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Mamkute posted:6. Resistance: Fall of Man (2006) this is a good'un. probably my fav of the whole series. it has a great arcadey shooter feel to it that the other games fail to eger replicate. the weapon wheel, the speed Hale moves around, the semiregenrating health, the weird weapons themselves... even the goofy one-off stuff like driving around the jeep and taking sick jumps... it all rules. not perfect. game takes a bit to get going. the first four missions feel like one long prologue and ehile relatively short feel interminably long. once you are through though the game really opens up. also for the first PS3 FPS I played i was absolutely blown away by the fact that you could shoot out pieces of a glass pane rather than have the whole thing instantly shatter. next level graphics lol. you play a New Game+ campaign? it adds a bunch of new weapons for subsequent playthroughs. also coop is a blast if you can find someone for it. dont get me wrong... R2 and R3 are good in their own ways but just different enough from R1that i was disappointed
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Dec 27, 2023 17:19
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Hardly any of these are new, but this is definitely my 2023 top 10. Most are multiplayer. What I've found is that making these lists is hard. When asked my favorite game of all time, first of all of course I have to dissemble and say let's do a top 5, and immediately after that I have to say, well, these aren't the games I've PLAYED the most, but rather my favorite experiences or narratives. Is that my internalized desire to choose things that sound better to choose, have had more critical acclaim or seem more artistic? ARK is a piece of poo poo but holy gently caress did I play a lot of ARK. Subnautica is essentially perfect but I played it through twice and doubt I'll go back. I'm going to try and weight games that I truly kept enjoying higher than I might usually do. Top 10 by an arbitrary mixture of those metrics: 10. League of Legends - You may now comfortably discount anything I say hereafter. Honestly, I don't even think this is a poo poo game like I do ARK. I'm including it because I played it a great deal, but it's also honestly good. It is so easy to hop on and play a game of the particular degree of seriousness I might feel at that moment, and there will almost always be a friend or 7 online to join in. Despite a lackluster set of season changes, the introduction of Arena (in-house 8 man arena lobbies are gas) was a ray of hope for the goals and direction of the game that I have now played for over 1/4 of my life - and this from someone that has been allowed to live an unconscionably long time. I mean it. Kill me. 9. Spirit Island (Android)  gently caress Colonizers: The Game. Wildly deep but reasonably accessible game with almost infinite difficulty scaling. Top notch strategy, like Risk but you're Asia and you can light the armies marching through you on fire or have tigers eat them. The Handelabra helmed app conversion of the greatest board game ever continues to lag well behind the tabletop in content, but light years ahead in terms of being able to cuddle up in bed with your significant other and play it without setup or cleanup. It is a staple of our rare lazy days off together, and for what they have actually released it works very well. The multiplayer connectivity has improved noticeably and we have learned not to minimize the app for any reason. 8. Against The Storm  Addictive RTSlike with no cheating AI civilizations, with a frustrating but rewarding session trajectory of, "I've got this," transitioning to, "I'm absolutely hosed," and finally, "Wait am I going to win?" being surprisingly common. The depth to the metaprogression is actually smart and the idea of working further and further out as you unlock seals and extend your time between storms is unique. If you've ever liked games in the genre, but felt inadequate in the ramping up and conquering department like I have, this would be worth a look. You'll develop pet strategies and then you'll have to find new ones because you don't have access to the same buildings for every settlement, and there will be modifiers that affect your win conditions significantly. 7. Tower of Time  A little gem of an iso RPG that I got from a Fanatical bundle. In terms of scope it's the anti-BG3 - no particularly impactful choices and more or less on rails. Those facts were a positive for me, as they made the game feel relaxing and manageable. The combat is fun and varied, with the drawn line style spells being a standout. It was a game that felt easy and natural to complete. The plot is fine - it's at least different than most standard fare. 6. Gunfire Reborn  Roguelike FPS with Borderlands style guns and lots of character/gameplay variety. This is comfort gaming - an old standby to hop on and waste a night without benefitting in any way intellectually or emotionally. Hades is the only roguelike that I would acknowledge as its better. The update schedule has been rock solid and introduced so many ways to add complexity (R9!). It is just a delight to play. This low on the list because of its rank for this year, not all time. It's worth noting that there is a fair degree of metaprogression (a single large perk tree that applies to all characters, and 5 perks unique to each) to work through as you learn the game. There are 4 difficulty settings, Normal, Elite, Nightmare and Reincarnation. It's criminal that they don't emphasize how unimportant the first 3 are. The actual hardest difficulty is probably Nightmare, as it's the last one before Reincarnation and the Spiritual Blessings that come with it, which is where the game actually starts. Reincarnation introduces extremely important and extremely fun mechanics that are not referenced at all prior to my knowledge. If you pick it up, please get to at least Reincarnation 1 and play through that a bit. Or multiplayer with me and I will just open it for you by starting a game in one of them and quitting. 5. Caves of Qud  The best modern example of what roguelike used to mean - graphics that if you squint might be mistaken for ASCII (but are actually super sweet), and a character graveyard bigger than the mistake of putting League of Legends in a best of list. You may see from the games here that I am a fan of exploitable systems, or at least ones that give the player the SENSE that they can be. Qud wants you to. Here, Qud says, pour cloning liquid on a legendary chef who occasionally has cloning liquid in his inventory, and then swap minds with him temporarily, dump his inventory on the ground, and swap back. Use the cloning liquid that you dropped on him again. Do this with all the clones. Oh, swap back and check his stats - are they insanely high compared to yours? When you've amassed infinite wealth and insane gear, swap minds and then kill your original body. gently caress that trash. Time to level up again from more or less baseline, this time with a tiiiiiny advantage of triple the stats you used to have and guns that dismember missile racks off of flying sentient chrome pyramids. To the poster who recently mentioned having difficulty with Bethesda Susa (and yes it's a bitch), may I suggest a little of the above? I'll grant you it's absurd but you gotta do it once. 4. Barony  First person perma-death procedural dungeon crawler with extremely clear and significant Nethack inspiration. The updates this year were next level. Fuckin' good time with friends. 3. Stolen Realm  Hexmap turn-based tactical combat (squad optional) with roguelike trappings. Perhaps the greatest example of synergy between 3 sources of build expression (Talent Trees, Fortunes, and Equipment) ever created. Simple enough to be extremely accessible, tactical enough to reward good play, and deep enough to occupy your thoughts daily - puzzling out the best way to spend your points to break the game. Just a masterpiece: narrow focus, well executed. There is nothing to gain from this game if you would like to come out of it thinking differently about the world, or having experienced an emotion - any emotion at all. It's pure game. You will get tired of it eventually but the honeymoon slaps. (I played hundreds of hours with friends and solo). 2. Baldur's Gate 3 - It really is as good as everyone says. A labor of love in so many ways. Wild to think that I owned it for 3 years of early access and didn't think too much about it. Not much extra to say, considering how much content there really is out there about it. 1. Vintage Story https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJjifFq1NGY <- feature video from last year It's not on Steam! Here's the link: https://www.vintagestory.at/ Wildly detailed voxel-based survival game with Lovecraftian insanity mechanics that will teach you the basics for a material sciences degree. Has classes with unique strengths, procedurally generated world with weather and lat/long that determine biomes instead of the other way around, a great modding scene, and as a gently caress you to Minecraft, a chisel tool that allows for more or less infinite design creativity. I fell into co-op survival games with Valheim during lockdowns in 2020 and have chased that high of almost an MMO feeling without the FOMO and toxicity since. The best fit since was Vintage Story, a game that truly respects your time - in large part by not skipping ANYTHING. It has an in-game handbook which contains 99% of the answers you might have throughout your time playing. This year they introduced a patch with a very custom narrative dungeon that was an absolute blast. The 5 of us never went in without the whole group - which was a very rare thing to have online - so we really stretched that content out and felt super satisfied by finishing it. I've spoilered a lengthy example of what to expect in the game, both because discovering how to do everything is extremely cool, as well as I imagine a big paragraph describing specific game mechanics would really just be annoying to some people. In Minecraft you would have a wooden pickaxe, working on a stone pickaxe and other tools, within the first minute of the game. In Vintage Story, you can't make a wooden or stone pickaxe, because those aren't real. In fact, you can't break rock at all without a copper pick. Thus, you'll want to wander a while until you have found about 20 copper bits on the ground. Note on your map where you found those; they signify a vein beneath the surface that you can get into once you finish this tool, which surely can't take too long! Ok, wait, we'll need to melt these copper bits down to make them into a pick, right? So I guess we need wood. Can't punch a tree into submission like SOME games, so we'll have to pick up this flint we found in the water, set it on the ground, and use another piece of flint to chip off voxels in the indicated pattern to create an axehead, and combine that with a stick. Yes! An axe! Ok, we have wood. Wait, am I just going to put the copper in a fire? Back to searching the landscape, and eventually we find it: clay. Using a similar voxel system to the stone knapping process, we use clay on the ground, select an intended product (in this case a crucible), and we build up the clay layer by layer following a pattern laid out by the game. We make a crucible, and in the menu while we're doing that we notice that there's a pickaxe mold. Probably going to need that. Now, this is still just raw clay, this won't help anyone. Gotta dig two pits, put the clay items in, pack them well with dry grass (that we cut with a knife we had to knap), top with sticks, and firewood. Light those suckers and.... wait. Almost a day. Finally, a fired crucible. Put it in a firepit and it will show 4 slots of its inventory in the firepit. Put in the copper, light the wood, and wait and watch. Hang on, it's topping out at 700 degrees, and the copper says it melts at 1084. poo poo. It's time completely fill a pit with firewood, light a fire on top of it, and seal it off. The lack of air will form charcoal. Let's try again. Eventually the batch completes and one can take it off the fire! ...And immediately drop it. Make tongs out of sticks you fuckin idiot. Pour it into the mold. Congratulations, you can break stone now. The Turkish Owl fucked around with this message at 18:12 on Dec 27, 2023 |
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Dec 27, 2023 17:44
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wash bucket posted:2. Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon - I still think the mechs with tank treads for legs are dumb though. 
