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It's too late to edit it into my post 25 pages ago, but I do want to give an honorable mention to Alan Wake 2. The only reason it didn't make my list was the combat. I could list out a bunch of specific mechanics or incidents that felt bad, but in general it just felt superfluous and got in the way of the more interesting things the game was trying to do. It's very hard to build up narrative tension and anticipation a second time when the player has already seen a large chunk of what's about to happen, and the musical segments especially suffer from repeated restarts. I almost think AW2 should have had no combat or risk of progress loss at all, and I think the devs might a little bit agree with me from its almost peevish insistence on the reload screen that "this is not how the story goes" Everything I loved about it was tied into its aim to be more than just another horror game, and getting killed by a random mook and reverting to checkpoint cut it down to just another horror game. Therefore, I can't call it one of my games of the year, but this isn't the Avant-Garde Interactive Digital Immersive Theater Project Of The Year thread, so it just doesn't make the list
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Jan 1, 2024 18:48
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Foul Fowl posted:it's the most polarising one by far. some people (like me) think it's the best one for various Reasons. some other people think it's the worst one because of Other Reasons. discussion about whether or not it's a butt-sucking lovely rear end game, or a wonderfully eclectic and imaginative piece of game design that presaged elden ring, is as cyclical as the ages of fire and dark. That said, the weird way armour works in DS3 does make it the best Fashion Souls. DC Murderverse posted:Dishonorable mention: Arkane got acquired (twice) and gutted after Prey. Like two-thirds of the studio was gone by the time they managed to toss Redfall over the wall.  Ms Adequate posted:10: Front Mission 3 After not playing this since around release in the late 90s, I decided to see if it was as good as I remembered. In terms of writing and plot, no, not even close, the game's primary value in that regard is some old-school Blind Idiot Translation. But in terms of gameplay? Actually, yeah, if anything it's even better than I remembered, with more depth in developing your characters and some seriously impactful choices in how you assemble your mechs. And the aesthetics are top-notch too, interesting levels that range from heavy industrial facilities to urban cores to forested highways, with good music. Plus, the gamefeel can be phenomenal when things line up right, proccing multiple skills and tearing an enemy the gently caress apart will never not rule. Yay, another FM3 enjoyer! I'll probably never go back and play it again, but I liked it enough to play through both storylines back in the day. The combat does indeed feel satisfyingly chunky and I never enjoyed the sequels nearly as much. I am also constantly impressed with just how much stuff they managed to cram onto a single disc. And with their chutzpah at having two complete plotlines with their own characters, missions, etc divided by whether you say "yeah sure" or "nah not today" to your friend when he asks if you want to hang out at the mall right at the start of the game. Tulip posted:7. Armored Core 3 So, I tried AC1 years ago and bounced off it pretty hard, and while I'm pretty hype for AC6 based on this thread I probably won't get around to it until a few years from now when the inevitable Prepare to Explode Edition or whatever comes out and has had a few patches. But this post reminded me that, somewhere in a box in the basement, I actually have a second hand copy of AC3. (I might also have one of the AC4 games for PS3, less sure about that.) So maybe 2024 is the year I finally try one of those out and see how it holds up to someone new to the series. Runa posted:This is the music that plays when you're beating up slimes in the starting forest: Oh no I'm going to have to play the poo poo out of this aren't I? I like platformers, I love time travel shenanigans (it's no coincidence that Vision Soft Reset, which combines both in one exquisite package, blew my tits clean off and took the #1 spot last year), and this soundtrack slaps.
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Jan 1, 2024 18:58
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I just remembered that I meant to make header images for all my picks but I only got as far as this one and didn't have time to do the rest.
