean - The Divine Force https://i.imgur.com/o4pXUS9.mp4 Tri-Ace, Velanj Garfield, Bravery Flows Where Flesh Meets Steel So I’m sitting here near the end of the year and I was trying to see if I could complete this game before December was over, because as of this moment it’s the one exception I’ve ever made to my “game beaten in the year” criteria for my lists. But I’d feel bad if I didn’t include it, and hey, I still got time. Star Ocean 6 isn’t going to change the minds of anyone that tapped out of the series at any of the various blunders and budget issues it’s had over the years, but I do think they’ve finally thought about what they could do and incorporated the most of the series identity they could into this game. They finally just got rid of the bad controls they’ve saddled themselves with for years so it just plays like a normal rear end action game, kept a dual protagonist setup even if it doesn’t amount to many differences, kept portions of the open combat from 5 (your party is back to being limited, but you can fight a ton of enemies at once), and incorporated blindsides into the new central D.U.M.A. mechanic. D.U.M.A being a plot robot which basically gives the player controlled character specific abilities to fly around and shield themselves, and also allows you to explore the environments in a similar way. The plot is also not particularly novel and retreads a lot of the same beats as their prior games, but for what it’s worth I’ve enjoyed it up to the point I’ve played to. It runs like junk at times, has a ridiculously tiny font, and is maybe a bit too easy, but I’ve not hit any snags that got me to quit immediately like the last two games. It’s the most I’ve enjoyed a Star Ocean game since 3, which I realized I still liked after trying to run through it earlier in the year. Still want to go back and finish that. 8. Sonic Frontiers https://i.imgur.com/CJUeY0n.mp4 Guardian: GHOST, Big the Cat, Nier? I’m not the most ardent follower of Sonic, I liked the 2D games just fine, and played Adventure 1 because the Dreamcast was sick, and I touched a couple of the 3D games around the 360 era, but otherwise I wasn’t paying attention to this game or anticipating it at all. It was only after I started seeing people play the game and how much of a chill open world game it is that I realized I would want to touch it at some point. Sonic Frontiers feels incredibly good to play. Sonic’s movement means you’re zooming around the open world and constantly coming across things to run through or on, and the combat, while simplistic, has an incredible spectacle of you ping-ponging against everything you come across. This culminates in giant super Sonic mech fights that don’t have any real danger but feel super satisfying and cool. It’s slightly disappointing that the cyberspace levels are all one of a few tired Sonic zones, and that some of them share elements from other 3D Sonics, but they’re disconnected in a way where they come across as just nice challenges that are part of the world rather than the sole highlight. I blasted through collecting all the things (even the things I didn’t need) in like 30 hours and it was a joy the whole time. 7. Vampire Survivors https://i.imgur.com/8LnIlmS.mp4 Definitely has vampires, Moms are tough, Bargain Absolutely not something I saw coming, or that would ever be in my wheelhouse. Especially when I was introduced to it as a game you don’t play that rips off Castlevania. Another game that I didn’t actually understand until I saw someone else playing it and then had to try off of Game Pass. It’s a bit funny, but after trying it out for a couple rounds I had just enough cards on Steam to sell to just buy it outright and just said gently caress it because it’s just that cheap. Just a game jampacked with fun secrets and references and tons of abilities to unlock and build and powerup yourself with. Good for a quick run every now and then, and so many goals to strive for while it’s filling you with dopamine and melting your graphics card. Admittedly I have not been curious enough to try any of the other games that have been inspired by this, but definitely important to note that it just seems to have straight up made a new genre that has a ton of other people taking a crack at it. 6. Signalis https://i.imgur.com/aFCcaoO.mp4 What’s going on with that radio?, _________, Mynah This is a game I learned about like a month ago, and was intrigued enough that I had to try it immediately. Usually when I hear about something that’s inspired by Silent HIll, it either looks like crap - either just in straight graphics or in how it plays - or is just plain embarrassing (even among some actual Silent HIll games). Signalis is neither of those. Taking cues from the survival horror classics, and with a slick low-poly artstyle, Signalis has you going through a dreamlike horror landscape of flesh and horror robots to look for someone. This game’s pace and gameplay are incredibly tight, and the puzzles are well thought out, especially the ones involving the radio. While most of the game takes place from an overhead perspective, the game saves an impressive first person view for affecting story moments and for more detailed items in the environment that you need to inspect. It all adds up to a really affecting journey through an incredible horror atmosphere. 5. Rygar: The Legendary Adventure https://i.imgur.com/XBYQh8E.mp4 Geryon Hill, Aristotle, Diskarmor I first played this when it originally came out, so this is one of the rare repeats I allowed, because Rygar continues to be sick as hell. This is going to sound stupid, but the third weapon you get in Bayonetta 3 is this cool weapon that reminded a lot of people of, like, Bridget from Guilty Gear, but my brain immediately went to Rygar and the Diskarmor, and that’s all it took for me to replay this game, apparently. It’s funny how I recall Rygar being harder than it actually is, and then I remembered that back in the day I didn’t block or guard in pretty much any game until the PS360 era. With that habit destroyed for this replay, the game ends up being a pretty breezy and beautiful experience that isn’t quite to the level of character action, but isn’t simple enough to be directly compared to its roots. It really feels like a missing link between Onimusha and the first God of War. But it’s also a game where you throw the shield out, knock an enemy into the air, and then grab them out of it and slam them into the ground, before grabbing one of their friends and swinging them around you and into the group of enemies to the side. All while a fantastic orchestral track plays. 4. Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin https://i.imgur.com/ot9bfZO.mp4 Bullshit, Where the End Begins, Killing Chaos for Fun and Profit The second I saw this was by Nioh/Team Ninja folks, I knew I’d be down. The Nioh games were fantastic, and the demos for this game had a really neat magic parry mechanic that made it fun for me to go after the bosses solo. Turns out I would manage to keep that up for every boss in the full game, especially once they added the ability to remove party members from your party, I ended up doing main missions solo and then side missions with my party (and then dominating those because I had gotten used to solo, lol). And this is ignoring that the game is just a fun sendup of FF1 where they take the locations of that game and tie them to locations from other Final Fantasy games that roughly match them. It led to some fun moments where I could guess what the next level would be patterned off of just by going “hey this is the earth shrine with zombies, this’ll either be…” and then just nailing it half the time. Also, you know, everything about how fun Jack and his party is, and how they integrate into the world. Just a really energetic chaos of poo poo that works really well together and never stops being fun. Still need to get to the DLC (and to the DLC of the Nioh games for that matter), we’ll see if that happens before Wo Long comes out, the demo of which plays just as great. 3. Fantasian https://i.imgur.com/g3hvdOa.mp4 Mistwalker, Apple Arcade, Robot Rumble I heard about this game for the first time due to some first impressions from a couple people in the RPG thread that were playing it because it’s part of an Apple Arcade subscription. Fantasian is a JRPG by Mistwalker in the style of Final Fantasy, they cite going after the feel of FFVI specifically, but feels more like a halfway point between IX and X to me. Owing to the FFVI inspiration, It was released in two parts on Apple Arcade, the first half being more linear, and the second half being more open - though there’s recommended levels for everything so you pretty much end up following a pretty directed route. While I don’t think anyone whose impressions I read were down on the first half, they petered out on the second half because it sort of restricts your leveling at that point while pretty much introducing a sphere grid mechanic you can respec at any time. And because of the things you can unlock with that mechanic, it starts throwing pretty strict challenges at you. I was super down for that but I can see why it pushed some people away. It was nice to struggle in a game like this for the first time in a while. The game also has a pretty unique artstyle, owing to using prerendered backgrounds made out of irl dioramas (that in total apparently cost less than a single one of those ridiculous $13,000 FFVI statues). It causes some issues with movement when it changes that I didn’t even get in games like RE back in the day, but otherwise gives everything a neat look. The only real negative I have is that it’s still locked on Apple’s ecosystem as part of an Apple Arcade subscription - which is to be expected since I think they paid for it - but I kind of wish I could just have it on PC or something. As-is I had to get an Apple TV just to try it (and a couple other games), though this was the clear highlight. 2. Elden Ring  Godskin Apostles, Moonlight Witch, Gold Elden Ring is a game I played every day until I was finished with it. Elden Ring is a game I played for 3 months continuously during a time period in which I played nothing else. Elden Ring is a game where I scoured every bit of the map the first time I played, taking 200 hours, because I knew I might never be able to set aside enough time to play it again because it was pretty time-consuming. Elden Ring is the first game where I was disappointed it was taking so long because I felt I was missing out on so many other games releasing during the timeframe I was playing it, but also where I wasn’t actually disappointed because I didn’t want to play anything else. In April they had to do work in my apartment that involved jackhammering into the ground and getting concrete dust on everything not behind a door every day for about two weeks. I moved most of my things into a bedroom except for the heavy furniture and my too-big-to-move-tv. Elden Ring is a game where I would clean out my front room every day so that I could move my computer back in there to play Elden Ring for a few hours, and then move the computer back into the bedroom to avoid it getting hosed by the next day’s work. loving worth it. Probably should have at least one other tv though, lol. 1. Outer Wilds  Nomai, Immortality, Space This game is not in my wheelhouse. I generally don’t give a single poo poo about space games, so I kind of tuned everything about this game out. I knew about the surprise and central mechanic you’d be tuned into about 20 minutes after getting out into space, but I didn’t really look into any specifics. A ton of people would say that’s a boon because of how good it feels to explore this solar system blind, and while I don’t disagree, I think a large part of that just meant that I didn’t bother to look into anything about it. But then I had a cheapo 3 month trial of Game Pass I was halfway through and didn’t have anything I thought I really wanted to try. I downloaded a handful of things that I recognized fully expecting to not bother with most of them for more than a half hour at most, and that was true until I got to this work of art. When I realized I was basically being told to go explore whatever I wanted in an immaculately simulated solar system to just look into what each heavenly body’s deal is, well, why not just pick one and then move on when I get tired? Since you’re an astronaut with the first working ancient translator you’re basically just looking into the history of everything you’re coming across while learning the limits of you and your ship’s movement and exactly what you’re capable of. This is the type of game where if you knew what you’re doing you could beat it immediately after starting just due to knowledge, and that’s really rad. Everything going on is super interesting, and ultimately the logic of what you’re expected to do isn’t usually a gigantic leap or all that difficult to do, just something you won’t immediately think of, though for the elements you do think of you’ll feel like a genius. I cried during the ending. I think it’ll be hard to come across a game that affects me more or that I feel more positively about than Outer Wilds for a long, long time. Game Pass didn’t have the DLC, so I’ll have to get back to it at some point. But for now it’s just this perfect experience that will sit in my memories until I die. Summary 10. Terranigma 9. Star Ocean - The Divine Force 8. Sonic Frontiers 7. Vampire Survivors 6. Signalis 5. Rygar: The Legendary Adventure 4. Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin 3. Fantasian 2. Elden Ring 1. Outer Wilds