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Dec 27, 2023 19:46
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The Turkish Owl posted:1. Vintage Story immediately loving sold, i have been wanting a new game with the same kind of realistically-detailed crafting system since One Hour One Life and this looks awesome
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Dec 27, 2023 20:09
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This was a great year even if I restrict it to just games that released this year. But I didn't, and I played a whole lot of games this year. This one was a hard list. Usually I can kind of top of my head 8 games and then the final 2 are easyish. This year the last 3 spots were cutthroat hard. Even some in the list immediately below would’ve been top 10 contenders in another year. -----Worst to Best, starting with The Rest----- Exoprimal, Trepang2, The Bookwalker, Against the Storm, Rollerdrome, Little Witch Nobeta, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R, Jusant, Pentiment, Killer Instinct, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, Everspace 2, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Breachers, Boltgun, Paranormasight, Golden Idol DLC, Red Matter, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (I’m not even halfway into this one. It should make my top ten next year if it even halfway delivers on all the plot threads it’s setting up), The Quarry, Master Detective Archives: Raincode, Halo 3, Remnant II -----Honorable Mentions-----  Hogwarts Legacy – Nobody cared who I was until I put on the mask. Was hoping to put this one in my top ten because it did a lot that impressed me, but they played it a little safe and didn’t quite hit greatness. I understand why they did it; Portkey is a new studio and they had to drop something that was going to have the best chance possible to capture a wide audience. It did that. Now they’ve got a blank check and can make a sequel that fully delivers on the experience and tones down the copy/paste Ubisoft-esque elements. Maybe a little more focus on the actual school and classes as well. The core element is that the combat was fun and engaging all the way to the end, and murdering an entire room full of goblin scum with Avada Kedavra felt great. Warcraft Rumble – I can sense myself slowly falling off of this one, but it’s still a daily play. Addictive, short levels, and there’s a lot of progress you can make without paying. But the PvP is massively frustrating and the PvE can be brutal at times. Hi-Fi Rush – Phantom drops are the best. Played this one on gamepass, enjoyed it a lot. It’s not quite on par with Platinum’s stuff, but it’s not far off, and the follow the rhythm of the music mechanic is a unique choice that works both stylistically and in terms of gameplay. Holocure – This one was on my top ten list last year. Not a single other person even mentioned it that year, and its insignificance made it not even show up in the 1 point list in the summation post… Yeah, well who’s laughing now motherfuckers? You LOVE that sweet vtuber VS clone now don’t you? Understandable, since the recent update was pretty sweet. Kay Yu does really good work and you should probably watch Heavenly Delusion, too. Anyway, Miosha is still my favorite to play. Marvel Snap – Dude gently caress this game. At least Galactus is unplayably bad now, suck it. Warcraft Rumble managed to ween me off this thing, but since I started back in the Zabu season, I was literally playing it every single day. I’m off it for now, but who knows how long that’ll last. As video card games go, this one is as addictive as anything else I’ve played, even Slay the Spire. I do not recommend starting it, it's that addictive. Batman: Arkham Knight – In a slightly weaker year, my replay of my favorite videogame of all time might have made my top ten. There’s just a whole lot of game here, and the production values on everything really show how good Rocksteady was at their peak. Got all the DLC for 5 bucks, including the various Batmobile races and cars, and it’s amazing how much work they put in on some of that stuff, given how few people probably touched it. The courses inspired by the 60s TV show, ’89 movie, and Nolan trilogy are thematically cool as hell. The 60s courses play the classic Batman theme the whole time and when you finish the race, it ends on the “Batmaaaaaaaaaan.” I couldn’t not grin. Then I remembered Rocksteady hasn’t made a game in 9 years and they’re slated to release a pile of steaming garbage next year, and my heart hurt. Diablo IV – I really wanted to keep this in my top ten. I think the campaign is genuinely good, and there’s a good amount of meat to it. Any game that keeps me that interested for more than 20 hours has more than justified its cost, and Diablo IV did. The endgame was lackluster at launch, so I did fall off, but even if you just removed the endgame entirely and had credits roll when you killed the last boss, this would’ve been a heckuva game. -----The Top Ten----- 10. No More Heroes 3  I’m giving this the number 10 because it’s so incredibly charming, and it’s a worthwhile closer for a series close to my heart. Travis Touchdown is my favorite videogame character of all time, and seeing him again felt great. Unlike some others here, I really genuinely did not care much for Travis Strikes Again, so it was nice to get a competent action game return to the NMH world that had plenty of the same personality. I don’t think it hits the same highs that NMH1 and to a lesser degree 2 did for me, but I got plenty of enjoyment out of it. Mowing the lawn, gently caress yeah. 9. Opus Magnum  My first Zachtronics game. Probably the only one I can really get into, other than maybe Mobius Front ’83. The mechanics in Opus Magnum are accessible to people who aren’t into crunchy puzzlers, while still allowing you to impose challenge on yourself to maximize efficiency and minimize space for solutions. Just solving each level is pretty easy, so trying to do it as well as you personally can is where I think the fun of this game comes from. I haven’t finished it, because it did get to the point where getting a solution I was proud of and satisfied with started taking like an hour per level. But I still think it easily makes my top ten of the year. 8. Alan Wake 2  I wanted to put this higher up the list, but I really didn’t care for Saga Anderson and she’s basically half the game. Overall though, AW2 does a remarkable amount right and the passion radiates off of it. The atmosphere is incredible, the visuals and especially the lighting (shocker) are absurdly good and among the best in videogames. Like this is probably one of the 5 best-looking games ever made and it does things with its visuals that I just haven’t really seen games pull off this seamlessly before. Remedy always does good work there but this is their best to date. The combat encounters show a lot of restraint until the end, and it’s surprising how threatening you can make one or two enemies. No need to ask the player to mow down hordes of shadow people when just two will make you this tense. The story is interesting, the dual settings contrast each other and have a lot of variety, and the survival horror elements are competent. The Herald of Darkness setpiece that occurs about a third of the way through the game just blew me away in every regard, and I love the direction on it. Control fell off for me early because the gameplay got stale, but Alan Wake 2 remained engaging on all fronts for the entire game. 7. Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon  It’s good. The customization on offer for your arsenal and mech, including the paintjob and logos was superb, and I switched up what weapons I was using quite often just because if something looked fun I wanted to try it. I wish there had been more encounters like the crawler, but I enjoyed my time with AC6 from start to finish. This is a game that wouldn’t have sold at all if it didn’t have From’s now-sterling name on it, and I’m glad they were able to return to a classic series and see some success with it, creating new fans (including myself) in the process. V IV Rusty is our guy. 6. Cyberpunk 2077  I never played it on launch. Heard it was buggy as gently caress, and that even when it was working it didn’t really deliver on the fantasy all that well. After the Phantom Liberty patch though, I can confidently say this is mostly the game I wanted before the original release. The story was interesting, the talents are cool and impactful, the combat never stopped being fun through to the end, and it let me throw knives directly into people’s skulls until they were dead. I will say that I do have two criticisms though. One is that daytime completely ruins the aesthetic of Night City, and they should’ve made the brightest it ever gets an overcast rainy day. The second is that you only get one respec, and there were at least three other builds I wanted to try and didn’t get to. Phantom Liberty as a DLC was the game’s Blood & Wine, and delivered additional content that was at least as good as the main game. If you were waiting until Cyberpunk was good to finally play it, now’s the time. It’s good. Oh, and I (CP2077 & Edgerunners spoilers) made sure to put Adam Smasher down using Rebecca’s shotgun. REVENGE. 5. Baldur’s Gate 3  Pretty much everyone’s uncontested game of 2023, I think, and for good reason. It’s a lovingly-crafted RPG with a lot of ways to play it, a good story, and the typical Larian “oh poo poo, this thing works exactly how it logically should” quality. Games that respond in the way you want even though it must’ve taken a lot of work to make that functional always score high with me. Pickpocketing the mage hand ring off the djinn in act 3 and then winning the spin because he couldn’t cheat anymore was so goddamn delightful and the reward was awesome, too. Great game, and I’m not even into that kind of RPG. 4. Lies of P  It’s the best Soulslike not made by From. I’ve played a good number of them (Steelrising, Thymesia, a few others not worth naming), and Lies of P is at least a full letter grade above them all. It’s responsive, the weapons feel great to use, there’s a ton of them AND they’re customizable to any playstyle. So if you find a cool pizzacutter sawblade head that you like, but the handle to use it has the wrong stats for your build, or you just want a different moveset on it, just jam that thing on a handle you like and you’re good to go with a loving Frankenstein weapon. The boss weapons are so cool I barely even engaged with that system though. I loved that I had multiple options for defending against most attacks. The game rewards you for perfectly timing your parry, it rewards you for being aggressive when you have no healing charges left by recharging up to one of them, and it all just feels great. The setting is pretty neat, and I think Bloodborne fans will find a lot to like about it. Some of the bosses took me quite a few attempts, and I’ve beaten all of From’s stuff. The ending teases a sequel/spinoff set in another classic tale, and I’m excited for it after seeing what this studio was able to do on its first outing with singleplayer. This was my big Gamepass justifier this year. 3. The Rift Breaker  Biggest surprise of the year for me. Downloaded it on Gamepass kind of on a whim, and it… I dunno, just scratched an itch. It’s this weird combination of RTS resource harvesting and researching mechanics mixed with tower defense, base-building, and you control a unit that can engage in combat with all kinds of armaments and abilities. Helping your automated defenses protect your precious base against humongous swarms of enemies using flamethrowers, miniguns, all that sort of thing, while ensuring you’ve got production generating enough ammunition for your towers to fire, energy for them to run, and researching more efficient and sustainable sources of all that was satisfying. Queuing up production of 50 solar panel and wind turbines in as dense a formation as possible, very satisfying. Managing to have sufficient resources and energy to power and feed the ultimate building which is the goal of the whole game to set up… very satisfying. And since you have to explore other areas of the planet to get certain materials for various production, you don’t just sit on your one original base/area for the whole time. You have to set up new bases in areas with their own challenges, and get them to be self-sustaining so you can still be getting those materials even when you’re elsewhere on the planet. Very satisfying. 2. Grounded  The best time I had playing with friends all year. I’ve played a few games like Subnautica now, and Grounded is the one that I think comes closest to accomplishing the same things. But because it’s a world shared with friends, the experience has that aspect to it that made it a lot more fun. Discovering new areas, realizing where you are in the shrunken backyard, hunting down the newest bugs and getting materials to craft stronger gear so we could explore further, ensuring we had enough supplies for an expedition to a new, dangerous area… it was all a great time! And the first time I set up a zipline that went from my group’s base near the pond all the way to the highest elevation area of the game rivals or maybe even exceeds the feeling I’ve gotten from unlocking a particularly useful shortcut in a Souls game. The final event of the story was genuinely epic, and we really went nuts preparing for it after a first try was a spectacular failure. If you’ve got a couple friends to play with, I really cant recommend Grounded enough. It has that “joy of exploration” factor that I don’t get in videogames that often anymore. 1. Disco Elysium  This was the first game I played in 2023, and it has stuck with me since. Disco Elysium is probably the best writing I’ve ever seen in a videogame. From the very first minute I was laughing, and it only got better from there. I criticize nothing in games more strongly than writing, and the entire industry seems to forgive shortcomings in that area often. Maybe it’s because writer is a job anyone can do, and a game doesn’t really suffer that much if the dialogue or the descriptions are written at a 4th grade level. Even lauded stories like The Last of Us would be average at best were they books instead. But Disco Elysium would stand out no matter what, because everything about the story and the characters is so full of soul, and a spark that game writing just doesn’t typically have. I loved the whole thing. And I didn’t save scum because even a failed roll was just part of the story of MY playthrough and failure was as much a part of my (and everyone’s) Harry as success. Moreso, probably. I don’t even mind that I didn’t do the Phasmid side quest so it ran away at the end before I could get a picture or talk to it. Because that was part of my story, and who my Harry was. My favorite moment was interrogating the woman on the rooftop and managing to pass the check where Volition told me that the personality aspects I had been relying on this whole time were all lying to me when it came to her. Volition is NOT a boring condom, he is my bro. I wanted to keep it short, but drat… I really want to give this game all the praise I have to give even though I’m late to the party and in past years everyone else has said it all already. I guess I’d sum it up with the statement that Disco Elysium impressed me constantly, and it was an experience I’m going to be chasing – probably unsuccessfully – for the rest of my time playing videogames. Easy Consumption: 1. Disco Elysium 2. Grounded 3. The Rift Breaker 4. Lies of P 5. Baldur’s Gate 3 6. Cyberpunk 2077 7. Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon 8. Alan Wake 2 9. Opus Magnum 10. No More Heroes 3 Darke GBF fucked around with this message at 06:40 on Dec 28, 2023 |
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Dec 27, 2023 20:56
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Seeing people discover games, and discovering games myself, is such a goddamn joy. This thread rules.
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Dec 27, 2023 21:01
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HopperUK posted:Seeing people discover games, and discovering games myself, is such a goddamn joy. This thread rules. For real. I bought Elsinore as well. Sweet as hell concept.
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Dec 27, 2023 21:34
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Sally posted:this is a good'un. probably my fav of the whole series. it has a great arcadey shooter feel to it that the other games fail to eger replicate. the weapon wheel, the speed Hale moves around, the semiregenrating health, the weird weapons themselves... even the goofy one-off stuff like driving around the jeep and taking sick jumps... it all rules. this is also how I felt about R1, best in that series by a good margin and just fantastic co-op. still remember how awesome the spike-ball grenades were and how interesting the enemy variations could get when they teamed up. this is the only game that ever came close to being a  Halo-Killer imo, but it never really got much recognition in that sense
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Dec 27, 2023 21:42
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The Turkish Owl posted:For real. +1, picked it up
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Dec 27, 2023 21:54
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Kerrzhe posted:immediately loving sold, i have been wanting a new game with the same kind of realistically-detailed crafting system since One Hour One Life and this looks awesome I'm so excited for you. If any of your friends like similar things, do try to rope them in on a dedicated server (though I recommend against the official ones as they are not moddable). Having the different classes represented can be extremely helpful. Clockmaker makes the mechanical power systems far cheaper to construct, for instance, but won't help much with the fighting. Each one has significant advantages that can't be gained by any other method. Hope you have as good a time as we all did!
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Dec 27, 2023 22:57
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2023 was stacked this year for gaming. I didn't get half of the games that came out this year because I was too busy playing the other half. And I really struggled with the order for my top 3 this year. ~DemoneeHo's 2023 Game of the Year Rankings~ -Honorable Mentions- FFXIV I have not once canceled my subscription. Eventually I will run out of content between now and the release of the next expansion. Process of Elimination Nippon Ichi released a murder mystery Visual Novel with a twist: what if the investigation played like a watered down SRPG instead? The story is good with fun characters, but the actual gameplay of the investigation leaves a lot to be desired. You can draw a lot of parallels with Danganronpa with its writing and character designs. Master Detective Archives: Rain Code Speaking of Danganronpa, the creators of Danganronpa made a new mystery game. It’s decent enough, but only about half of the cases were interesting. It never quite reaches the highs nor the lows of its predecessor, but it is a fun enough romp. Hopefully they’ll release a sequel on a console with actual processing power. Wario Land 3 Played this for the first time on the Switch, and I’d say it holds up very well as a Metroidvania-esque game.Tons of stages and secrets to discover. World of Horror The not-Junji Ito horror rougelite finally released version 1.0. It’s alright, kinda bs hard. But I’ll chalk that up to skill issue and haven’t had that much time to play it. We’ll see how I feel by next year’s goty list. Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog RIP Sonic, 1991-2023  Sayonara Wild Hearts This is not how it ends, this is not goodbye 'Cause wild hearts never die Wild hearts never die We're just changing our shape like butterflies 'Cause wild hearts never die Wild hearts never die Gravity Circuit Very cool Megaman X/Zero-inspired game. Instead of shooting or slicing foes, you get to beat them up with your fists. Super fun, would love to see a sequel. The Roottrees Are Dead Another game in the Obra Dinn-like genre. I think that makes 3 total? It just barely missed out on the top 10 for me, but that is due to heavy competition this year.. Anyways it’s free and fun. Go play now. -The Top Ten-   10. No More Heroes 3 Awesome Holiday in the Sky Travis is back in a crazy, surreal goofball adventure. The trademark Suda51 writing shines throughout the game with offbeat humor and bombastic personality. And I did like most of the combat changes that this game implemented. But I didn’t love it as much as I did with NMH1 and 2. While mowing through a lawn of tall grass was oddly relaxing, I found myself missing the standard stages of mowing through waves of enemies in a bloody orgy of violence as a lead up to each boss. And fighting through shorter, closed-off battles located in a choppy overworld doesn’t scratch that same itch. Still, after Travis Strikes Back had stages that lasted way too long, I can live with the gameplay flow of 3.   9. The Case of the Golden Idol The Watching Eye The other game in the Obra-Dinn-like genre. Pick up a bunch of keywords and names, plug them into blanks and hope you got the right combination. Unlike most other mystery games where you determine who killed who, you also have to work backwards and find out the story leading up to each death. All the while picking up on the overarching plot of intrigue that ties each chapter together. It’s a unique and novel way to tell a story. The art and setting are very atmospheric. I just wish the game were longer. Highly recommend getting both of the dlc’s.  8. 30XX Skybound Since Megaman games are in a state of constant re-releases, other developers have stepped up to make some really good Megaman clones, like the aforementioned Gravity Circuit. 