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Dec 30, 2022 07:24
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I don't get through a ton of games each year but the ten below were standouts for me. I included a link to a favourite from track from each game OST at the end. _____________ 10. Devotion _____________  I'm generally not a big horror fan but every now and then I find one that really works for me (SOMA is still #1). Devotion is a perfect example of that and meshes unsettling horror with the style of walking sim/detailed small environments that I love as well. Exploring Taiwanese life through all the different time periods of the family apartment was engrossing, even before considering the story and style wrapped around it. The more grounded story kept me incredibly interested the whole way through - there's a few minor jump-scare moments throughout (especially early on) that I really don't feel add anything but the other 99% is so well made that I can't hold it against the game. It's maybe a 3 hour experience start to finish and well worth the time, I find myself leaning more and more towards playing shorter contained games over the years and this was close to ideal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpTH3h9vogQ ___________________________________ 9. The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe ___________________________________  Just a great and self-aware update to a game that blew me away back when it first released. With the updated visuals the game looks basically like the old version did in my memory, but going back it's quite a bit better. The New Content is combined with the base game in all the fun and ridiculous ways you might expect from a game like this and overall meshed . Any kind of humour can be a bit hit or miss or very dependent on the person but this expansion/remake/remix has far more comedy hits than I was expecting after so long. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJ_RPw2PdnQ ______________ 8. The Looker ______________  Another rare entry in the category of comedy games that actually make me laugh. A pitch perfect parody of the Witness that's short and sweet and knows exactly what it's making fun of. It feels like a loving parody and as someone who was a big fan of The Witness this hits all the right notes and knows how to end on a great dumb conclusion. Bonus points for the quiet little gasp your character does every time you zoom in on anything. Also the patch that added the ability to do a tiny jump and every once in a while it plays a little Mario jump sound instead of a strained effort grunt. Short and sweet, plus it's free! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvAJbmPHoHM ________ 7. Tunic ________  The mysteriousness and puzzle aspects of Tunic are what initially drew me in and what kept me going for the majority of this game. The visuals are gorgeous and it pulls some great perspective tricks to hide shortcuts or item. It would occasionally be frustrating to be stuck somewhere and eventually find the tiny section I completely missed the last 4 times through but it was surprisingly rare to have that happen. Piecing together the in-game manual was a ton of fun and the highlight for me. The combat itself was never particularly interesting but mostly didn't get in the way, although some bosses really ramped up the difficulty. Great times overall and it only petered out towards the end for me as I ran around the world trying to work out the last few details I couldn't quite get. Massive fan of the soundtrack the whole way through. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruyC7mwwxmE ____________________ 6. Northern Journey ____________________  An insanely impressive solo effort from a Norwegian developer, this felt like a weird fever dream combination of a Skyrim-style world and old school Hexen/Heretic gameplay. Immense and oppressive atmosphere in every big new area you come to and a great soundtrack to match. I love the strange vibe I get from the fantasy setting combined with the lower-poly graphics and Quake level movement speed. The last 10-15% of the game started to drag for me and felt a bit more rushed than the rest, but everything up until then was more than worth the time. I think I had come across a comment from the developer at some point, saying he had originally planned to end it earlier but was worried it wasn't long enough, so a couple more areas were added onto the end. Funnily enough that original end point was right as I was ready to be done and it would have been even better. Starting to see a pattern with most of these games having incredible soundtrack, this OST in particular has a huge effect on the mood of the game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_yBiiaCQDU ________ 5. Noita ________  After Baba Is You consumed my life for a good long time, I came across Noita in early access and made sure to keep it in my mind for when it was eventually finished. It's the final form of all those falling sand pixel simulation browser games from back in the day. What a ridiculous, frustrating, unpredictable and complicated beast of a game. I've played maybe 10 hours and feel like I've barely scratched the surface of the level of complexity and scope of the game. Every once in a while I get a run that just feels completely unstoppable and powerful, then have to laugh at how quickly that can turn around in a few seconds from one bad decision. For only one single run in this entire playthrough I made it twice as far down as I ever had before and I'm still trying to get back there with another perfect mix of wands and items. And that's not even mentioning the fact that with the right equipment, there's three other directions you can potentially explore from the starting point instead of entering the mine. One day I might find out more about those areas and I'm sure it'll be just as hostile as the rest of the world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5iymL05PFc ___________________ 4. Dicey Dungeons ___________________  What a surprise of a game. I'd seen it mentioned every now and then but somehie never made the connection to Terry Cavanaugh until recently. Not many roguelites hold my attention for long but there was something special about this one. With the dice mechanics, it takes what sounds like a frustrating RNG game and turns it into creative strategy game where you've got all sorts of ways to tip the odds in your favour. Or when you can't you just go with the bad rolls and might be surprised with how things still work out in the end. I was constantly surprised by the variety of gameplay between characters and then within episodes of the game character. The theming and UI design is bright and fun to look at and it takes no time at all to jump into an episode. With most runs taking 20-30 minutes at most it was always so easy to squeeze in one or two every now and then. At this point I've finished off the first four characters and a couple of episodes of the next two and I'm sure I'll be back again. There's also what looks like a few DLC or bonus episodes too so it's a surprisingly meatier game than I expected. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1xs4CnLqBs __________ 3. GRIME __________  A rare treat in the ever-growing world of 2D metroidvania/souls-like games. The 2D/3D visual style of this game jumped out at me straight away. You're essentially a force of nature with a black hole for a head, slowly tearing through the world and working your way upwards. Really inventive enemy design with a lot of cool twisted abominations and casual body horror. Every movement upgrade felt substantial and fun to use and was one of the few in this genre to keep me 100% interested until the very end. It hits that same hard-to-desribe atmosphere as Northern Journey did for me and that's something I always appreciate in a game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0jKoIGbN_8 _____________ 2. Elden Ring _____________  I could not believe how well Elden Ring turned out. I ignored every bit of information before release and just continually had my mind blown for 100+ hours of sublime gameplay. It's got beautiful atmosphere and environments for days and I can't think of an open world with more fun or rewarding exploration. Even the final areas of the game were as well-made and worthwhile to me. I might have lucked into a good build to deal with them, but also feel like part of the issue some people have come when the scope finally has to narrow down and you have a few mandatory areas you have to face down. My eventual replay after the DLC comes out can't come soon enough. The specific memories of items and areas are fading enough since launch that it's going to be a great experience all over again. Bring on Armored Core next. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhLLoYqXebE _______________________ 1. The Beginner's Guide _______________________  There's been no other game that stuck with me like this one. It gets on the list because I finally replayed it earlier this year, 5+ years after this first time. If anything I resonated with it even more than the first time, it's just an intense emotional game in ways I truly wasn't expecting when I first booted it up. Made by one of the two creators of The Stanley Parable but wildly different in tone. It deals with guilt, motivation, loneliness and so much more in a way that just builds and builds over the 1.5-2 hours of gameplay. Unrelated to the actual narrative, the framing of the game being a narrator guiding you through a bunch of a little source engine games is such a good idea and really works as a videogame.  It's hard to want to write too much about a game that's shorter than most movies but I've never had any other game make me feel the same way this one managed to (twice, now). I've gifted it to a couple of friends over the years and it's always been a hit, everyone is caught off guard by how much they loved it. They usually watch this trailer and that on its own is enough to get someone interested. It's always cheap and even 50% off for the christmas steam sales, it's the perfect game or gift for someone who might be into it and wants a unique short experience.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJpUIOnyu9k Short list: 10 - Devotion 9 - The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe 8 - The Looker 7 - Tunic 6 - Northern Journey 5 - Noita 4 - Dicey Dungeons 3 - GRIME 2 - Elden Ring 1 - The Beginner's Guide Toast King fucked around with this message at 08:40 on Dec 30, 2022 |
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Dec 30, 2022 08:00
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What a cool list. I was wondering when someone would mention The Looker.