30XX is both a Megamanlike and a Roguelike that blends both concepts together rather nicely. Unlike 20XX which resembled an old Newgrounds Flash game, this game is fully pixelated and looks fantastic. Bright and vibrant graphics with a really catchy soundtrack. X and Zero, sorry, Nina and Ace let you play with two familiar play styles that have been expanded on. You can run and gun with a buster, and combine boss weapons into absurd attacks. Or you can get up close to enemies and hack them to bits with melee attacks. Add in the usual roguelite elements, you can get some really absurd weapon loadouts, which you’ll need to take down some late game bosses. Lots of replay value, and the fanmade stages on the steam workshop ain’t half bad. I’ll be playing this one years to come.  7. Fire Emblem Engage Bloom in the Breeze Straight up, FE Engage is jam packed full of tough maps that push you towards your limits. And yes, the writing of the main story largely exists to move characters from fight to fight with some standard fluff about family. So it is the strategy game equivalent of a Fast and Furious movie. Fortunately the gameplay more than makes up for the main story. A lot of chapters offer up challenging battles and interesting map design. There is a crazy amount of character customization, and combining that with the Ghosts of Emblem Past allows for some galaxy brain strategies. And you can find some fun character writing if you bother to, uh, engage with your units. The game is not without some criticism of its mechanics, but it is a fun strategy game through and through.  6. Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo The Storyteller A horror/mystery adventure game/visual novel? Yes please! The premise is that the real life urban legends known as the Seven Wonders of Honjo (actually nine) are in fact curses that have lingered for many years. And one night these curses activate and attach themselves to seven random people (actually nine) in town, who are told to kill each other. Now ordinary people have to utilize their new powers to navigate a deadly web of chaos and figure out how to get out of this alive. By which I mean they engage in Bizarre Jojo Battles. There is a lot to gush about this game. The cast has a bunch of fun personalities, and the overarching mystery is quite gripping. The writing is top notch. Every twist and turn has the player guessing what comes next. Just a really solid story that I wish lasted longer than the seven hours (actually nine) it took me to complete it. Side note: someone else earlier in the thread mentioned some mechanical similarities with 428 Shibuya Scramble. I would also put that on my top 10, but I didn’t play that this year.   5. Risk of Rain Returns Coalescence Risk of Rain 1 is one of my favorite games of all time. I love the chaos of playing as a tiny little person fighting against huge swarms of huge enemies that explode into a rain of coins due to item interactions that I don’t quite understand. And now there is a new version of it with new characters, new modes, and most importantly, a functional multiplayer. It’s all I ever wanted.   4. Vampire Survivors Forest Night Fever Today I will select [THE DOG] character and I will pick up the [THOUSAND BLADES] weapon and the [BAYONETTA GUNS] weapon and the [POPEYE VEGETABLE] passive and kill [43827] enemies.   3. Hi-Fi Rush The Rush Invaders Must Die Whirring This one just came out of nowhere, but I’m glad that it did. Who knew that the studio behind The Evil Within would make a game about a slacker who gets a robot arm and an ipod heart that lets him beat up robots with a guitar? And it just works. Take a simplified DMC or Bayonetta game, blend it with some rhythm minigames, add in a dash of saturday morning cartoon and anime aesthetics, a rockin’ soundtrack, and finally some goofball humor, and you’ll end up with one of the most fun beat em up game released in years. The game isn’t without some flaws. Enemies with color-coded barriers break the flow of combat. Platforming is vestigial. Some stages could have been broken up into multiple shorter ones. I really hated an escape sequence that has an instant death failure. But I also remember the parts that I loved about the game. How I got better at timing beats to string together some kickass combo attacks. I love the goofball jokes and homages and Chai’s idiotic antics. I love the boss battles and fighting wave after wave of deadly robots set to music by The Prodigy or Nine Inch Nails or a cover of Fiona Apple. It’s a game that knows that it is silly and isn’t afraid to be earnestly silly.   2. Armored Core VI: The Fires of Rubicon Contact With You Once again From Software made a game that kicked my rear end and once again I was forced to git gud. Armored Core VI is fast, intense, pulse-pounding. It pushed my reflexes to the limit. I got wrecked more times than I can remember. I died 20 times to the last boss of chapter 2. I swore at the game, put it down for 5 minutes, and came back and beat the fucker. It’s a thrilling game. It’s exhilarating. It’s difficult. It tells the story of humans crushed by rampant capitalism. It tells the story of a race of people struggling to fight for survival. It tells the story of bloodthirsty warriors out for a challenge. It tells the story of those traumatized by the past and their doomed journey to control the future. It tells the story of friendship and loyalty. The customization in this game is top notch. You make any mech you want. Lightweight and zippy and frail. Big and tanky and full of ammo. Whatever the situation calls for, you can make any crazy build you want. Make your AC look like EVA 01, or give it the ol’ Spongebob paint job. There is no “right” or “wrong” AC, there are only ACs that defeat the enemies. At this point I'm rambling. Armored Core Vi is an excellent wait. Rev up those engines, fight against gravity, let the thrill of battle take you.      1. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Colgera Battle It’s loving Zelda. Okay, i’ll try to do a proper writeup. BOTW was in my top 3 Zelda games, below Majora’s Mask and Link’s Awakening. It completely redefined the series in its approach to nonlinearity and freedom to let the player approach any situation however they so choose. The map was huge and had a metric ton of secrets. How were they going to improve on that? Rather than make a new map wholecloth, Nintendo instead revamped the physics engine and turned the game into Zelda Nuts and Bolts. Now players had better powers to play with and more tools to get around any situation. Make a rocket glider or a hover bike or a flamethrowing deathbot. You could create whatever mechanical monstrosity you wanted to in order transport Koroks or fly across ravines. It’s loving insane the sheer amount of options available to you. The sky’s literally the limit. Dungeons did see improvement in terms of level design. They were still rather easy to beat like in its predecessor, but at least the temples felt like dungeons. I do have to knock on the underground map. It is too big and boring and bland. And the story has absolutely no faith in its characters. Just let Link’s friends have some degree of reactivity to the plot, I beg you Nintendo. And speaking of said friends, wow, they really chose that way to implement the sage powers. Baffling decision. Despite the fact that I was going through the same Hyrule as before, I still had fun discovering new secrets and shrines. TOTK really gets me in a way that most other open world games cannot. No stupid waymark pointing out every attraction on the field. Just pure freedom to travel the land and sky, wind blowing in Link's hair, however I want. Anyways, that wraps up 2023 for me. Now I gotta see what all the hype is about for BG3 and Lethal Company. Top 10 for 2023 10. No More Heroes 3 9. The Case of the Golden Idol 8. 30XX 7. Fire Emblem Engage 6. Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo 5. Risk of Rain Returns 4. Vampire Survivors 3. Hi-Fi Rush 2. Armored Core VI: The Fires of Rubicon 1. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
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Dec 27, 2023 23:42
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The Turkish Owl posted:For real. Same, it's hella cheap when it's on sale and I like timeline fuckery games. Darke GBF posted:7. Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon Buddy, it's V.IV Rusty... 4 not 6!!! He would forgive you anyway.
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Dec 28, 2023 02:48
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Ibblebibble posted:Same, it's hella cheap when it's on sale and I like timeline fuckery games. oh my goodness yeah he would, he's a bro drat that's a cute Shizuka avatar. She's great Darke GBF fucked around with this message at 02:55 on Dec 28, 2023 |
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Dec 28, 2023 02:53
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I did it again—I listed again! This one was tough to write. Somewhere between the industry layoffs and my own layoff, the energy to celebrate games became difficult. Everything I love about games couldn't happen without the countless people behind them. Here's a little gaming joy in the darkness. The Honorable Mentions
 10. Sonic Frontiers Okay, look, hear me out: it hits different. Is this game good? Maybe? It’s a solid 7.5/10, at least! I had way more fun with this game than I expected to based on everyone’s reception. Wild ideas executed variably out of 10—keep pushing this formula, Sega. Please justify my feelings.  9. Adios Adios is a beautiful, compact narrative game about a dude dealing with some stuff: the world’s worst oversimplification of a fantastic, short game. Make more games that take place in Kansas/the Midwest, by the way.  8. Super Mario RPG I’m only a few decades late. I’ve loved several Papers Mario and Mario & Luigi games, but I never played their predecessor. It’s a blast to see how this game brought the characters to life and created a template for the mechanics and flow of future iterations.  7. Valheim I’m often possessed by the urge to build and gather. Most games don’t do this well for me. Valheim lets my friends and I create a little community, hunt for resources across a huge, procgenned map, and slowly build our strength so we can craft increasingly nice rugs for the longhouse. We fell off Valheim for a while, but the ability to casual-ize the difficulty client-side opened the door to skipping some of the pain in the rear end things and simply Viking our very best.  6. Final Fantasy XVI Oh man. I bought a PS5 for this game and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, like a lunatic. I don’t regret it. FFXIV re-introduced me to Final Fantasy as a whole, since FFX and FFXII didn’t do it for me the first time they came around, and it’s a blast to see how pieces of the FFXIV team approached a single-player FF. The characters were neat, and I loved getting to know the world. Also, the eikon set piece fights were a great way to break up the routine and insert huge-rear end fights. I don’t think it reinvents the wheel, but it’s a solid character action game. I’m looking forward to playing both DLCs together!  