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Dec 30, 2022 08:13
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I see we've reached the 'everyone rushing to finish their homework in the morning before class' stage of the thread
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Dec 30, 2022 08:22
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DC Murderverse posted:I’m not gonna say that they couldn’t have found a better name than Triangle Strategy but honestly Square Enix released a bunch of AA games this year and stuff like The DioField Chronicles or Valkyrie Elysium didn’t fare any better despite having more traditional sounding names. At least Triangle Strategy is memorable in a “wait really that’s its name?” kind of way. Captain Invictus fucked around with this message at 08:28 on Dec 30, 2022 |
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Dec 30, 2022 08:24
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Rarity posted:I see we've reached the 'everyone rushing to finish their homework in the morning before class' stage of the thread I've kinda been in that mode the entire month of December to be honest. Completely failed at doing my due diligence for some games despite this, rip
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Dec 30, 2022 08:25
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It's not making my top 10 but I just want to give a shoutout to The Last Remnant for being such a basic rear end JRPG that I've been able to do a ton of work on this thread while playing
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Dec 30, 2022 08:33
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Rarity posted:I see we've reached the 'everyone rushing to finish their homework in the morning before class' stage of the thread 
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Dec 30, 2022 08:35
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Rarity posted:I see we've reached the 'everyone rushing to finish their homework in the morning before class' stage of the thread I've waffled back and forth whether to post anything for the last few years, I've finally embraced the Just Post lifestyle
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Dec 30, 2022 08:36
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Rarity posted:I see we've reached the 'everyone rushing to finish their homework in the morning before class' stage of the thread 
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Dec 30, 2022 08:48
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Toast King posted:I've finally embraced the Just Post lifestyle This is what it's all about 
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Dec 30, 2022 09:06
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Oh boy, it's another one of these! I did a whole lot of gaming in 2022, pouring almost 300 hours into at least three games on this list, so let's not waste any time on a lengthy preamble and get right down to business. Honorable Mentions: Returnal, Dark Souls 2, Prodeus Did Not Finish But Maybe Will Someday : A Plague Tale: Requiem, God of War: Ragnarok Did Not Start But Maybe Will Soon: Pentiment, River City Girls 2, Citizen Sleeper And now, for my Top 9 Games of 2022 [56k go maidenless]. 9. STRAY https://i.imgur.com/ttyvm5h.mp4 I have long had high hopes for the cyberpunk cat game and for the most part, it delivered. The little character flourishes and unique perspective kept some otherwise rote adventure gameplay from becoming too monotonous, and while some of the narrative decisions didn't work for me, it was an enjoyable experience overall. Impressive work from what was effectively a three-person development team (including the cat). 8. TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: SHREDDER'S REVENGE https://i.imgur.com/YRzUUfN.mp4 After decades of patiently waiting out the neverending onslaught of cookie cutter pixel art roguetroidvanias we are now (hopefully) in the midst of a true beatemup renaissance, with the excellent Streets of Rage 4 debuting in 2020 and a worthy TMNT sequel coming out earlier this year. A fun and efficient arcade experience with an enormous amount of love and attention paid to the original animated series, even if the gameplay never quite reaches the technical mastery of SOR4. 7. TITAN QUEST ANNIVERSARY EDITION https://i.imgur.com/zvfixH5.mp4 Bit of a surprise entry for me on this list. TQ is probably my favorite of the off-brand Diablo clones and I had a great couple weeks revisiting Iron Lore's particular take on the ARPG formula. Still manages to look pretty great despite being over 15 years old at this point, with some surprisingly forward-looking design decisions. I'm not normally a "mods are better" kind of person, but if you want to give this one a try, then installing X-MAX is absolutely necessary to prolong your enjoyment of the game. 6. SIGNALIS https://i.imgur.com/sq7B6Mp.mp4 I think this game had been on my Steam wishlist since 2017, and I was somewhat resigned to let it fall into the same abyss of overambitious unfinished indie projects as Eitr, Hellraid, and countless others. I'm happy that after however many years, the two-person development team at rose-engine could finally release such a confident and complete debut. Signalis is a PSX-era sci-fi survival horror about one person's doomed journey into darkness. It is also, at times, a sapphic love story between androids and humans finding connection under a totalitarian Soviet Bloc-era regime. Or if you like, it is a literary survey of Lovecraft, Chambers, and 19th century ballet. Deeply committed to its Resident Evil 1-3 and Silent Hill roots, Signalis is an affecting and gripping experience, even if it can't quite escape those very generously borrowed influences in its final moments. 5. THIS WAY MADNESS LIES https://i.imgur.com/v34cR2B.mp4 This Way Madness Lies is a turn-based retro JRPG where you play as a group of magical girls that also moonlight as a Shakespearean acting troupe. If you don't already know whether or not this game is for you based on that description alone, then there's very little else I can say. The kind of light, breezy, yet surprisingly inventive gameplay I've come to expect from Zeboyd, who have quickly emerged as one of my favorite indie developers of the last five years. So unabashedly corny at every turn that it wraps all the way back around to being endearing. Haven't seen it mentioned on a list yet, but a strong recommend from me. 4. DIABLO II: RESURRECTED https://i.imgur.com/0kjqWB9.mp4 Another game I didn't really expect to show up on this list, but life is full of happy surprises. Like COVID!  In July I came down with it bad and was just looking for something to munch down several dozen hours of languishing in my bedroom. That combined with a relatively free work schedule over the summer meant that I could just pound away at building up my trapsin to a proud degree of no-lifership unseen since my high school glory days. Vicarious Visions has brilliantly translated "Diablo II as you remember it, not as it actually was" with just enough quality of life additions and visual upgrades to make it feel like a fresh ARPG experience instead of an old chore. I was shocked at how much time I ended up pouring into D2R this year, rebuilding my old Enigma Assassin loadout from scratch and then even going on to make a kitted out Nova Sorc in Season 2. The old terrible fire of unwavering confidence against infinitesimal drop probabilities bellowed within me once more in 2022. I literally gasped when I found a Ber rune from a random basket in Durance of Hate (if you know, you know). Supreme loot gremlin energy, congrats to Vicarious Visions (now Blizzard Albany) on winning their union vote.3. ELDEN RING https://i.imgur.com/IQFr7F6.mp4 I purchased Elden Ring at the very end of February, which ended up becoming an unexpectedly crazy time for work. I have some pencilneck writing job so any level of actual mental or physical exertion is uncommon for me. Anyway, I didn't really get as much time as I would have liked to put into Elden Ring's systems or game world within those first few weeks and ended up mostly limping through my initial run as a pre-buff colossal hammer user, missing almost all the optional content and struggling mightily against the last couple bosses. But as things began to settle down, I kept at it. I went immediately into NG+ and just crushed everything that gave me trouble in my first, far more distracted playthrough of the game. Then I did it all over again with a sorceror build and annihilated the remembrance bosses once more. Then to make sure it wasn't all a fluke I started a completely fresh run and did every single little lovely cave and catacomb again just to prove that Gelmir Hero's Grave Wasn't poo poo. By mid-April I had platted Elden Ring and poured nearly 300 hours into it over 5-6 complete runs. My entire existence outside of work was this game during that time. One nice thing about From products is that their kinetic "language" is very similar across titles, so mastering one game opens up an entire decade of previous work that will feel at once fresh and familiar. I took my hard knocks from Elden Ring and applied those lessons to absolutely steamroll some prior From releases I had never gotten around to, including Dark Souls 2 (the best of the trilogy) for the first time. But  PLOT TWIST: Elden Ring was NOT my favorite Souls game that I played this year! That honor would belong to...2. DEMON'S SOULS (2020) https://i.imgur.com/fu8re2n.mp4 After wrapping up Elden Ring I went on a repeat tour of almost every Souls game, from DS3 which I never finished to slaying the final few DLC bosses in Bloodborne. Now, I think Elden Ring is a great game and totally deserves its immense popularity, but while platinuming Demon's Souls Remake in May, I was reminded of all the reasons why Demon's Souls is still my favorite Fromsoft product all these years later. Although subsequent Soulslikes have evolved and expanded upon the very rough draft that was the original back in 2009, Demon's Souls just has that special something that makes it stand apart from what has now become a very well-studied formula. There are a lot of things I can say about that here, so I'll just leave a couple salient bullet points. Atmosphere: You can say that From significantly improved their looping map design in Dark Souls and beyond with inventive shortcuts and more bonfires, but part of what makes DeS so interesting to me is how experimental and freeform its worlds are. There are just so many weird little quirks to the maps -- random merchants in the middle of nowhere, featureless rooms that don't do anything, some stages that elegantly loop back onto each other while others are sprawling and labyrinthine. To some that would be obtuse and confusing, but to me it really helps the world feel lived-in in a way that later From titles would not. Elden Ring's world is also very cool and atmospheric, but there are many choices that feel video gamey for the benefit of the player rather than feeling bespoke and immersive. When you go up an elevator in a dungeon that also somehow takes you back to the first bonfire, that might feel really cool, but it also reminds you that you're playing a video game in a very direct way. Every new map in Demon's Souls feels like it was made by a different person, but still remains thematically intact. I also love that you can wrap up the entire story in like 15 hours on a fresh save, which makes NG+ something to look forward to instead of an obligation. Dungeons: I love good boss fights, as they're one thing that I think From does better than any other developer in the business. The music, the visuals, the mechanics, every From game is just top notch in this department. But in gradually shifting their focus onto creating these super hard, visually stunning and epic encounters, I think From kind of lost their roots of creating brutal, foreboding, methodical dungeon crawlers. Demon's Souls strikes a great balance by making the dungeon itself the actual difficult part of the game, while the bosses mostly serve as an exclamation point at the end of a particularly challenging journey instead of something you're gonna have to waste another two hours on before being able to move onto the next map. I appreciate how many of the bosses are more of a puzzle to be figured out, and while some of them don't exactly work (Dragon God, what were they thinking), I appreciate their relative simplicity. While I think the addition of an Estus mechanic and more checkpoints were ultimately good for the direction of the series, I like how in Demon's Souls you actually have to prepare for the dungeon ahead and think carefully about what you're going to bring. It really makes you pay more attention to your surroundings and weigh the benefits of venturing even deeper, knowing how long it took to reach this point. SORCERY: I love rolling mages in RPGs. Give me a blank stat sheet and I'm going to pick an Intelligence user almost 100% of the time. Even if the game doesn't have a formal magic system, I will still probably find some way to cobble together a sorceror character. It's no secret that sorcery is incredibly strong in Demon's Souls, probably even overpowered given how easy it is to get to your endgame setup and how many bosses you can just delete in seconds, but you know what? I don't care. It's fun, it feels awesome, and the remake took things up to 11 with the visual and aural feedback. From steadily nerfed magic in subsequent Souls games all the way through DS3, when it was probably at its weakest point, and I think this was ultimately a bad decision creatively. Despite seemingly encouraging diverse builds and playstyles, I saw every Souls game gradually become melee-centric, which is just not the way I prefer to play most RPGs. I'm happy that From course corrected in a huge way with Elden Ring, as sorcery feels super fun and powerful again on a level not seen since the original Demon's Souls. I hope that From will continue this trend of keeping magic on a relatively even keel with melee builds. I think there's a pocket universe in some remote corner of the galaxy where From pursued more of a dungeon crawl philosophy to their game design rather than the Zeldalike influences that would later take over in Dark Souls. I'd like to inhabit that alternate reality for awhile, or at least see more developers take direct inspiration from Demon's Souls instead of the more well-trodden path of everything that came after. I think it has so many unique and weird elements to offer. 1. HORIZON FORBIDDEN WEST https://i.imgur.com/K5JpDsH.mp4 This was my favorite release of 2022. Sometimes you just encounter a series that feels like it was specifically created to your exact taste and aesthetic, and the Horizon games are 100% that for me. What sets Horizon apart from other open world titles of similar repute is that grand sense of adventure -- how the story conspires to unravel and leave the player in a very different place from where it begins, both physically and thematically. But I also feel that Guerrilla didn't simply play it safe here, making some creative changes to the gameplay and narrative that, while they might not have worked for everyone, definitely worked for me. As a lover of a good crunchy RPG, I love that Forbidden West opened up so many different playstyles and idiosyncratic mechanics that make you feel awesome for mastering. And as a hater of billionaires, I love that the primary antagonists of this game are evil craven Musklords from the future. But rather than just write a whole lot more text, I wanted to instead draw attention to my favorite and perhaps most overlooked element of the Horizon series -- their incredible soundtracks, particularly the newer contributions of composer and violinist Oleska Lozowchuk. His beautiful flourishes of melody and emotion weave a texture of majesty, sadness and adventure that perfectly encapsulate the frontier spirit of these games. I think if you have that musical frisson gene within you, the Forbidden West OST just hits. Almost every single track is memorable in its own right, but here are a few choice selections. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4MXYEaUP5Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-85gLLR4Xn4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyCWedrKiMU EZ List: 9. Stray 8. TMNT: Shredder's Revenge 7. Titan Quest Anniversary Edition 6. Signalis 5. This Way Madness Lies 4. Diablo II: Resurrected 3. Elden Ring 2. Demon's Souls 1. Horizon Forbidden West
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Dec 30, 2022 09:39
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exquisite tea posted:EZ List: This is an awesome list, and I really resonate with your Horizon write-up, but somehow the most notable thing on this list is This Way Madness Lies. It's a game I've never heard of, but I've never gone from seeing a video clip to recommending a game to a friend of mine faster than This Way Madness Lies. Like Horizon is for you (and honestly, for me as well), that game looks 100% designed for a friend of mine in a way that I cannot possibly explain.