5. Super Mario Bros. Wonder “Game that made me smile the most 2023” should be an award. After the last few 2D Mario games, I’d started to float off from the series. Wonder stuck to its name by designing unique, wild sequences in each level that brought it to life in a way I wouldn’t have expected, and I had a blast throughout. The multiplayer ghosts brought it all together for me, and it’s so much fun to tour areas with a couple of long-distance strangers. Bringing people back to life through tough sequences and sending signals for hidden objects feels like how these games should always have worked in the age of internet, and I hope they keep the system. Besides, if you’re feeling up to the challenge, you can choose solo mode and go! For someone like me, who’s very much at the median of Mario jump skills, it’s a fantastic Mario adventure.  4. Octopath Traveler II When I die, send me to 2DHD land. It’s been a minute since I’ve played, and it’s really stuck with me. There’s an optimism built into the story and gameplay that I didn’t expect—not to say some of the stories don’t get weird and dark— but ultimately, it’s a story about eight people fighting for a better future… with incredibly flashy sword strikes and spicy dance moves. I love swapping character classes around and seeing how they compliment each other. Each character has a special overworld ability, as well, allowing them to interact with countless NPCs in a way that the character would do best. The flavor is everywhere, and the graphics continue the gorgeous effects from SQEX’s other 2DHD titles.  3. Pentiment “Wit won’t lift you out of this, Andreas.” I’ve read excellent reviews of Pentiment, but here, I want to take a moment to acknowledge how it made me feel. Very few games have come for me at my house and broken my emotional doors quite like Pentiment. Maybe Disco Elysium. The inner turmoil, joy, melancholy, paranoia, loss, glimpses of coming unraveled and barely dodging that fate, the terrifying reality of uncertainty… The adventures of Andreas are remarkably human for a game that appears to be built from an illuminated manuscript. Among many plot beats, (Act 3 + ending-ish spoiler) Magdalene’s care and grief for her father, Claus, as his health declined and eventually failed, was written so beautifully and lovingly. I don’t know who wrote it, but I want everyone who touched it to know that it struck a deep and personal chord with me. The gameplay is lovely, and the experience is a delight. Also, my husband gave me this Pentiment sweater for Christmas, and I never want to take it off.  2. Baldur’s Gate 3 I lost Scratch on a playthrough, and it haunts me. I had been sitting on the early access for BG3 for three years, and then it arrived. We love it, but I never would have expected everyone else to love it. I’m writing the remainder of this list last minute after breaking through a holiday haze, so I’ll just say like everyone else that loved it: the depth of interactions, fascinating characters throughout, and gameplay loop is a blast. Thank you, Larian, for adding that magic touch D&D 5e: The Game needed to be amazing.  1. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Zelda Fan Loved New Zelda Game There’s a non-zero chance this topped the list because I am a Zelda diehard, but I’d say it only composes 10% of the feeling. I loved Breath of the Wild, and the way they built on the world BotW Hyrule turned out to be a blast for me. I’m far from building mechs and death traps, but I can slap together a car with an auto-laser and zip across the fields whenever I want. I love jumping out of the sky, swinging between islands, juking puzzles, and unlocking all the little bits I can. I was completely unspoiled on The Depths, since I picked the game up ASAP, and discovering it and the scope of the area was incredible for me. poo poo, one of my favorite stupid moments in the game is the tiny tank shrine: if you know, you know. It’s not a perfect game. It’s very close to my perfect game. Alas: it’s no Elden Ring GOTY 2022. - - - - - Easy Top 10 10. Sonic Frontiers 9. Adios 8. Super Mario RPG 7. Valheim 6. Final Fantasy XVI 5. Super Mario Bros. Wonder 4. Octopath Traveler II 3. Pentiment 2. Baldur’s Gate 3 1. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
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Dec 28, 2023 02:54
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Honorable Mentions I'm one of the four people who bought a PSVR2 and although a lot of these are ports, I want to give a shoutout to the following VR games including the one that made my actual top 10: Pistol Whip Synth Riders Synapse GT7 2MD Football Light Brigade & RE4 Remake VR which I haven't tried yet but is sitting prettily in a closet waiting for install someday. Onto the actual list: 10. Remnant 2 I was a little burned out on soulslikes and put off Remnant 1 for so long, but eventually played through it with some friends and had a great time and was pretty hyped for Remnant 2 when it launched not soon after. I've seen a lot of complaints about difficulty and boss fight design, which I can kind of agree with but this might also meant to be played co-op. The amount of variation between runs and items and builds is surprisingly staggering. I really loved this up until the very last boss which was quite a slog. I'd recommend it and believe it's on Game Pass currently. Best part for me were the surprisingly difficult puzzles. 9. Dredge I really got into games with fun little loops this year, and Dredge had a great one. I loved the atmosphere, the exploration, the environment, and even the minigames and management of catching fish and upgrading your trawler. It was varied enough and didn't overstay it's welcome and was just a fun, polished experience. Best part for me was catching the first hosed up fish. 8. Mr Sun's Hatbox Another game with a great loop that I could play for a half hour a day and always make progress. Mr Sun's Hatbox is inspired by the good parts of a lot of other games, putting together a tight 2D platformer roguelike that can turn into fun and chaos. You select from procedurally generated levels to chase down rewards, all the while fulton-extracting resources, gear, and enemies (which you can brainwash into being future player characters) to grow and expand your base of operations. I want to call it part Gungeon, part Xcom, part Spelunky? It's on sale currently and worth checking out. Best part for me was wearing all the hats. 7. Diablo 4 Diablo 3 took over my life and I was pleased to hear good things pre-release with Diablo 4, and like a lot of people it seems everyone had a decent time with 4 and have put it down, including myself. I really liked getting back into a polished ARPG, going through the campaign, pushing into some of the endgame and seasonal content but this hasn't grasped me as it did before. Diablo 3 took over the forums so bad we had to make a subforum for it. I will return to this each season and check it out and hope it has the legs, but playing this more often than not made me nostalgic for it's predecessor. Best part for me was playing a lot of the campaign with my brother. 6. Hitman Freelancer It's insane how often Hitman has shown up in my lists. I don't even know what to call this for the GOTY nomination. Is it Hitman 3? Hitman World of Assassination? Freelancer has breathed life into this for me once again and was a great new way to play through one of my favorite gaming franchises. And thinking back I don't actually think I beat it because this year was insane with game releases that as I'm writing this I'm going to have to back and do some more runs of it. Best part for me was loving up a hit so bad it all devolves into chaos, yet still managing to snag your target and escape. 5. Baldur's Gate 3 This is usally not my kind of game and I don't think I would play this solo, but I have two campaigns going with two different groups of friends and it's pretty amazing how varied each of our campaigns are going. The amount of dialog variety, battle variety, and scenario variety is staggering. It's not for me but I respect the hell out of it and am also enjoying it, so maybe it's actually somewhat for me. Best part for me is shoving people to their doom(s?). 4. Dave the Diver The ultimate winner of having the best little loop type game. Sometimes a little long in tooth, and I didn't love all the boss battles, but the day to day gameplay of this was amazing. I couldn't help but become my own worst enemy and spending too much time fishing and filling my bags and being efficient, as I felt I missed out on the other restaurant and management aspects of the game. One of the few games to make me laugh out loud at various points, it was well written with great character design. Best part for me was Bancho. 3. Spiderman 2 I wasn't sure what to expect from this, I didn't have a lot of hype even though Spiderman was my GOTY back when it came out. Getting back into it was like getting back onto a bike though, and zipping around the city immediately felt great again. I was incredibly impressed at the technical achievement of this. Fast travel is insane, how everything...looks is insane. I had some funny bugs here and there but overall this was yet another polished AAA experience that looked and played great. I had some small criticism, I didn't like the pacing of the story much. One of my favorite parts of the first game was the city itself would transform, which sort of happened here to a lesser degree but wasn't as impressive. Altogether, it surpassed my expectations and I had a great time with it. Best part for me was murdering people as Mary Jane. 2. Puzzling Places VR I don't think this came out this year but I snagged it with the PSVR2 release in March. Surprisingly, in my PS5 year in review, it came up as my most played game of the year. It's nothing special, it's solving 3D puzzles in VR. You can select from lots of types of puzzles, from 25 pieces to 400 pieces (and some 1000 pieces) and there's some great ambience and sound along with it. The magic of it came from the Spotify integration, and chilling out doing some puzzles with some music or podcasts going. The pandemic murdered my podcast routine and mindless casual games like Powerwash Simulator and Puzzling Places came to revive it. I played some amazing games this year and had some great times with them, but I still get excited when I know I have a free night to pop an edible and chill out with some puzzles and tunes. Best part for me is the satisfying clicks of snapping pieces together. 1. Zelda TOTK I felt a little broken when I didn't super get into BOTW, and playing this made me feel like how most people felt with BOTW. Something clicked and I was fully on board. I don't know if it was the better traversal or the new powers, maybe a different mindset going in but I was fully hooked. The complaints about this being BOTW 1.5 didn't resonate with me as I remembered very little of BOTW and this was very fresh for me. Experimenting with builds, sharing wild creations online, discussing discoveries with friends and coworkers brought me back to a more nostalgic time in my life. It was an event, and I was happy to be part of it this time around. It was the most fun I had in 2023, the best year in gaming.
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Dec 28, 2023 04:45
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Honorable Mentions Street Fighter 6: I wound up buying this game for the World Tour Mode because I enjoy adventure mode versions of generally PVP games. I made an avatar resembling my best friend with whom I used to play fighting games and went through the mode. But after I was done I felt no inclination to try to go online. Why? Because I am bad at inputs (Like, I somehow do a Hurricane kick when I'm trying to do a hadoken bad) and I somehow got worse as the game progressed. I eventually became so frustrated I put the game down and declared it done. Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 3 Professional: I love monster collecting games (as will be shown above) so when I learned DQM 3: Joker was translated into English (like 3 years ago lol) I instantly tried it out. I enjoyed it. I got through the game. Then I got to the postgame. And then, well there's a reason DQM never caught on the way Pokemon has and that reason is the game is built on tedium. Eventually you get to the point where you have to fuse more and more exotic monsters. These monsters have family trees resembling that on the McDuck family tree if you've never seen it. The game gives you no indication how these monsters are fused and gives you no help in actually doing so. Like the ability to regain monsters you've already registered without fusing them all over again. Also the postgame is more or less a series of stat checks to see how much time you've spent obsessively perfecting your monsters. Needless to say I burned out. Also DQM: The Dark Prince released. Yup I played them back to back. Cyberpunk Phantom Liberty: I am one of the unlucky few who played the original CP2077 on a PS4. The performance was bad obviously but I was lucky to not get any game-breaking bugs. So many people sung the praises of Cyberpunk 2.0 and Phantom Liberty I decided to use my shiny new Computer to re-buy it on my PC. And it lives up to the hype. It didn't make the list because ultimately it's still DLC and not quite a robust enough offering to get onto the list above the other entries. (I only played the game for the DLC and put it down after). Starfield: I upgraded my computer for this game. I am a Bethesda open world fanboy. This is the first proper offering in this line since 2016 and only the second in the last decade. Why? Because my ADHD brain is happiest when it has a billion pieces of possibility to explore over the next horizon. And I was able to glean 70 hours of fixation out of this game because of it. But then I stopped. I just stopped dead. Why? Unfortunately one thing I've learned over the last decade is that pro-gen exploration isn't terribly satisfying. One of the things that makes Elder Scrolls/Fallout games special is that the content is bespoke. And what does this game do? It introduces loving proc-gen stuff! Add to that that you have a game whose plot, setting and characters has only slightly more personality than the endless void the game is set in and I can safely call this the most disappointing Bethesda offering since...well I guess ever. I was prepared for this to not be my game of the year but to not even make the list? Heartbreaking. To think they made this instead of ES VI... Anyway onto the List: 10) Dark Scavenger: Somebody either on this forum or elsewhere mentioned this game and I was immediately intrigued. 5 dollars later I was engrossed. It's a unique experience for sure. You go from room-to-room clicking on various interactable objects and handling the events that occur. Sometimes it's fights. Sometimes it's conversation. Sometimes you get items from them. Items you can then turn into either a weapon, a gadget or a follower with the help of your 3 trusty crewmates. They all more-or less function the same but you don't know what the item will do until it is forged and each crewmate can only forge one item per room. So you'll wind up with an even allotment of all 3 categories. This is a pretty short game. (My playthrough came in at 4 hours) but it's a fascinating ride. And one I had to put on the list just to share it with anybody who might be interested in that kind of thing. 9) Fire Emblem Engage: I love Fire Emblem. I have played just about every iteration that has come out in English and most of them that haven't. 3 Houses is my favorite of the pile. This...is not. This game was set to be a tribute to the 30th anniversary of Fire Emblem and this tribute takes the form of the ability to summon ghost versions of characters from older games and team them up with your characters . Mechanically this was amazing as the emblems are powerful and the effects of the teamups were fascinating. Unfortunately plotwise and characterwise the emblems take the attention away from both the other characters and the plot, which had regressed (IMO) from the political intrigue of 3 Houses to pure Saturday Morning Shonen featuring the dopiest shonen protagonist in the universe in Alear the toothpaste dragon god. A great game do not get me wrong, but a lacklustre follow-up. 8) Marvel Midnight Suns: A great card/X-Com hybrid game that contains more personality and fun than half the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The only downside is I never finished it because my playtime ran into the release of other games on this list and I never went back to it. 7) Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader: Owlcat's most recent offering after their triumphant Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous in 2021 (which was my game of the year that year) and it is another good one. It doesn't rank as high on my list because I'm not a huge 40K fan and being neck deep a in Super Mega Space Fascist Empire can be overwhelming even if it is satire. Made worse because the game is almost entirely Empire focused and every problem is 'chaos chaos heresy hargleblarge' which can get old if you're not super into that kind of thing. But if you are you definitely have a winner on your hands in this game. Character building is far more streamlined in this game while still offering a lot of build options and combat as an X-Com like feels far less overwhelming than Pathfinder's RTWP-designed* 'you have a billion options' chaos. (Yes I know everybody just plays on turn based mode) 6) Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince:  Amazingly a new DQM has been released in the states. Even more amazingly the story is fun and interesting (even if it's not super in-depth). An alternate re-telling of Dragon Quest IV from Psaro's perspective. If you're wondering about how 'canon' it is consult the above screenshot, which is part of the opening cinematic. This game felt more fun and less tedious than the previously mentioned Joker 3 but it was also a thinner offering than Joker 3 lacking, among other things, a clear way to level the monsters you're supposed to repeatedly fuse and re-raise from level one or a random map generator. There's little post-game to speak of but given what I said about Joker 3 that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Overall a lovely offering that is a good starting point for people who might be interested in the series. 5) Cassette Beasts: Another lovely monster collector game where rather than befriend or bind monsters to your will you become monsters you record onto a cassette (don't ask how this works the game won't tell you anyways). It has a charming aesthetic (that is excellently subverted by the great boss fights), superb gameplay that doesn't outstay its welcome or feel grindy (for the most part), a lot of conceptual creativity that might leave you thinking it's a 'trippy' game if you hear it out of context and a lovely, if small, bestiary of creatures. I think I did just about everything you can do in this game, which is very rare for me and a testament to how good this game is. 4) Octopath Traveler II: Generally speaking there are 3 things that can really hook me on a game 1) A bevy of exploration/accomplishment options to fill my brain with the possibilities of what to do next. 2) A steady drip feed of tangible progress and 3) The ability to sequence break and profit off of going to areas I have no business being at. Octopath is this high because it's a game that lets me do all 3. Wander through a jungle filled with monsters 25 levels higher than me so I can try to steal an endgame weapon from an NPC in the nearby town? Yes. Then use that endgame weapon to duel other NPCs out of their cool items? Also check. The ability to do this kind of thing to almost every NPC in the game? Check and check. You are the greatest menace the world will ever know but you're the protagonists so it's fine. Also the rest of the game is pretty good. 3) Pokemon Infinite Fusion  I don't usually add pics/gifts to my GotY lists but you just can't advocate for Infinite Fusion without showing you the wonderful nightmares it has to offer you. Basically some people decided to take those sites that fuse two pokemon together and just make a game out of that concept. For a long time it was janky but amusing. But eventually the mechanics improved. The game expanded and most importantly of all an army of sprite artists came out of the woodwork create a metric shitload of custom sprites for the pokemon in the game. Now you'd think there is no way they could begin to put a dent in the now 200k+ possible combinations of Pokemon in the game. Well last I heard they were up to 30 Thousand custom sprites and counting (and that was months ago). And the game itself is no slouch. It's a reimagining of R/B/Y complete with the Sevii islands an a postgame in Johto. This all combines to make Infinite Fusion not only my favorite Pokemon Fangame ever but a contender for my favorite Pokemon game ever, period. 2) The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom: So anyway I'm going to go back to what I said in my Octopath rundown and say again: I like games that let me go where I don't belong and profit from it. From the moment I jumped into a well and unexpectedly fell half a mile into almost-literal HELL Tears had me hooked in a way that even BotW never did. That whole giant region is covered in darkness and blight and everything about it says 'you do not belong here'. And that feeling doesn't fade when you get more powerful and don't have to fear the terrors of the deep either. It never stops feeling bleak, oppressive, alien and utterly hostile to you. And then you take into account that the Depths are only 1/3rd of the game you are looking at an all-timer. It took a hell of a game to keep this out of the #1 spot. 1) Baldur's Gate 3: The greatest thing Starfield ever did was give me Baldur's Gate 3 a week early. The idea that the company responsible for one of my favorite games ever being put behind the helm of making the entirely too-long awaited sequel to another one of my all-time favorite games was too good to be true. Literally. I was curled into a ball, braced and ready to take the disappointment. But then it didn't disappoint. At all. It was almost everything I could have possibly asked for. And the bad parts? The unfocused 3rd act? The lacklustre ending? Those are only bad by 'undisputed game of the year' standards. In any other context? Even those are pretty good. Anything else would just be reiterating what I've already said so get going, play the game if you haven't. Play it again if you have. BG III! Whoo! Easy Access Top 10: 10) Dark Scavenger 9) Fire Emblem Engage 8) Marvel Midnight Suns 7) Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader 6) Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince 5) Cassette Beasts 4) Octopath Traveler II 3) Pokemon Infinite Fusion 2) Legend of Zelda: TotK 1) Baldur's Gate 3 ChrisBTY fucked around with this message at 05:25 on Dec 28, 2023 |
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Dec 28, 2023 04:58
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Top Ten 1. Baldur’s Gate 3 Probably a top ~3 game ever for me. This game comes the closest to capturing actually playing DND of any game I’ve played. Narrative is consistently great, combat is fun, and you can do it all coop. Super easy pick for GOTY, and one of the few narrative games I’ve replayed. 2. Core Keeper A really great top down Terraria/Valheim like game. Can also be played coop, which continues to be a huge plus. 3. The Finals The first competitive FPS I’ve super enjoyed since Apex came out. The movement is fast and fun, and the game modes strike a good balance between making you think more about what you’re doing like a BR or CS does, but also keeping things active and giving you a ton of fights. 4. Dave the Diver Super fun combination of gameplay loops. Very chill and not super demanding, but still satisfying to progress through. I still need to go back and play it again now that it’s out of EA. 5. Mr Sun’s Hatbox I made it all the way through this and then prestiged it once. Sort of like Spelunky + Metal Gear Solid in a fun little roguelite package. Trying out different weapon, trait, and hat combos was super fun, and the it struck a good balance between punishing you with permadeath to give excitement while also making characters replaceable enough that it didn’t discourage you. 6. Hogwarts Legacy The recreation of the world (esp the castle) is so good. Even as someone not super into Harry Potter, i really enjoyed how intricate it was. I kind of enjoy semi mindless open world stuff to a point, and this was a fun one to fly around in and blast stuff. 7. Time Melters A really good time loop coop puzzle/fighting game. You have to defend against attacking creatures while looping yourself and a partner several times, with each loop involving you fighting with the ghosts of your past loops. It has a fun combo of figuring out the puzzle plus rewarding mechanical execution/creativity in a way which makes them flexible. It looks very low budget, and probably was, but it’s actually super compelling, and hits a mix of action and genuine puzzle which is tough to find. Fun to coordinate to beat levels. 8. Jagged Alliance 3 A fun coop isometric tactics game. Some oddities with how your strength builds up on the campaign layer- you can get super rich quite easily. I also wish auto resolve was a bit better- you can get streams of not so important battles you then have to waste time recovering from. Overall though this was very solid. 9. Dredge Very simple fishing + inventory Tetris, set in a cool Lovecraftian world. I wish it had a little more going on, but what is there is solid. 10. Sackboy Reminds me of It Takes Two in that it’s a solid coop platformer with a lot of charm. Have a good mix of challenging for those who are more familiar with games + accessible for those who are not. Eleven plus honorable mentions in no real order: Weird West DNF but it was a fun top down imm simm. Fae Farm It’s stardew valley but with woodland fairy creature theming. Does a good job overall imo, nothing crazy new if you’ve played other stuff in the genre. Above, eg, Sun Haven, below the original. Buggos A very very minimal RTS/autobattler which is quite fun. Wizard with a Gun Fun little roguelike with a good loop. Roots of Pacha Another Stardew like but does a little more new than most. Helldivers Very fun in coop. Galactic campaign system is kind of hosed at the current player count. Remnant 2 Havent had enough time in this, but I expect it will be very good. Nova Lands If you liked Forager you’ll probably enjoy this. Dishonorable mentions: I know it’s cliche, but I was really looking forward to Redfall (albeit w some trepidation), and it really let me down.