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Dec 30, 2022 09:48
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Rarity posted:I see we've reached the 'everyone rushing to finish their homework in the morning before class' stage of the thread Hey now, I've never written this amount of words for any study I've ever done. So many words. Too many words. 
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Dec 30, 2022 10:03
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I have some important RFP due next week that I haven't even started because I spent the last few days finding cool clips for my GOTY list instead, true story.
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Dec 30, 2022 10:05
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exquisite tea posted:I have some important RFP due next week that I haven't even started because I spent the last few days finding cool clips for my GOTY list instead, true story. You understood the assignment
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Dec 30, 2022 10:10
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Phantasium posted:5. Rygar: The Legendary Adventure  PS2 Rygar is what people refer to these days as a "Hidden Gem"
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Dec 30, 2022 10:39
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If Rarity counts Dragon Quest XI and Dragon Quest XI S: Definitive Edition as separate games I will personally cancel GOTY and drive the thread right back to Winnipeg
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Dec 30, 2022 10:49
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I have not
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Dec 30, 2022 10:53
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bone emulator posted:If Rarity counts Dragon Quest XI and Dragon Quest XI S: Definitive Edition as separate games I will personally cancel GOTY and drive the thread right back to Winnipeg If Rarity does not count Dragon Quest XI and Dragon Quest XI S: Definitive Edition as separate games I will personally cancel GOTY and drive the thread right back to Winnipeg(neither will be on my list).
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Dec 30, 2022 10:57
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Wonderful list and bespoke gifs. Your write-ups for ER, DeS, and Horizon just nail it. Yeah, DeS is king, and Horizon's soundtrack/graphics were the best of the year iyam.
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Dec 30, 2022 10:59
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exquisite tea posted:5. THIS WAY MADNESS LIES Its on my list too. Zeboyd games are great.
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Dec 30, 2022 11:02
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Dr. Fishopolis posted:at least 7 out of your 10 are among my favorites of all time, god drat what a year of games you've had. I really set myself the task of going back to a lot of old classics I bounced off of from throughout the ages to finish them this year. my mind is kind of boggled by the fact that I could pretty much occupy 2023 exclusively with the sequels of games from 2022 list and it would also be stacked (DS3, BG2, PoE2, Sekiro, Kiwami 1, etc). This thread has me convinced I need to try the AI games, Pentiment, Signalis and a few others asap as well
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Dec 30, 2022 11:02
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Been thinking about for like a week now. I'd planned to finish off some more stuff between my last post now but you know how things are. Honorable mentions: Strangers of Paradise - Started this, was having a lot of fun. Then I got distracted by something and because I had this on EGS, I completely forgot about it until recently when somebody pointed out Jack could use guns in the upcoming DLC. I'll get back to to it soon! Persona 5 Royal - Not enough time on this again. Bought it, had some bizarre FPS issues which is wild because I'm running a RTX 3080 on my desktop. Somehow my GPU was running in PCle x4 1.0 instead of the x16 4.0 the mobo slot was meant to support. I sorta fixed it up but for some reason, it's stuck at x8 3.0 instead now. I have no idea if my motherboard is dying but I got solidly distracted from the game by that. Granblue Fantasy - I played this quite a lot since it's an easy browser game to play while doing other stuff. I have no idea if I had fun or not this year. Immortal Life - A wuxia farming sim. Wild mix but one that I'm happy to try. It's still in early access and I thought the early game design was a bit slow paced so I'll get back to this when it has more content. My Time At Sandrock - Another farming sim from the Portia devs. I didn't like Portia much but Sandrock feels and plays much better, more like an actually designed game rather than the hodgepodge of stolen ideas that was Portia. Another early access game that I'll come back to when it has more content. 10. Immortality Idle (I don't have a screenshot for this. It's a text-based idle game so I don't know what I'd even screenshot.) Someone linked this to me since it was a place where people like to chat about Chinese RPGs. This is an idle game where you start off as a mortal peasant looking to gain power and wealth until you can eventually gain enough power to become an immortal god and ascend to godhood. Then you do it again. Despite never having really had played an idle game before, I got really into it. My first few runs I ended up being eaten to death by rats because I lived in a tent before I finally got far enough in a run to buy a house where I could recover and fight off all the rats that were still trying to kill me. I then proceeded to do a lot of drugs and lived to like 200 years, quality cultivation experience. I tried a bunch of other idle games like this year but none of them really matched up to this one. Put a link on the game name since it's just an online, free browser game. 9. Pokemon Emerald Rogue  Yeah, it does look a bit poo poo. Easy enough to pay it no mind though. I have no idea how the hell I found this. I think I was looking around to see if we had a decompilation of Pokemon Emerald so I could start messing with it and I probably found this while I was looking for that? Either way, it's a roguelike built out of Pokemon Emerald and weirdly enough, it works very well. It's an extremely different flow to normal Pokemon. You take a starter and start going through nodes which can include things like routes with wild pokemon and trainers, shops, rest stops, powerful pokemon and once you get far enough, weird poo poo like a shadow man who gives you permanent buffs but also curses you with weird things for the rest of the run. Every so often, you have to fight a gym leader and once you've beaten 8 gym leaders, you go on to fight the Elite 4. I've yet to actually complete a run since this game deletes Pokemon from your party if you finish a battle with them knocked out so it's a got a permadeath aspect to it. I ended up streaming this a bit with a friend and honestly, the game is kind of a wild ride. I've faced gym leaders using bizarre stall sets that ended up wiping half my team before I finally realised "Oh, I can actually get around this". I've got into gyms with only 2 pokemon left because they got wiped on some random bullshit and somehow walked out alive with no extra deaths. I had a run die because I'd arrived at the E4 with only two Pokemon (Arcanine, Crawdaunt) and I rolled Sidney who I absolutely did not have the tools to deal with. That run died honorably though, my Crawdaunt, which I'd literally picked up 1 route ago, managed to get off a Guillotine and kill something. The changes to the game flow from a normal pokemon game really change up the experience. Pokemon come and go easily and you can't rely on specific combinations of Pokemon to deal with everything. You have to assemble a team on the fly, get it all balanced and decent quickly and then once you've gotten over early resource issues, you can start buying weirder hold items and moves to really buff up your team and get to something that might look like an actual endgame Pokemon team instead. The metaprogression in this game feels like a bit too much but I also haven't finished the game yet so who knows? 8. Old School Runescape  Quest writing in this game is a bit all over this place. Way back in the day, I used to be really into Runescape. My peak era would've been around 2007-2008 but at some point, I fell off the game. When I tried to go back in like 2014, I walked straight into Evolution of Combat and instantly hated the hotbar combat in it. I put down the game until recently this year where I heard about Leagues, a special form of OSRS where you'd slowly unlock the entirely game starting from a members only area, having to unlock skills and bosses but getting massive XP boosts and massive boons in the process. I played leagues, I loved it and I even actually hit 99 STR and got my first ever accomplishment cape. It got wiped 2 days later. After that, I was a bit more hesitant to get into the actual main game of OSRS. It was definitely rough getting used to things like run energy being kind of piss as well as the fact that XP rates were much lower. But there were a bunch of long running quest lines that I'd started in Leagues that I was curious to see finish. I hadn't really poked at Morytania that much, a land of perpetual night ruled by vampires where a group of freedom fighters was looking to overthrow the vampiric regime. I'd gotten pretty far into the Elf quests where we ended up in a country full of Elves after loving around with other quests involving an adventure through the haunted lair of some crazy cultists. So even if it took a bit longer, I dived back straight into this game just to see how that all ended. All in all, I've had a lot of fun with this game this year. OSRS is a game that's much easier to enjoy on a second monitor while watching something else and when it's not eating up extremely limited bandwidth on your only monitor, the slow pace of the game is more tolerable. Here's hoping they do actually get around to making that new skill next year. 7. Pokemon Legends Arceus  Pretty sure I never caught this fellow, it blew through like 30 balls and I had to run. I used to be a big fan of Pokemon. But after X/Y, I've slowly been falling off the games. I never finished SuMo, I didn't buy USUM and I dislike ORAS quite a bit despite being a big fan of Gen 3. When I heard Arceus was changing up the formula a lot, I didn't really care at first but about 5 days after release when I saw some friends playing it, I was curious enough to buy it. And well, I had a lot more fun with it than I did ORAS. To an extent, it's always bugged me that there are no real intersital rewards for catching lot of Pokemon beyond, well, having lots of Pokemon. The early Pokemon games would give you rewards upon hitting certain thresholds but the further we got into the series, the more and more completing the Dex seemed like less of anything worth doing and more of a thing to go for only if you wanted to. It just didn't feel rewarding to me. So Arceus's structure changes landed really well with me and getting actual rewards for catching and experimenting with Pokemon was something I really enjoyed. The rest of the game was a bit of a hit or miss for me. I liked the EV changes, I hope they bring it forward. The story stuff was a bit whatever for me but I liked Ingo. The battle system changes were... not great. Overall, it was the first Pokemon game to make me feel like the series was aware it's beginning to grow a bit long in the tooth. 6. Disgaea 5  This joke idea was probably a better idea than the actual writing in Disgaea 5. Disgaea is a series I have a weird on and off with. I loved Disgaea 1 on the DS, I can never go back to it. I bounced off D2, I got far into D3 before I was all "eh, this is kind of a mess of a game". I loved D4, absolutely huge sardine fan stan here, game had really fun writing and the gameplay changes from 3 were very appreciated. Disgaea 5 is well, it doesn't have my favorite character. But it does have the best game of the Disgaea's out there. I haven't played 6, I don't think I will play it. Might grab 7 though when it drops. I really like building able to build a team of generics in this game and the character building in this game is very diverse. You've got a lot of avenues to power and there's a lot of flexibility in what you can do. My absolute favorite part of these games is when you have some random generic suddenly become the MVP of your team, towering over the unique characters solely off some small decision you didn't think would snowball them into a powerhouse. The writing's kind of extremely awful in this game, switching between a completely serious tone it can't pull off and a comedic tone it can't really figure out how to switch out of the grimdark stuff. But well, I can skip that part. 5. Tale of Immortal  She did, in fact, end up ripping my face off. As something of a connoisseur of random Chinese RPGs on Steam, this one had come up before. I'd heard increasingly mixed reviews of this. Some people said this was extremely good, a game with a ton of content that let you lose your time easily. Other said it was awful, being nothing but grinding. After a bunch of delays on the other cultivation based RPG I'd been watching (Path of Wuxia), I hopped in and gave it a shot myself. You play as a cultivator, basically a martial artist wizard, as you gain power, go to increasingly more dangerous areas looking for more powerful materials so you can do eat them, become more powerful until eventually you press a button and you fire off 100 homing swords at people as well as make a ring of magic swords around you that shoot lasers at anything you want to kill. It is very much a game that fulfills the xianxia fantasy. It's a huge game that's very driven by it's gameplay systems. It's a deep game that doesn't spend much time on tutorialising you but part of the joy of this sort of game is definitely the discovery portion. Despite being a heavily proc gen basedgame, this feels like one of those games where you want invest a heavy amount of time into one save file. The criticisms about this game being grindy were true but I didn't feel like it was a deal breaker until I tried playing on the higher difficulties. Would recommend against that. Go play Normal first and keep going up, one step at a time, if you want something harder. My sweet spot for this game is probably Hard now. 4. Guilty Gear Strive  Release Ky may have been awful but his theme's still the best in the game. If you're into fighting games, you've heard of Guilty Gear by now. Up until like, 2021, I wasn't a big fan of Guilty Gear. I was a Blazblue fan who just wanted his dumb games back. In 2021, a friend of mine bought Xrd for cheap and asked me if I played. I hadn't before but this mate of mine is one I've played a ton of fighting games so I hopped in. Some more time passed and I realised the reason I'd never gelled with the GG games is that I'd been playing the wrong characters. Back in Blazblue, I was a Hakumen man but moving to Guilty Gear, the suggestions I'd always gotten were Sin/Slayer, both characters that didn't mesh with me. When I finally gave up on them and played Ky instead, Xrd finally meshed with me. Since we were both playing Xrd when Strive dropped and we were both fans of the OST so far, we both got in. The game was very different but presentation wise, it was sick as hell. We got back to our old mains, him picking up Sol and I picked up Ky before I realised "Oh, Ky is dogshit now. Why is Stun Edge minus on hit?" and dropped Ky again for Nagoriyuki. And Nagoriyuki was finally the character I'd been looking for when I left Blazblue to look for a Hakumen replacement. Big sword, big buttons and gently caress huge damage. I haven't even played the story mode but we played Strive a lot that year. At least until he picked up Happy Chaos and eh, I really didn't like the Nago vs Chaos matchup. Some time after that, we both sort of left the game behind but it was real fun while it lasted. 3. Fire Emblem: Three Hopes  Shez is a proper Aussie lad and I'm willing to consider him one of us. I'm a big Fire Emblem fan. I've been one since I first played FE7 back in like 2008. I've been in and out of the love with the series (I was not a fan of the DS FE games at all) but ever since the 3DS era, I've been clocking 200 hours on every new FE game and complaining vigorously for I am definitely a Fire Emblem fan. When Three Houses dropped, I was actually incredibly hyped for the game, having just come off playing the Cold Steel series (except for 4 which I still haven't finished) so a military academy game that segued into a more classical Fire Emblem story? Sure, I was down. 200 hours later, I was still happy with the game but I needed a break from the Monastery and the 3H early game. Three Hopes is a game that feels very aware of what it is, the criticisms levied against Three Houses and also the criticisms levied about the first Fire Emblem Warriors game. I enjoyed the fact the fact that we had an actual story now, that we had actual supports instead of whatever FEW1 did. I enjoyed the fact that Hopes was engaging with aspects of the setting it really hadn't before like Almyra being a thing at all. I did sorta enjoy the musou aspect and I was a big fan of the new characters. Big Shez fan here, significantly better than Byleth as a protagonist. 40 hours later, I'd had a good time but I thought I could use a break before starting the next route. Forgot to get back to it but I had fun while it lasted and I might still go back to do Edelgard's route. Or maybe not, Engage comes out in like three weeks and I'm taking leave to go cram that when it drops. 2. Shadowverse  New expansion, new deck, so many new ways to brick and die. Shadowverse is anime Hearthstone, put simply. It also has a story mode that starts off terrible and once they finally get their head into gear, it starts ramping up and by the Rivayle arc, it got extremely good. This is actually how I got reminded of the game, someone (either Cheetah or Endorph) brought up that this game had a legitimately good story mode and I remembered that I played it way back in like 2018/2019, leaving because my favorite deck (Machina Blood) was facing increasingly terrible matchups into giant boards with followers that could in fact stop me from punching the enemy leader in the face. I'd dropped off from the story right before the Rivayle arc started and finishing that off, I'd forgotten how hammy the voice acting is. Not that I'm against that but I'm surprised I didn't remember that. Once I got started on the Rivayle arc proper, I was incredibly down to hang out with my bandit buddies and this random woman who was also some kind of undead abomination. And I was so mad when they all just loving died. If Cheetah hadn't told me that the arc wasn't over, I might've dropped it right there. I continued on and experienced probably the best story I've engaged with all year. Admittedly, I haven't played much of the story heavy stuff this year so I don't know how much that means but I really enjoyed that full arc. After that, I finally decided "Eh, sure, why don't I try ranked." I'm not big on PvP normally but between 3 years ago and now, I've gotten a lot more comfortable with PvP games, mostly off playing fighting games on ladder. I hated PvP back in my league days since, well, it's a team game and I don't like having to depend on randoms for that. Fighting games got me comfortable with them in a 1v1 scenario and got me familiar with losing again with grace. I started climbing with Handless Blood last expac, and well, I had fun with that deck actually. I like aggressive decks and Handless Blood was the most aggressive thing in the meta, literally dumping their entire hand so they could summon someone from the deck, get more cards, dump them again and keep doing that until we couldn't do it any more or the opponent was dead. About 3 days ago, the new expansion dropped and I've been very excited for it since the theming is so strong. We haven't gotten any story mode content for it but even so, the story from the card texts about multiple different convicts sent to hell prison and attempting to rebel and break out from prison against angels is sick as hell. I've been playing Wrath Blood, a deck full of biker gang convicts based around punching yourself in the face enough in one turn that my boy Garodeth, a man who got sent to prison for killing nobility, gets mad and punches the enemy in the face. Sick deck, sick theme. Game's are over very fast although I'm almost certain there's a deck in the current meta that's getting nerfed. Also I won that match. 1. Anbennar  Spoilers: He did survive. Anbennar is a an enormous mod for Europa Universalis 4 where the entirety of the world is replaced with a DnD setting. I would probably consider it it's own thing, just running on EU4's engine. Europa Universalis 4 is a game I have complicated feelings. I enjoy the game but it's difficult to share it with other people outside of EU4 players because of how complicated it is and how difficult it is to start/learn. And among EU4 players, there's a lot of weirdo racists that I don't want to hang out with as with all Paradox games. I eventually grew tired of EU4 because of the heavy focus on Europe, a region of the game I disliked a lot due to there being 5 million tiny tags and massive amounts of aggression from any sort of expansion at all. I don't recall who told me about Anbennar like 6-9 months ago but after hearing that the game had actual content for their not-Europe, I was down to play it. And hoo boy, I've spent 300 hours this year on this game. I loved this game and basically every region in this game except for their not!Europe. My hatred for EU4 Europe apparently transcends fantasy but luckily enough, they weren't lying when they said other regions had content. I got my feet wet in Eordand, a relatively remote but well developed part of North Aelentir, the local equivalent of North America. North Aelentir had survived a calamity that hosed up the place big time and driven off the Elves to Cannor, fantasy Europe. Eordand on the other hand had gotten the protection of the Fae and so, we had a remote, well developed region where every nation's religion was a variant of worshipping the Fae. But of course, there were at least 4 different variants, worshiping a different season and one group going "wait, why are we fighting". Anbennar is a game that's very much capable of telling a long story about continents, people and countries thanks to extensively using EU4's mission tree system, where you accomplish X objective and get rewarded with goodies/buffs and more missions. Anbennar hooks into this giving the majority of playable nations their own mission tree and their own story. Even if a nation doesn't go off in a specific run, there's still plenty of stories in the game. We've got the Jaddari Legion in Bulwar, the fantasy Middle East, who are led by Jaddar Jexiszuir who is basically Elf Muhammed leading his crusade to destroy all racism and slavery (but alas, he's a convert to my religion or die type). We've got the Serpentspine, a collection of mountain ranges with the remains of Aul-Dwarov, where multiple dwarven bands of adventurers and the goblins/orcs that have been living there since the fall of the dwarven empire come into conflict and so on. There's a ton of regions in the mod with enough lore/history that feels like it's both an actual world and that there's also interesting things actually going on. No 1000 years of peace here. My actual favorite run of this was Skurkokli. In Skurkokli, you start off as a group of dumb ogres living in the Forbidden Plains, an area with nothing of note other than a bunch of displaced Centaurs loving everything up and some humans hiding on an isle. You beat up the other ogres and begin heading north to get away from the plains before you run into Rancor Bloodtooth. Rancor Bloodtooth is a big hosed up ogre who cannot be explained by anything. His sheer presence drives other ogres into bloodthirsty, carnivorous monsters and if he dies, he comes back from the dead. Once Rancor takes over, Skurkokli becomes a story about conquering everything you can find, eating everything you can find and then taking it back home so you can continue looking for more things to eat. Eventually, it's even possible to depopulate the entirety of fantasy Europe by eating it but alas, I didn't get that far in my run. Definitely an evil warcrimes run but it was also the most fun I've ever had in EU4 and the only run I've ever completed. e - quick tl;dr list 10. Immortality Idle 9. Pokemon Emerald Rogue 8. Old School Runescape 7. Pokemon Legends Arceus 6. Disgaea 5 5. Tale of Immortal 4. Guilty Gear Strive 3. Fire Emblem: Three Hopes 2. Shadowverse 1. Anbennar
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Dec 30, 2022 11:22
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exquisite tea posted:5. THIS WAY MADNESS LIES This looks real neat. It was fairly cheap on Steam so I picked it up.