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Dec 28, 2023 08:58
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only a few days left 
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Dec 28, 2023 14:46
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Some prominent posters have yet to post lists... 
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Dec 28, 2023 15:07
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i'm freakin out here
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Dec 28, 2023 15:09
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I believe in you BP. Just put armored Core 6 at number 1 it obviously belongs there.
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Dec 28, 2023 15:14
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fridge corn posted:Some prominent posters have yet to post lists... I have finally caught up with the thread so I'm officially banning anyone else from posting lists so I don't fall behind again 
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Dec 28, 2023 15:21
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Armored Core, Baldur's Gate, and Zelda in the running for game of the year? The late 90s are back baby!
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Dec 28, 2023 15:29
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BeanpolePeckerwood posted:i'm freakin out here Got a job for you 621
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Dec 28, 2023 15:32
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Sally posted:4 - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy Finished Trials and Tribulations. The ending was mission was just great. Very satisfying. Glad because it was as I said the game was starting to drag in parts. High highs but definitely feeling a combination of fatigue from playing all three backtoback and the third one not being as consistently strong as the first two. Getting to play Mia's cases to learn about the past was brilliant. Mia rules and every time she shows up I am bummed out that she died in the beginnibg of the first game lol. Also... getting to play as Miles Edgeworth in part of the final mission was inspired. Great game series. Not gonna dislodge any rankings but affirmed as No. 4. I'm gonna take a break from AA games but look forward to playing the other collections.
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Dec 28, 2023 17:34
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also i wish the series would stop putting Detective Gumshoe further and further into poverty. the man is a gem and just once i want him to get a raise.
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Dec 28, 2023 17:35
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He does get a raise at the end of one of the games, at least. Investigations 2
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Dec 28, 2023 17:46
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ChrisBTY posted:10) Dark Scavenger: Somebody either on this forum or elsewhere mentioned this game and I was immediately intrigued. 5 dollars later I was engrossed. It's a unique experience for sure. You go from room-to-room clicking on various interactable objects and handling the events that occur. Sometimes it's fights. Sometimes it's conversation. Sometimes you get items from them. Items you can then turn into either a weapon, a gadget or a follower with the help of your 3 trusty crewmates. They all more-or less function the same but you don't know what the item will do until it is forged and each crewmate can only forge one item per room. So you'll wind up with an even allotment of all 3 categories. This is a pretty short game. (My playthrough came in at 4 hours) but it's a fascinating ride. And one I had to put on the list just to share it with anybody who might be interested in that kind of thing. Love to see Dark Scavenger on someone else's radar! It made my fuller 2022 GOTY list and it's one of those tiny inexpensive bizarre gems on Steam that deserves more attention.
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Dec 28, 2023 17:47
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FireWorksWell posted:He does get a raise at the end of one of the games, at least. Investigations 2 it better be a big one 
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Dec 28, 2023 17:48
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wash bucket posted:Armored Core, Baldur's Gate, and Zelda in the running for game of the year? The late 90s are back baby! Just based on my general impressions of the lists so far, Armored Core is not in the running for the #1 spot, which is kind of amazing when you think about it
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Dec 28, 2023 17:52
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it's gonna be BG3 and then zelda and then maybe AC after but maybe something else, i can't remember what were the other popular choices.
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Dec 28, 2023 17:58
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Wow, VG has shown me an advance copy of the results and would you believe it Final Fantasy IX has been declared GOTY for the 24th year in a row, what a shocker
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Dec 28, 2023 18:00
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My list won't be anything fancy as I have a bunch of work that will put me in front of a computer, so going for basics. 10. Atelier Ryza 3 I kinda put this one here out of obligation for a series I liked. I liked the third one the least out of the series though. It started to evolve into an "open world" style game and it annoyed me because there was so much open areas, with pretty much nothing to do in them. It made hunting for specific ingredients a pain in the rear end as well. Despite all the things that turned me off from the game, I liked the story and it was fun hanging out with Ryza and all her friends again. Atelier Reza is a series that survives a lot on just having great vibes and fun crafting. Would still recommend, but with caveats. 9. River City Girls 2 It took forever for me and my friend to beat RCG1 and we weren't super fond of it. It was okay, but had a lot of issues. RCG2 improved on 1 all the way. The writing was incredibly funny, the combat was much improved, and everything just felt a lot snappier and made the game easier to play, because the systems actually worked properly. Anyone who loves a decent beat em up should give this a shot, even if you weren't a huge fan of the first one. My only complaint is that the map system still sucks, a lot. 8. Final Fantasy IV: Pixel Remaster I played 1-5 of the PR this year (working on 6, but wanted to take a break from FF games) and while I think 5 is definitely better systems-wise, I still hold a great deal of affection for 4. The story always hit hard for me. Lots of unique characters, memorable moments, the sci-fi elements, all of it works to create such a unique narrative for a SNES game. This game is what cemented my love for FF and JRPGs and it still holds up to this day in my opinion. 7. Ghost Trick (PS4) Hadn't played this since the original DS release. Incredibly fun, and the story just has so many twists and turns. Even knowing the overall story beats it was still excellent to see how it got there. Glad it is easily accessible now. 6. Like A Dragon Gaiden Took me 40 hours (thanks to Hanafuda and Mahjong probably taking up 6-10 hours of that) but it's an excellent game. Nice and short and over the top like all the Yakuza games. However, this did solidify to me that I'm quite done with the action combat style. My gameplay hours into the game was simply "Go Yakuza style and just hold square then do big beat down moves, or go agent heat mode and dance kick big groups" the combat is honestly the most boring parts of the game to me. Doing all the side content is what makes these games so fun, and so I'm glad that there's tons of side things to do. This really got me excited for Infinite Wealth, because turn based combat is my preferred style of games. This was a great little appetizer before the main course. 5. Final Fantasy XVI Final Fantasy XVI is a great game. I've seen the questioning about whether or not it's actually "final fantasy" enough and it definitely is. Despite not being great at action games I liked the combat, and the characters were really good. The storyline was fantastic to me, and despite ups and downs it truly felt like it was looking back to previous Final Fantasy games to hit that ending. Final Fantasy XVI is a game that could have easily been a contender for GOTY had it just had a bit more time to bake. The side quests suck, and there's a huge lack of optional things to do. They really need to look at the FFVII remakes and realize that breaking up core gameplay with silly card games and things is good because it gives a breather in a long narrative. Also I wasn't too keen on the ending. It was a solid return to from after I was not super happy with XIII and XV, but I think they can do better. 4. Spider-Man 2 Yes, the game doesn't incredibly improve on the first, but I loved the first game and the second does enough changes that it's still an amazing game. In any other year this could have easily been a strong contender for GOTY. Not being a big comics guy, the storyline felt fresh and unique to me, and this game balances the open world pretty well. Lots of fun things to do, and makes getting around pretty snappy and easy. It's a game that doesn't overstay its welcome. If I had to give any kind of negative, I'd say the open world is starting to get a little bit big, so I'm hoping for a third game that they don't keep expanding. 3. Alan Wake 2 This might be a shocker from anybody that saw me post about the game. I'll say it again. The combat in this game sucks. It's awful, boring, and you are right to do anything in your power to make it go by as quick as you can. The fact I say this, and the game is this high in my list, also means that everything that is not the combat is amazing. The story will have you on the edge of your seat, you will be enthralled with how the game incorporates FMV into it, and the game manages to give off a constant uneasy feeling that I applaud as it nails the intent of the game. Alan Wake 2 deserves praise and attention. I almost never buys games digitally and Alan Wake 2 is one of the few that made me crumble and it was worth it. I would double dip in a heartbeat if this got the physical release it deserves. 2. Resident Evil 4: Remake Unlike Alan Wake 2, RE4 gets the mood AND the combat just right. I got the platinum trophy for the game and didn't do it optimally which meant I played this at least 5-6 times over. There was always something to do on a new run, a new way to try approach the game. A new way for me to try and shave some time or handle a combat encounter. People would tell you that RE4 didn't need to be remade and they're probably right, but it did and what we got was proof that sometimes you can have the best of both worlds. 1. Octopath Traveller 2 Octopath 1 is an okay game. The characters are fine, the stories aren't great. The battle system kept it above water, but it wore out its welcome. I never beat the "final" boss as I was simply done with the game. Octopath Traveller 2 is what every sequel to a game should strive to be. They vastly improved the writing, so each and every story had something that would grip you to want to move along through it. The combat was still incredibly addictive. The night and day cycle meant that there was also something you had to keep an eye out for. I know the big complaint is that the party members don't all talk to each other, and while Octopath 2 doesn't solve it, they did a heck of a lot to make it feel quite meaningful. Where Octopath 2 succeeds in a way that a lot of other games don't, is that there's so much the game lets you stumble upon with the path actions. My favorite thing was finding a weak little guy on this square arena, and you could challenge him, and coming back he would be stronger and stronger until he had some of the best equipment, abilities, and best person to recruit in the game. The game does nothing to signpost this, you just have to do it. I sunk 80 hours into the game and never once did I feel like it was a chore or that I was not having fun (well, maybe except for the optional end boss). Square-Enix needs to make sure they keep making games like this. Octopath Traveller 2 is a shining example of turn based RPG's not being a thing of the past, but when made with strong intentionality, an incredibly gripping genre that will always have something to offer players. This is a game that will stand the test of time, and if you love JRPG's even a little bit, you owe the game a chance.
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Dec 28, 2023 18:25
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fridge corn posted:Some prominent posters have yet to post lists... Patience fridge. Mine will be up on Saturday.