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Dec 30, 2022 13:58
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The best part of these year end review lists for me is seeing the cross-section of the video game space and what fantastic variety there is, in both the games themselves and the players' experiences. You can read somebody's list and go "these games aren't for me," like I did with your list, a few of which I played and bounced off of. And then you see...quote:1. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
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Dec 30, 2022 14:15
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There's still time for people to play Citizen Sleeper and update your lists, it's a very short game!!
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Dec 30, 2022 14:27
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lunar detritus posted:There's still time for people to play Citizen Sleeper and update your lists, it's a very short game!! I saw there is a Part 3 that's coming in early 2023. I imagine if you buy it now then you'll get that episode automatically when it unlocks?
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Dec 30, 2022 14:28
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exquisite tea posted:I saw there is a Part 3 that's coming in early 2023. I imagine if you buy it now then you'll get that episode automatically when it unlocks? It's the part 3 of the free dlc yeah. It's not part 3 of the game itself, just one small additional story.
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Dec 30, 2022 14:30
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Hello thread! I hope you all had a good year in both life and gaming! Quick list to make easier to keep track of them then a small explanation for each: 1.- Elden Ring 2.- Cultic 3.- Vampire Survivors 4.- Prodeus 5.- Blasphemous 6.- Resident Evil 3 Remake 7.- MediEvil 8.- Metal Hellsinger 9.- Powerslave Exhumed 10.- Severed Steel 1.- Elden Ring: Over 400 hours spent across three characters. Explored 100% of the game, I sweared, I cheered and most importantly, I had a loving blast like never before just by running/riding around. The OST is a masterpiece, the replayability is insane, the amount of content... just no words. This one will be easy one of the contenders for #1 of the thread imo. 2.- Cultic: Surprise episodic release for one of the most promising betas/demos. The gameplay is fast, relentless and rewards being creative and agressive. The art direction is incredible and imo, at the top three with Dusk and Amid Evil of the retro shooter genre. 3.- Vampire Survivors: What the gently caress is this game. Simple as it can be played 1 handed, you just move around and it autoshoots. It's addictive, easy to learn and tons of hidden weapons and items to discover. The perfect "I have 30 minutes" game that ends being 3 hours. 4.- Prodeus: Another retro or boomer shooter. You either love or hate it because of the graphics. Gameplay is super fast, super gory and a good balance between old and modern mechanics. 5.- Blasphemous: Metroidvania from my country. I had this one on my backlog for a long time but made up for it. I love the art direction, music and general world design. 6.- Resident Evil 3 Remake: Another one I had on my backlog for long. While I do like RE2make more, this one was a good surprise after not liking the demo that much. As all recent Capcom games, it runs butter smooth and looks great. I never played the original RE3 but I really enjoyed my time with this one. 7.- MediEvil: My 2nd Halloween game (after RE3make). I played the PSP version many years ago and wanted something less serious. I wasn't dissapointed with this 3d platformer or action game or whatever from the PS1. 8.- Metal Hellsinger: Not really a boomer shooter but I'd say that closer to Doom Eternal shooting with rythm mechanics. The OST is bonkers, it actually has a cool plot and the gameplay is pure METAL. Imo the best OST of the year (I'm a metalhead) tied with Elden Ring's. 9.- Powerslave Exhumed: PC and Saturn games (both quite different from each ofther), remastered and crunched together for a fantastic revival of a 90's shooter that can have some frustrating parts but a lot of the Metroid feeling of exploration and opening once you get the powers for it. 10.- Severed Steel: Mix of F.E.A.R. and Titanfall 2 gameplay on a Neon themed FPS that is a total rush to play. Another quick pick up and play game that the better you get, the more crazy poo poo you can pull.
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Dec 30, 2022 14:34
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okay, I want to make a proper list to contribute something more meaningful to the thread besides a post about MTG and minecraft, but since I only played like 6 games this year(the aforementioned minecraft/MTG, as well as core keeper, stellaris, dicey dungeons and the original Master of Magic) and it's not really enough to make a list of favs especially since at least one of those I wouldn't even put on it. instead I will make a list of the top ten video game tracks/remixes I have been listening to this year and have managed to stay on my playlists for longer than a week(where applicable). Obviously irrelevant to the ultimate tally by Rarity but really, that's fine! if I have multiple versions of a track I like I'll include links to'em, and sources/original parts they play during where I can da list: [TRACK 10]: MONDAYMANIA (Bad Monday Simulator by Lumpy Touch, music by Polarial) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ6lBQlHD74&t=32s FULL TRACK Lumpy Touch is a talented pixel artist and animator who makes some of the dumbest bullshit imaginable, often related to garfield or breaking bad, and made a mashup Bad Time Simulator with garfield, and made Sansfield. I'll give him credit, it's creative, and some of Sansfield's attacks rule(using an actual garfield comic strip as an attack pattern is genius), and the music it's set to is awesome, a sendup to Megalovania of course. [TRACK 9]: MAIN THEME (Stellaris: Nemesis Expansion) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ss_tz3-RtoA A (literally) stellar, bombastic, diabolical, triumphant theme. Skullduggery is afoot, star-spanning battles are being fought, civilizations are rising and falling. Everything feels encapsulated within this one thunderous theme. Stellaris has a phenomenal soundtrack all around, I still to this day play with the default OST active instead of playing my own, because the original music in the game is just so perfect for a galactic 4X game. another amazing Stellaris track is the trailer music for the Aquatics expansion which is a space sea shanty. It's great, and they made a sing-a-long version when people asked for it lol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBL9dTwVi4I [TRACK 8]: ARMOR-CLAD FAITH (Guilty Gear: Strive, Potemkin's theme) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcYNqLwkM8I Much like all the tracks in Strive, Armor-Clad Faith is a banger, but it in particular hits different to me. Also like all the tracks in Strive, the lyrics, which are english but sung by a Japanese dude, are kind of hard to make out without having them spelled out in front of you in subtitles. But they are excellent lyrics, and portrays Potemkin as a selfless hero, discarding his image in the name of protecting life. I am not very familiar with guilty gear ~lore~, so that might be a farce, or might be completely, 100% accurate to the character. [TRACK 7]: BURNING IN HELL (Friday Night Funkin' Indie Cross Mod) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5w-anksYY10 Metal cover I love FNF even if I'm bad at it. It's got some real bops, from MILF(amazing RichaadEB cover) to Ugh to Roses, the melodies are great and mesh with the gameplay perfectly. But the mod scene for FNF has been extremely vibrant over the last couple years and produced some incredible basically entire arcs if not entire other FNF-based games, such as Holofunk, Whitty, Tricky(from friggin' Madness Combat which still updates apparently, wild), thousands of other high-quality mods with their own soundtracks. One of the biggest ones is Indie Cross, which has 3 story sections, first is Cuphead, then Undertale, then Bendy and the Ink Machine, all with custom cutscenes, artwork, and music. Shitload of effort for a passion project. But the music is fantastic, and the Undertale mixes particularly so, especially since you have to fight and dodge while also keeping up with the arrows! Other parts of the Undertale section of the Indie Cross Mod, they're all good: Bonedoggle Whoopee Bad Time Final Stretch [TRACK 6]: SKULL HEART ARRHYTHMIA (Skullgirls) my preferred version of it, a cover by GaMetal. warning, there's flashing in the video for those sensitive https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrkSnjrzSFM original theme The theme for the final boss of Skullgirls, which I managed to get to and beat somehow despite being poo poo garbage at fighting games, is pretty cool. but it never really CLICKED for me until I heard GaMetal's cover of it, he's got a real knack for making a rocking theme just a bit more rockin', I highly recommend checking his stuff out, he's my favorite cover artist on youtube. [TRACK 5]: KOGANUSAN (Dwarf Fortress) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2q_5fo1OrE KOGANUSAN translates to BOATMURDERED in Dwarvish. Do I really need to say more? If unfamiliar, please educate and entertain yourself with one of the best Let's Plays of all time, one of the best things to come out of Something Awful, and an incredible story that has spread to a shocking number of people over the years honestly while Koganusan is a very good track, I also really like other tracks on the Steam Dwarf Fortress soundtrack, they absolutely nailed the atmospheric, ambient sound necessary for a game like DF, while even including some variety in there. You'll see, if you play. Some others I liked from the OST: STRIKE THE EARTH!(if Koganusan wasn't also an SA meme I might've swapped this in for its spot, because it's super loving chill and good) First Year Vile Force of Darkness [TRACK 4]: BRAINSICK METAL (OC Remix by Protricity, Megaman X Intro Stage, Storm Eagle, Spark Mandrill, from March 2002) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-OppykeE7Y Brainsick Metal has always been in my playlists, ever since I downloaded it on my lovely 56k connection in 2002. It's synth metal, for sure, but despite being made literally two decades ago, it still stands against some of the best remixes of today. The beginning of the track is great, leading straight into the megaman x intro stage theme. After bombarding you with that, the Storm Eagle theme kicks off, and kicks off some more, and kicks off even more, and then actually starts. Storm Eagle has one of the most iconic themes in all of Megaman, and certainly represents well here. But the finale? The spark mandrill part? Perfection. Wouldn't change a goddamn thing. The lead-in perfectly represents the powered-down feel of it after Storm Eagle's ship crashes into the power plant, making everything dark, then it builds, and builds, and builds into the theme proper, straight up charging up into one of my favorite megaman themes ever no contest. And when it goes to repeat that track, that little drum solo before it goes back in, and then changes things up a bit for that final cover of Spark Mandrill's theme, it's just...it's the best. And then it ends pretty succinctly, no time wasted. An amazing track, and one of two OC Remixes that have always, always been in my music libraries, never been relegated to the "not listening to right now" folders, which leads into... [TRACK 3]: BLUE LIGHTNING (OC Remix by Disco Dan, Megaman 3, from November 2001) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ERYq_enBRI Blue Lightning might just be my all-time favorite music track. It's certainly the one I've listened to the most. In 2001, Disco Dan, a remixer on OverClocked Remix, submitted a nearly-nine-minute-long remix of...the title theme of Megaman 3. A theme that is like 30 seconds long. It's good, but not very long. And Disco Dan turned it into an eight minute, forty-seven second trance techno masterpiece. Despite repeating the same theme repeatedly, he mixes it up perfectly just enough to make it not wear out its welcome over the course of that significant length. I've listened to this on card rides, at work, on runs, when I used to play music while I slept, I've listened to it basically for anything. It's never gotten old for me, no matter how many hundreds if not thousands of times I've listened to it. Also, a nine-minute-long music file in 2002 was a hell of an ask for Disco Dan to make of DJ Pretzel, hosting something that big at the time to download for free couldn't have been cheap. Speaks a lot to the incredible quality of the track that he was willing to put it up anyways. [TRACK 2]: UNDEFEATABLE (Sonic Frontiers), vocals by Kellin Quinn, from Sleeping with Sirens I want to point out the below video is an OFFICIAL VIDEO FROM SEGA ON THEIR OFFICIAL SONIC THE HEDGEHOG CHANNEL. You may say Sonic is bland and terrible, but they know EXACTLY how to play to their audience. Good lord this video would fit perfectly on an amv website in the early oughts, but this is straight up an official AMV showing off the by far biggest breakout song from the game. Crush 40 was always good, cheesy music for the sonic games, but these vocals, fits in an equally great way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NoKAOTE_ZI FULL SONG Excellent cover by LittleVMills Devastator fight from the Platinum Transformers game set to Undefeatable is PERFECT A friend linked me to a clip of where this song plays, against the first boss, a few hours in, you've been collecting the Chaos Emeralds while at the mercy of these Titans until you climb this one Shadow of the Colossus-style and grab the final one from the top of his head to turn into Super Sonic and just loving TRASH HIM SO BRUTALLY. The song is literally just Sonic shittalking the boss in the lyrics, "think I'm on 11 but I'm on a 9", "now face it, you're just an enemy", "been down this road before, already know this story" etc it rules. Had the song stuck in my head basically since I first heard it. It's a fantastic song and I grabbed the entire Frontiers soundtrack to see what else is on there. Say what you will about the gameplay, the music is absolutely perfect for a sonic game. [TRACK 1]: BLOOD ON THE SNOW (God of War: Ragnarok), vocals by Hozier, Hurdy Gurdy by Bear McCreary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzcqvPneP0k&hd=1 full song from the OST A song that plays during the credits of GOW:Ragnarok as well as during one of the main trailers for the game, it is a stunning beautiful song that stands on its own but perfectly represents Kratos's journey. Each time the chorus kicks in, the song gets more rumbling, more vocals, more intensity. ending spoilers for GOWR: A perfect sendoff song for Kratos, should they choose to end his journey here. With the situation at the end of Ragnarok, they could very, very easily just move on to Atreus's journey, BOI OF WAR etc as the memes say, but I doubt they will do that with how much Kratos has become a gaming icon. It could lead to him visiting other Pantheons, not as a God of War, but perhaps someone else from Norse mythology, someone who takes the reigns after Odin is gone. Kratos's story feels rather finished, but with how Ragnarok ends(with the first credits scene) I can absolutely see them continuing things on for a bit with Kratos to reach that true finale. I kind of hope that's the direction they go with. Throughout GOWR especially, not even just 2018, you really start to see, especially with the better graphics, just how loving HAGGARD Kratos has gotten. He is so loving done. He is so tired. He is a man with no home to return to, who has only one thing left, his son. In 2018, he was rather resentful but absolutely protective of Atreus, but in Ragnarok he is extremely supportive, helpful, compassionate, even straight up kind. He knows his sins are unforgivable, but he does not want them to weigh upon his son as well. The story of Kratos and Atreus is one of my favorite stories in all of gaming in the last decade or so, if NOTHING ELSE from 2018 and Ragnarok, Kratos and Atreus's story is fantastic. The entire soundtrack is great for the game itself, but I don't remember specific track names or anything, just that, well, some of the music that played during certain scenes really hit me super hard. Also, whenever I hear Faye sing, BOY it really hits hard. I understand people enjoying the soundtracks of other games this year, but God of War Ragnarok's soundtrack is UNBELIEVABLY GOOD. Also, make sure to watch the Game Awards version of Blood on the Snow so you can watch Bear McCreary absolutely rock the gently caress out on that Hurdy Gurdy! man this list took a while to make. I hope folks enjoyed and maybe picked up a few things to listen to by the end of it. Captain Invictus fucked around with this message at 15:40 on Dec 30, 2022 |
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Dec 30, 2022 15:20
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Removed earlier post that lacked writeups... My list is like half games I beat on other platforms previously, also I'm sticking to just games I actually beat this year (or consider myself to have beaten like VS). Honorable mentions: 16 -Transistor: Played PS4 version. Good art and music, but the combat and story fell pretty flat for me. Still, nice to see an earlier title that led to Hades, and see some of the DNA there. 15 - God Of War III Remastered: Played PS4 version. Going back to this Kratos after the Norse games (I played it after Ragnarok) was kind of crazy. It's fun and all, but the gameplay and the story are both far more shallow, and I'm glad this overall design pattern is in the past. 14 - Yakuza 3 Remastered: Played PS4 version. I enjoyed this less than the Yakuza games I'd played before this year (0, Kiwami 1 & 2, LAD) because the combat was tedious and the story really didn't grab me as much. It's also super slow to get going. 13 - Yakuza 4 Remastered: Played PS4 version. Still didn't enjoy this as much as some other Yakuza games, but some of the new characters were fun. 12 - God of War Ghost of Sparta: played on PS3 (yes in TYOOL 2022). I think the "prequels" that came out after God of War III show a hint of them wanting to make a somewhat more nuanced storyline. This game is surprisingly good for just being a PSP remaster. 11 - Vampire Survivors: played on Steam Deck. If any of my honorable mentions would have made the top ten, this would have been it. I never thought a game where you just move around would have grabbed me like this, but it did. Now the list: 10 - Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut (PS5)  One of very few games I've platinumed / 100%'ed. This is more because of how easy it is to do so, not because I loved it that much more than all other games, but this is a fun sneak around and kill people as a ninja game. The storyline is serviceable, but the voice acting, music, and art are all solid too. I still need to play Iki Island at some point. 9 - Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core Reunion (PC / Steam Deck) I bought this on PSP when it came out but the slot system immediately made me nope out. But I loved Remake and this being tied to it closely in story, along with all the improvements, made me take a chance on it. Genesis is the stupidest villain ever and the plot is all in all pretty bad but they had to get to a certain point and also have it be "epic" enough for a full game so whatever. The combat is a lot of fun in the reworked system and fusing materia is addictive as hell. I also really like that they made every part of the aesthetics the same as Remake as they could, it made a nice flow going into replaying that after this. 8 - Final Fantasy IV Pixel Remaster (PC / Steam Deck) I originally played this way back on the SNES, and I'd tried to play through it a number of times on emulators since, but this was the first time I'd been able to actually get through the whole thing. It's obviously a simpler plot and the game is stupidly easy, but it's fun to play a retro FF game like this. I just wish the font didn't suck so bad in the remasters. 7 - Hyper Light Drifter (PS4) What a game. Beautiful art and music, and surprisingly deep combat. It's infuriating at first, but once you start understanding it, it's very satisfying - you can't button mash through this. I feel like all the combat oriented games I played after this were easier because I'd learned to actually look for tells and counter attacks. Chain dash is an awful mechanic to put in for a few puzzles.though. 6 - Hades (PS4) Played through this last year on PS5 and it's still an incredible game all around, and you always feel like "well just one more run then I'm done for the day." This time I'm not grinding the RNG for the 5 minute "true ending" you can YouTube though, gently caress that. I'm looking forward to seeing what is changed in Hades II. 5 - Disco Elysium (PS4) Played through this also last year on PS5 and I could never understand before I first played it why goons were going nuts about it. It's truly a one-of-a-kind experience and a hell of a look at what loss can do to someone. I saw even more things this time than I ran into on my last playthrough, and I know there's more to discover waiting for me the next time I play it. The time has come...Tequila Sunset. 4 - Final Fantasy VII INTERgrade (PC / Steam Deck) Third time I've played this - played it on PS4 on launch, then played Intergrade on PS5 when it came out. Third time through, some cracks are starting to show for me - the backtracking and padding started to annoy me, and there are some pretty big plot holes and tonal inconsistencies that bother me. But again, that was on thre third playthrough. I intend to replay the original soon, but I really wasn't bothered that the remake wasn't an exact copy of the original game, and I think it's good that they figured out a way to say "the original game is still canon." Musically, art-wise, and combat-wise, this is by far the best FF game in my opinion. I am looking forward to Yuffie being in the party fulltime sometime in Rebirth hopefully though, because she's the most fun character to play as. Also, while the final boss fight is kind of shoehorned in, you can't deny it's awesome. 3 - Yakuza 0 (PC / Steam Deck) Out of the Yakuza games I've played (all but 5 and 6 from the main series), Yakuza 0 is pretty much tied with Like a Dragon for my favorite. It was even better going through it a second time, knowing who people are this time and not struggling as much to keep the clans and factions straight. Shimano's plan is still pants on head stupid, and I still don't really think the plot makes all that much sense after going through it again, but I won't go into it. All in all it was a fun game with a stupid story with a ton of holes that hit the right beats to set you up to love Majima and Kiryu. I hate seeing Nishiki in Kiwami after this though. What happened, Bro? 2 - God Of War (2018) (PC / Steam Deck) I played this game on release in 2018 and it blew me away. I had played God of War 1, 2, Chains of Olympus, and 3 on their respective releases, but about 1/3 through God of War 3, I was sick of Kratos's poo poo and the same thing over and over again, so I quit the game. I didn't finish it until the Dad of War E3 gameplay trailer came out. This game has deeper combat and a great story, and it was a blast to play it again on Steam Deck. 1 - God of War Ragnarok (PS5) An improvement of God of War 2018 in every way, except that there's no Baldur. The story hits hard emotionally earlier on and never really lets up. I never would have thought ten years ago that a God of War game would make me cry a few times. poo poo, Kratos cries a bit during the ending. There are some truly incredible setpieces, and the music and vocal performances are great again. The combat is even deeper than the predecessor. I still need to do almost all of the side stuff, but as you can tell with my list this year, I come back to games again later. Maybe it'll be the top in 2023 again. Easy list: 10 - Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut 9 - Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core Reunion 8 - Final Fantasy IV Pixel Remaster 7 - Hyper Light Drifter 6 - Hades 5 - Disco Elysium 4 - Final Fantasy VII INTERgrade 3 - Yakuza 0 2 - God Of War (2018) 1 - God of War Ragnarok Nail Rat fucked around with this message at 17:53 on Dec 30, 2022 |