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Dec 28, 2023 18:49
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Finally the list no one, including me, has been waiting for. Theoretical 10: I wish Cities Skylines 2 could be on this list but until the mod tools are out it's just not. This is one of those games where the complaints have spun wildly out of control and are detached from reality, the infamous performance issues were genuinely awful at launch but they mostly fixed them within like two weeks and it's fine now, but yeah. I think in a year or two this will be a fantastic sequel, for now it's not. 9. Anno 1800 Just putting this here because I played a shitload of it and enjoyed myself. I don't have any strong feelings except it's fun if you enjoy this sort of thing. 8. Boltgun There's a button to scream at filthy xenos. Good shootin'. 7. Ixion Merely okay as a game but atmospheric as hell and a great little experience. I don't want to put any details here in case someone wants to play it. 6. System Shock remake System Shock 2 is one of my all time favorites (I may or may not have two computers which are named SHODAN and XERXES), and unfortunately I came to the original System Shock after that and it's just too janky. I couldn't do it. The remake as far as I can tell perfectly captures the original atmosphere and makes it playable to The Modern Gamer, so hell yeah dude. 5. Jagged Alliance 3 I'll be honest I just started playing this like three days ago but it owns. I love a tactical game and this one isn't just XCOM Again, which. I love the new XCOMs, XCOM 2 + War of the Chosen is one of the best games ever made. It's so good that everyone's copied it though, and I'm glad to play one that isn't. 4. Factorio Another in the new to me category. Steam says this was 12% of my playtime this year and I played it mostly in January. I had multiple nights where I couldn't fall asleep because my brain wouldn't stop designing conveyor belts. Not a universal recommend but if you have a certain kind of special brain, man. 3. Final Fantasy 7 Remake I am late to Final Fantasy since I never had consoles. Played the original FF7 a couple years ago and the remake's pretty good. I've never seen a remake before that uses the fact that it's a remake as a story element. Hope part two comes out on PC in a reasonable timeframe. 2. Baldur's Gate 3 The most obvious choice anyone can make, one of the best old school CRPGs ever made--for me, its only true competitors are Planescape: Torment and Fallout, and as a play experience Baldur's Gat3 certainly blows them out of the water (though I respect it for having an inventory UI almost as bad as Fallout in TYOOL 2023). I had never heard of Larian prior to this and went in with zero expectations. I wasn't even planning to get it until I saw a video of someone rolling a 20 to kick a squirrel and the thing loving exploded. What a game. Going to have to check out their back catalogue. 1. Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty I've loved cyberpunk the genre as long as I can remember and Cyberpunk the game since the day it came out. Phantom Liberty takes everything that made it great, makes it better, and 2.0's rework of the game systems fixes just about everything that was wrong with the game. One of gaming's best stories, the best character interaction I've ever seen in a game, and you can run around with a glowing katana slapping bullets back at people. Baldur's Gate 3 is an incredible accomplishment but when I look into my heart, my true love is Cyberpunk. I cannot wait for the next one. Also have to call out the music. Brilliant whether it's moody or time to blow poo poo up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9dNpk9G5h0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKDSGfopHdo
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Dec 28, 2023 20:12
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Regy Rusty posted:Patience fridge. Mine will be up on Saturday. Alas,
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Dec 28, 2023 20:32
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Here's my list. Still a work in progress but I don't want to forget to post it like I did last year. Honorable Mentions: Disco Elysium (Replay) - Unfair to put it in my top 10 as I already played it in 2020, but drat this is a good game. Resident Evil: Village - Fantastic gameplay, Ethan is a giant doofus and I love him. Great Ace Attorney - This game was incredible from start to 30 minutes before the end. Had they stuck the landing better it would've been in my top 10. Tears of the Kingdom - A perfectly crafted videogame held back by restrictive design decisions and zero post-release support. The list: 1. Alan Wake II #1 purely for the reason that this is the game that will stick with me the longest on this list. The gameplay is servicable at best and I don't even like survival horror. IT's the unapologetically weird flavour of this game that speaks to me, combined with some of the most striking narrative and direction I've ever seen in a videogame aping realism. The pretentious side of me likes to think I love this game because it's some sort of meta-commentary on writing, fame, and video games as a medium. It's really because I have a deep love for the Pacific Northwest and Finland. 2. Pentiment It's only when I moved to Europe that I began to grasp how deeply it has been sculpted by centuries of Christian sectarian conflict. It's a deeply kind depiction of the turbulence that occurred during the reformation and I find myself thinking of this game every time I pass a cathedral, priory, or seminary (so, everyday here). 3. Tunic Just a drat good game. I would write a lot more but I'm tired. 4. Death Stranding Much like Alan Wake II, a beautifully directed game that is unapologetically weird with perfectly crafted parcel delivery gameplay. The dialogue and writing is absolute trash, even by Kojima standards. I'm looking forward to the sequel. 5. Baldur's Gate 3 I normally play romances for a laugh, so I chose Lae'Zel as I thought she would be deranged. Instead, I found myself genuinely touched and rooting for her as a person. There's a surprising sensitivity and nuance Larian's character writing that few game developers have been able to accomplish, and to do so in a game with ultra-horny playersexual NPCs is an achievement. 6. Control The first game I ever played where I wanted to read all of the documents and listen to all of the tapes. I didn’t enjoy the combat at all but the built-in 1-hit kill accessibility options helped me deal with that. 7. Nioh 2 I bounced hard off of Elden Ring last year, and I think Nioh 2 was what I was really looking for. Tight gameplay with a wide array of weapons immediately available to you, plus the ultimate in weeb Fashion Souls. The lack of variety in the environments eventually wore me down though, I stopped playing once I hit the DLC. 8. Dredge A surprise to me as I normally find fishing (mini)games to be tedious and/or grindy. Dredge is neither. It has an engaging gameplay loop of improvement and exploration with minimal tedium. Dredge's world is varied and compressed world, much like of Outer Wilds. 9. Yakuza: Like a Dragon Greatly benefited from being played on a Steam Deck. Nails the classic Yakuza mix of zaniness with heartfelt melodrama. Wish the minigames were less grindy though, I didn't bother with a good third of them. 10. Case of the Golden Idol When I was 9 I was obsessed with logic grid puzzles, and this is it in video game form. Absolutely loved the main game - the art direction and uncomfortable music. The DLC was a bit of a letdown-- the gameplay was good but their depiction of 'primitive' peoples didn't sit right with me. Games I'll get to in 2024: Humanity Hi-Fi Rush Ghost Trick Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty System Shock Remake
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Dec 28, 2023 20:56
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Grand Fromage posted:8. Boltgun I WILL FINISH THE WORK CAPTAIN TITUS STARTED
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Dec 28, 2023 21:08
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Struggling with my top ten but I will submit before the time runs out. HOWEVER, here is a top ten music tracks from the games I have played this year. (Wanted to post to let people know I have been patiently counting and adding and so forth  )10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5Cfr3RjA8g I really loved this track in this incredibly messy, but truly gloriously ambitious game. 09. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TPQQQa4mxY I cannot get enough of the beeps, and as I am in the middle of Metroid Prime, I was very happy to hear it return. Bleep bleeping is grand! (Runner up: Brinstar) 08. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pov-AZdt9MY The Dark World theme is just an all timer. Appearing here the first time was such a suprise to me and this otherworldy version of the main theme is simply the best piece from the game. 07. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xrPPCTcDDg Aloy's Theme from Horizon Forbidden West. Loved this theme the first time I heard it and love the updated version. I love how the vocals might seem lonely and opressed, but ultimately are upbeat. 06. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQpgz6YV4XM Besaide is a great different version from FFX-2. The version from FFX remains one of the greatest pieces of music I have heard, and this version captures just how much things have changed between games. There is still potential and joy even though Yuna has a hole in her heart. (Runner Up: Yuna's Theme Honorable Mention: Zanarkand) 05. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGlUF0UFQ5g Picking just one track from Super Mario Galaxy was silly tough. It is one of the heaviest laden OSTs in a Mario game. Maybe the best one. I will have to do some consideration with the others. This track has been slowly building as you go through the game and open areas up and this version, the final version, is the most complete with all instruments and layers. It is delightful. (Runner up: Buoy Base Galaxy Honorable Mentions: Space Junk Galaxy, Good Egg Galaxy and Gusty Garden.) 04. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upOhRRYVGkA There are three PW tracks I adore, but this one is just the one I love revisiting the most. This is not only Maya's theme but feels like the natural music that would be playing when Phoenix is not in court and having a pretty good life. (Runner Up: Investigation Core 2001 Honorable Mention: Pressing Pursuit - Cornered). 03. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86KIkcxhu1w There are five Twilight Princess songs I adore and my, this was a tough pick between all of them. If I was not limiting this list to one song per game, then three of them would bump a few others here down the line. Zoras Domain is beautiful, continuing a tradition of water levels having the bestest music ever for some strange reason [Runner Up:Twilight theme Haunting and magical. Honorable Mention: Hyrule Field Hyrule Field Night. Faron Woods) 02. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j7pu9RlOUY It was a tough choice between this and the first place. This piece of music is so powerfully affecting that I hear it and instantly recall the great vibes I felt throughout the whole of my time playing. It, and the rest of the soundtrack, is one for the ages. 01. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAYLJ19cxoA There is no reason a piece of music in a Mario game should go this hard, this late in the game and it does and it did and I am thankful it exists. I had to stop and just listen for a few minutes because I never expected something this funky to appear. the rest of the OST is a solid but not as memorable as some of the others I have experienced, so this was an incredible surprise and joy and has been replayed the most out of all VGM I have heard this year.
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Dec 28, 2023 21:10
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VideoGames posted:08. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeyUb2uvOv8
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Dec 28, 2023 21:30
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