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Dec 30, 2022 15:55
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Alright here we go, just in time. The Missing As always there are some games that from what I know about them seem like they might have been candidates for the list, but I just didn’t have time to get to them. Maybe they will appear on next year’s list if they’re good enough. God of War: Ragnarok – I tried to beat this game in time to evaluate it for the list. I’m a good way into it and it seems great, but I just don’t have time to get it done before the end of the year, it’s just such a huge game. If it sticks the landing it probably would have made the list but we’ll have to see if it’s memorable enough for next year. Tactics Ogre Reborn – I’ve had trouble getting into strategy games besides Fire Emblem, and this game is often mentioned in the same breath as Final Fantasy Tactics, a game that I did not like at all. That said it seems to be thoroughly beloved and I look forward to checking it out next year. Live A Live – Only played the demo of this, it seems really cool. I look forward to seeing how the multiple time periods all come together. Dishonorable Mentions Monster Hunter Rise + Sunbreak – Not really fair to put this in this category considering that I’ve put 100 hours into it and liked it enough to buy the DLC. I just really find its padding frustrating. Why does each set of progression have you fighting the same monsters in the same order? Including the DLC which would have been an opportunity to introduce a ton of new monsters. When I do fight new things, this game is great and fun, there’s just so much wheel spinning in between. Ultimately, I vastly prefer World in every way. A Plague Tale: Requiem – Before I played this, I thought it might be a top 10 candidate. I enjoyed the first game quite a bit and looked forward to seeing where they took the story from the hopeful note the first game ended on. My expectations could not have been more wrong. This game is absolutely miserable from start to finish. It is unrelentingly bleak with every moment of levity being immediately undercut by horrible things happening. I was incredibly disappointed that this is the direction they decided to go with the sequel. Eastward – This game didn’t come out in 2022 and honestly doesn’t even need to be mentioned but I just need to state for the record how much I hated it. In a year where I played Plague Tale: Requiem, Eastward somehow managed to be the most depressing game I played. It also features the worst use of a silent protagonist I have ever seen as much of the terrible things that happen could have been avoided if the protagonist was able to communicate. The art is nice, and the gameplay is fine but nothing is able to make up for the awful story. Honorable Mentions Final Fantasy XIV – I removed this from contention since it didn’t have a new expansion this year. But it’s still here and it’s still great. The Case of the Golden Idol – At last an Obra Dinn-like! Not quite as excellent as Obra Dinn but still a lot of fun. Good puzzles and mysteries and a bizarre and cool story. AI: The Somnium Files - Nirvana Initiative – Another wild Uchikoshi journey. I liked it a lot but it didn’t quite live up to his best works. Some of the twists were a bit contrived in a way that lessened the impact of the game. Still excellent overall and I loved spending time with these characters again. Top 10 of 2022 10. Citizen Sleeper – This is the second game by Gareth Damien Martin, the first being In Other Waters, a game I contributed to the kickstarter for, and which made my top 10 list in 2020. Martin’s writing is excellent, and they have a penchant for effective, melancholy storytelling. In Other Waters was a game about isolation and exploration of an alien world. Citizen Sleeper on the other hand is a game about community and survival. The timer and dice mechanics are extremely compelling and every little storyline on the space station was gripping. I intend to continue following any other games they make in the future. 9. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 – This is the best Xenoblade has been since the first one. The overall story isn’t quite as strong as the original, but the cast is absolutely stellar. There’s loads of powerful emotional moments especially the ones surrounding the characters dealing with their short lifespans and impending deaths. The gameplay is also the best the series has ever had. This probably would have ranked higher if it had stuck the landing perfectly, but unfortunately, I’m left a bit dissatisfied with how the ending was handled as it didn’t make a ton of sense the way it was presented. I’m somewhat hopeful that the DLC will address some of my issues when it comes out. 8. Pokemon Scarlet – After how much I hated Shield, I was a bit wary about getting this game. I was peer pressured into it by my friends’ excitement for it, and ultimately, I’m extremely glad I played it. It’s my second favorite Pokemon game after Moon. There’s some dumb decisions such as the removal of set mode and mandatory exp share, but the latter is mitigated by the ability to swap Pokemon from your boxes wherever. This actually let me run a team of twelve Pokemon which ended up being a lot of fun as I got to use a huge variety. Some of my favorite Pokemon designs of all time are from this game such as Clodsire and Skeledirge. The open world was a cool idea that ultimately worked quite well, and I managed to keep the game a good challenge by carefully managing my levels. The story was also a lot of fun and having 3 different storylines gave things a lot of variety. If it weren’t for the technical issues, I’d probably have ranked this higher. 7. Harvestella – This was absolutely my biggest surprise of the year. I first saw it in the “all farming sims all the time” Nintendo Direct and wrote it off with all of the others as that is not a genre I am interested in. However, a friend played it and would not stop talking about how absolutely wild it gets and I was assured it was more of an action RPG with an insane story that also has some farming built in. Reluctantly I allowed myself to be peer pressured into checking it out and holy poo poo it rules. I still don’t love the farming part of the game, but everything else is a blast. It’s pretty crazy how it starts out as a simple farming/fantasy game and then veers hard into crazy science fiction epic adventure. 6. Pentiment – The buzz this game got had me check it out at the end of the year and it turned out to be something really special. It’s a beautiful game set in the early 1500s and tells a story spanning 25 years of a small town and the mysteries and tragedies that strike it. It manages to do what no other mystery game I’ve ever played has managed and has open ended mysteries without a definite answer, but still makes everything satisfying. I loved getting to know all the characters in this town and experiencing the harsh reality of life in this time period, with some people just dying between sections. The artwork is gorgeous, and the music is excellent as well. I actually discovered through my mother – a professional musician specializing in Medieval and Renaissance music – that they hired some friends and colleagues of hers to do the music for this game which explains the authentic tone. Well done to the devs for putting in the effort! 5. Tunic – What a brilliant and unique game this is. The core concept of collecting a game manual and using it to solve puzzles and understand hidden mechanics was absolutely genius. Everything about this game worked perfectly for me and I loved solving every little puzzle and finding every secret. I even loved the combat which some people have criticized. 4. Kirby and the Forgotten Land – This is my favorite Kirby game of all time, surpassing even Robobot and 64. Every level is unique and memorable, the powers and their variations are some of the most fun they’ve ever been. Mouthful mode is a hilarious blast. Just an absolutely perfect transition to 3D for my beloved pink puffball. 3. Horizon Forbidden West – Aloy is one of my favorite videogame protagonists and it was great to see her adventure continue. So many of the mysteries left hanging from the first game were explained at last and we now have a clear idea of where this trilogy is going. The game suffers a little bit from middle chapter syndrome, and I think they went a bit too hard on the combat this time. I also think that they need to pare down the random drops from enemies and have crafting and upgrading be focused solely on the parts you shoot off enemies. All that aside the game was excellent and I’m super excited to see where the DLC and the final chapter of the series go. 2. Elden Ring – Fromsoft finally tackled an open world, and they did it in their characteristic polish. Elden Ring is a brilliant game which immersed me for almost a whole month before I beat it. It has some of my favorite bosses in all Fromsoft history such as Malenia and Mohg. The open world really allowed you to have so many exciting moments of discovery and terrifying adventures like chests that teleport you to Caelid and force you to run for your life. The weapons and spells are a blast as well. My only real criticism is that there were a few too many copy/paste dungeons and minibosses to pad out the open world, but ultimately this is a very mild gripe about an otherwise top notch game. 1. Triangle Strategy – I said I’ve had trouble getting into strategy games besides Fire Emblem, but Triangle Strategy is the biggest exception. This is one of my favorite strategy games of all time, standing tall among my favorite Fire Emblems. The story and the multiple routes are absolutely brilliant. I plowed through all four endings back-to-back in a glorious month of strategy gaming. The way the multiple routes work and the way character experience works meant I got to use every single character in the game over the course of my playthroughs. The game also makes every single character completely unique which I absolutely love. The characters are fantastic and while the voice acting is lacking at parts, the performances in the big confrontation near the end of each route are absolutely stunning. This game has lived in my mind ever since I beat it in May, and I crave more. I hope they make another game like it in the future. So in the end there could be no question that Triangle Strategy was the best game I played in 2022.
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Dec 30, 2022 15:58
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Rarity posted:I see we've reached the 'everyone rushing to finish their homework in the morning before class' stage of the thread i wanted to finish star ocean. still do and have a little time left, but didn't want the list to sit. bone emulator posted:
hell yeah it is
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Dec 30, 2022 16:48
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I don't have enough data yet but it's possible people who order their lists 1-10 are psychopaths
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Dec 30, 2022 16:50
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