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Jan 1, 2024 19:06
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Tbh I'm pleasantly surprised that so many people put fire emblem engage on their list, because I've seen a lot of complaining about it in other places. I liked it a lot; it probably has the best gameplay in the entire series and I don't really care that the other aspects are weaker. The story isn't so terrible that it's distracting, unlike, say, fates armored core 6 for goty though
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Jan 1, 2024 19:20
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Rarity posted:Still catching my way up with the thread and Yeah the post is mainly so I don't get confused in the future about why the counts are different. The important thing is that now that I have a complete set of 2018-2022 data I can do things like  and code:code:
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Jan 1, 2024 20:04
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Okay, here are my honorable mentions. I placed DLC, remasters and a pre-2023 game in here so there's quite a few to go through. Originally this was supposed to go before the top 50 posts but obviously the deadline forced the reverse. #HM18) Pilfer: Story of Light (GL 6.5, VAR 7.5, AD 7, SD 5, UI 4 = 65 SCORE) The 3D platforming genre does not have a Tinykin this year, but that doesn't mean there aren't a batch of decent shorter games at a smaller price point. I don't know if I'd put Pilfer quite on the level of the others in the top 50, but it strikes me as decent bundle foddler. It's just a bit janky and low-budget, but that doesn't make it bad either. It's just that you'll see better recommendations later on. So swing back to this one if you see it on deep discount, maybe.  #HM17) Mail Time (GL 6.5, VAR 6, AD 7.5, SD 7, UI 6 = 66 SCORE) This is another 3D platformer but it is in the "cozy" genre, and as such, it is... well, a little basic. I think this might be a fun game for younger kids to play as long as they enjoy 3D platformers. You're tasked with delivering mail from one person to another, and just about every resident has mail they need sent, which takes you through their small little stories. It's only a couple hour game which makes its price point a bit hard to swallow, so this is another one to wait on a deep discount.  #HM16) Mato Abnormalities (GL 6.5, VAR 6.5, AD 7, SD 6.5, UI 7 = 66.5 SCORE) A really weird one, this. It's an indie JRPG with an emphasis on 'indie' because this does not have a huge budget. The localization is stiff and it gets worse over time, as the story goes from confusing to unintelligible by the end. The dungeons are just floating platforms in various themed voids and very basic. And the sounds sometimes don't play, NPCs all look alike, battles can take a little too long, etc etc. But there's something about this one that kept me from putting it down. It's got a lot of small dungeons to run through, as most side quests take you to a new dungeon, even if it is just another in the same themed area as the others in the respective chapter of the game. It has a sorta slay the spire minigame that you play to 'mindhack' NPCs. The gear system is kind of an interesting way to beef up your stats. The team sharing one HP pool makes healing a bit simpler and allows all characters to attack more often and not play as defensively like other JRPGs. There's not much enemy variety but the enemies themselves are very surreal in their design. I think there's a lot of interesting stuff here, that makes me think the developer's next game could be pretty darn good if they get a larger budget. This one just doesn't quite reach the ambition it aims for.  #HM15) Blood West (GL 6, VAR 6.5, AD 7.5, SD 7.5, UI 7.5 = 67.5 SCORE) Despite its looks, Blood West is not an action packed run and gun first person shooting romp. It's instead a methodical stealth-focused game set in the weird undead west, in a largely barren desert landscape with the few remaining locations populated by all sorts of nasties. Your goal is to go into these locations, find the cursed relic within, and bring it back to the Totem of Souls until the great Evil's lair opens for you to fight it. It sounds neat, right? There's also a perk based leveling system not unlike a Bethesda game where you can sort of tailor a build to your preferred playstyle. So, why is it off the top 50? Well, I just don't think it's very well-designed. I don't know what the game was like early in development, but the way the world is designed (at least in the first chapter I played through in full) just doesn't feel designed for stealth. Yeah there's the town which, due to the nature of a wild west town just sort of being planted in the middle of nothing, allows for various routing. But everywhere else you go to is either a linear stretch of bad guys with no alternate path, or a trip down underground where you can barely see anything and the cavern corridors are claustrophobic. Unlike other stealth games that have a 'stealth takedown', there's just critical damage here, which works on the lowest-level grunts but does not bring down any other enemy in one go. The game really does not like the player either, as any death in the game will add a "flaw" to your character in the form of a negative debuff to your strength, XP gain, or sneak ability, which stacks 3 times, and then another flaw will begin. To remove a curse you either need to buy a $200 purple potion (which is pretty expensive in chapter 1), or do a randomly determined task for the Totem of Souls. But let's say one of those tasks is to get stealth kills, and your current curse is that enemies are 75% more aware of your noise. You see the issue here? The world is not dense or rich enough for you to just loot your way to a fat wallet and a full inventory, you're often strapped for ammo and using your precious funds on more of it from Trader Jim. For each aspect I like about the game there's another highly puzzling design decision that I don't understand.  #HM14) Bloody Hell (GL 6.5, VAR 7, AD 7, SD 6.5, UI 8 = 69 SCORE) This is a rare inclusion on this list: a game I didn't love but that I still, via my review metrics, give a decent score. It's a free top-down Metroidvania bullety shooter where you dive into Hell to clear it out, while taking breaks in Heaven to upgrade. There are a couple of abilities you get to allow further traversal. My main complaint with the game is that the actual combat, on the player side, is not super engaging. It's still worth a try though at the price of free, and it looks and sounds decent, and has convenient fast traveling so not a ton of friction.  #HM13) Rusted Moss (GL 6, VAR 7.5, AD 7.5, SD 7, UI 7 = 69.5 SCORE) This one probably wins my Most Disappointing Game award this year, as I was really looking forward to it and ended up let down by the actual gameplay. You play as a fairy child who once blended in with the humans and are now trying to gather pieces needed to bring about the end of the Age of Man and the beginning of a new Age of Fairies. Naturally your former 'friends' aren't cool with this and want to stop you. Your new friend you've broken out of jail allows you to grapple onto surfaces to swing around, and this game, similar to something like Silver Grapple, opts for natural physics-based grappling rather than Bionic Commando arbitrary and angled grappling. This is a personal preference, but I actually prefer the later because it's a bit more deterministic. Actual physics-based grappling can get frustrating, as you'll need to engage in some trial and error sometimes to launch yourself around. This game also is designed for mouse & keyboard, and controller gameplay is entirely cumbersome, which is what most people will use to play the game. Jumping is a trigger button, grapple is a trigger button, firing your gun is a trigger button. There had to be a better system than this, and fighting with the controls was really my major problem that kept me from enjoying the game more. I still think the setting is interesting, the map is well laid out with hidden tricky platformer sections for upgrades and Hollow Knight-esque relics to equip. So if you can get a handle on the controls and grappling, you might like this one a lot.  #HM12) Interference: Dead Air (GL 7, VAR 6.5, AD 7, SD 7, UI 8 = 69.5 SCORE) A sci-fi narrative game that has an almost "VHS board game" execution to it. Your goal as a security guard at the gate of a scientific complex, is to try to help navigate your friend inside the building to get to an exit before an escaped alien (or a group of violent fanatics) catch her. In the meantime you'll have conversations with her, discussing your past and patching up after a big fight the hour before the calamity. You'll also have to keep tabs on the alien's position, and use a computer program to send a sonar blast to freak it out and chase it off. It's a bit simple for what it is, but it's kinda neat. Your booth is well decorated with doodads and notes to find from previous guards, and the juggling tasks keep you engaged. It doesn't have much replayability, though, as there aren't a ton of things that change across playthroughs. I noticed the starting position changing as well as at least one event going slightly differently, but generally the structure of the story plays out the same. I still think it's pretty interesting and worth trying at a sale price.  #HM11) Redfall (GL 6.5, VAR 7, AD 7.5, SD 7, UI 7.5 = 70 SCORE) So... hear me out. Yes, 70 is my baseline "good" score, and I've given it to the most infamous game this year outside of obvious shovelware trash like Skull Island. But, listen. A lot of AAA games really overwhelm me with bloat, with too many things to do, with too populated a world so there's little downtime. Redfall's incomplete nature, due to whatever circumstances happened during production, actually tilted this one in my favor. Even after the v2 update that populated the world more, the open world in general is still not too populated with enemies, providing a pretty chill experience, and the open world itself is not super big, broken up into two "halves".. the setting is interesting, I like the arcitecture of the buildings even though you can't go into many of them. I like that one of the hubs is just this weird boat museum? But yeah, it's incredible how unfinished the game is. Cutscenes are just stills of the 3d models rigged into poses. The 'neighborhood' territory quests involve just a single side quest and boss fight per territory. This game does NOT have the amount of content or loot that you want if you're playing this with friends. The first time you stop corruption by going into this door warp, it's neat with this twisting design... but the layout is largely the same every time you do it. It's a 12-ish hour game and.. Borderlands 2 by comparison is like 50+ hours of content and that's before you get to the DLCs. So, I don't think I can recommend this game to YOU, but for ME, I had a better than expected time with it, BECAUSE it was short and unfinished.  #HM10) Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow (GL 7, VAR 7, AD 8, SD 6.5, UI 6 = 70.5 SCORE) There were a couple of Limbo-likes this year, one of them being Planet of Lana. I'm a little tired of Limbo-likes personally (though I do like Little Nightmares), but this one came in a bundle so I tried it out. It's not too bad a one, it's pretty beautiful and has some nice set pieces. It's just, I think these aren't super exciting anymore. The story is also pretty simple and nothing particularly new. It's sort of a popcorn empty brain experience with very mild puzzling, so this is one for the people who scour "build-a-bundles" on Fanatical and aren't sure what to get for their 7th game.  #HM09) Elephantasy Flipside [2023] (GL 7.5, VAR 7, AD 7, SD 6, UI 7 = 70.5 SCORE) Alright, I know some of the honorable mentions haven't been glowing, but this one I can recommend easily to puzzle fans. It's an open world isometric puzzle-platformer that marries the design of classic computer/NES titles like Soulstice or Head Over Heels, with the item rental system from A Link Between Worlds. You have a certain amount of items that you can carry on you, until you save more souls, at which point that limit increases. So it's all about figuring out the right combination of tools to bring to different sections of the world. You can also upgrade the items with the pieces of ore you find to give them an additional passive/active function. The game's not perfect; the map kinda sucks and it's easy to forget where things are. But this is a neat, experimental sandbox kinda game where multiple solutions can be possible. I can recommend this to fans of non-linear/open world puzzle games like Full Bore. But don't feel ashamed if you need to consult a walkthrough.  #HM08) Ravenlok (GL 7, VAR 7, AD 8, SD 6, UI 7 = 71 SCORE) I'm a lot higher on this particular developer's games than most (they made the similarly flawed Echo Generation a couple of years ago) but I love the aesthetic of them, mixing voxel art and pixel art together. It's another combination of point and click adventure and RPG, but in this case it's ARPG rather than turn-based JRPG, and Ravenlok is definitely a weaker game for this change, because the combat and character evolution/build are incredibly simple. I wish that they stuck with the turn-based companion-based combat of Echo Generation, but I will still play just about anything they make because of that art and the quirky genre blending.  #HM07) Cache Grabbers (GL 7, VAR 7, AD 7, SD 7, UI 8 = 71 SCORE) This one's goon-made and it's pretty cute. You activate signal towers and then use them to triangulate your position on the map which reveals more and more of it until you locate the level's geocache. There's not much more to it than that, but there's something to be said about a $5-10 game that just throws a new type of genre at you and keeps it simple rather than overwhelming. I also like the strange visual vibes... I'm sure it's pre-made assets, but they're arranged and colored in a pleasingly offbeat way, with oddly-gradiating hills, and weird/unorthodox tree & sky coloration. It comes together to make a relaxing podcast-friendly experience.  #HM06) Chop Goblins (GL 6.5, VAR 7.5, AD 7.5, SD 7.5, UI 7 = 71.5 SCORE) I often hem and haw over what falls out of the top 50, but Chop Goblins was an easy one to trim out, as it honestly is not the best game to come out of the mind that brought you retro-FPS sensation DUSK and 2023 submarine tragedy simulator Iron Lung. Much like some of David Szymanski's work for DreadXP, Chop Goblins is more of a bite-sized snack, just an hour long, and pretty basic in comparison to the crazy maps and wild gunplay that Dusk had, with just a few enemy types and a few weapons. But for a short afternoon jaunt at just 4 bucks, it's perfectly fine. This was a crazy year for retro shooters, though, as you'll see in my top 50, so sorry Goblins, but you got Chopped out of the top list.  #HM05) Lingo (GL 9, VAR 8, AD 5.5, SD 6, UI: 7 = 75 SCORE) Lingo is not a pretty game; its look and vibe go beyond programmer art and feel almost XBLIG-ian in vibes, which may make you think this is no different than any other hourly release on Steam that has a title like "hentai sex witches vs skibidi toilet". But this is actually one of the best games of the year. It technically released in 2022 (which is why it's in honorable mentions), but got a brand new campaign this year and that's what I'm reviewing here. Lingo is The Witness for wordplay, somewhere inbetween a linguistic challenge of how exhaustive your knowledge of the english language is, and a cryptic crossword. Lingo is non-linear, it's got rules you have to figure out yourself, and it's absolutely brilliant. I've put over 100 hours into this game and I still dip in on occasion, because the game has workshop support, and some of the fan maps are just as good as the official ones, and even have new rule types to learn. It is extremely addictive, with its only flaw being the Antichamber-esque teleporting that doesn't serve much of a purpose beyond disorienting you for no particularly good reason. But maybe the developer could stand to add at least one more sound effect? The game is completely silent except for the chime when you get an answer right. I've heard of minimalism but this is ridiculous!  #HM04) Diluvian Ultra (GL 7.5, VAR 8, AD 8, SD 8.5, UI 7 = 78 SCORE) Truth be told, this shooter's actually pretty cool, and would place in the top 20, BUT, there were major bugs that hosed up my game preventing me from finishing it. The bugs got fixed in an update, apparently, but I didn't have time to test the update and see if the issue was fixed on my end. Rather than recommend something that might still be broken, I'll keep this in the honorable mentions. Speaking of bugs, this game's WEAPONS are bugs, literally. Your primary pistol has a name and you can pet it to calm it down when it overheats. That might give you some idea of what you're getting here, a shooter set on a fleshy, organic, living spaceship. This spaceship is your home as ruler, but while you were in hibernation, some nasty cyborg people have taken it over, and you'll have to fight your way through to gain control back. The visual design is strange and interesting, the audio design is flawed but satisfyingly crunchy-- specifically the distorted 8-bit crunchiness of enemy deaths and grunts. There's impressive visual variety in the stages as well, given the setting of a spaceship, but you'll traverse all sorts of places, from the white & palatial to the quasi-eldritch to the more mechanical. The guns don't feel the greatest, but, this one will stick with me for a while.  #HM03) Honkai Star Rail (GL 8, VAR 6.5, AD 9, SD 9, UI 8 = 78.5 SCORE) Trash lovers, unite. Hoyoverse games may be riddled with gacha mechanics, daily logins and battle passes, but they're popular for a reason............... well okay the gacha is one of the reasons, but also the games themselves are very good. While Genshin Impact is an addictive ARPG take on Breath of the Wild, Honkai is like a modernized turn-based PS2 JRPG, from the sizes of its towns to the style of combat to the character interactions. If this was released 20 years ago you'd probably find it on the shelf next to Radiata Stories or Jade Cocoon 2 (and then you'd sort it alphabetically where it's supposed to be!!). In Honkai you travel on the space rails like some sort of Leiji Matsumoto anime, where each planet is its own chapter, sort of like a Star Ocean game. The cast is likeable and the protagonist actually has personality, despite being largely silent. And the personality of the game really carries it, since the combat is somewhat basic and repetitive. Each party member's special attack features a wild (though thankfully quick) cutscene, and that goes for every new member added to your team. As I hinted at, there's an entire running gag about interacting with trash cans. The game has characters bringing you into group chats and texts where you can really be a gremlin in the responses. This is a team that puts a lot of love and care into their games, even with the greedy and exploitiative systems that come with the territory of F2P games. At the very least, I haven't felt the need to spend money on either Genshin or Honkai, but that won't be the case for everyone, and I'm aware of how these games prey on those with addictive tendencies or addiction problems. So if that does concern you, you might want to just vicariously enjoy the game through someone else's playthrough. But if you refuse the siren song you'll have plenty to enjoy here for as long as the game decides to operate.  #HM02) Quake 2 Remaster & New Campaign (GL 8, VAR 8, AD 7.5, SD 7, UI 9 = 79 SCORE) Sort of announced out of nowhere but not entirely unexpected, Nightdive's remaster of Quake 2 is even better than the first game's. Both sport updated models, textures and environmental detail, but without being so radically different that the game feels modernized. It's basically Quake as you remember it, vs how it actually was. Quake 2 needed the heavier lifting with its more polarizing reception, and Nightdive really came through on this one. The biggest addition is the compass which helps guide you towards your next objective, a feature which all classic FPS games desperately need (as not all of them have the greatest map designs, let's be honest here!). Quake 2 is more objective-oriented in general than its A->B predecessor, with massive interconnected levels that would've seemed influential towards Half-Life, had HL not released a year later. Look, it's controversial, but I actually like Quake 2 more than 1. And yeah, it's not as visually distinctive as the first game's gothic design, but I much prefer the level design and enemies of 2 (gently caress the slimes and homing-firing enemies from 1!!!). And much like the first remaster, Nightdive has put together a pretty fantastic new campaign you can play, alongside the other official expansions, and it pushes the engine to its limits with creative settings and texture work. There's a level in a space base on the moon!  #HM01) The Case of the Golden Idol DLC (GL 8, VAR 7.5, AD 9, SD 7.5, UI 8 = 80 SCORE) I don't have a ton to say on this one, because you could just copy and paste my review of the original game and have it here. The DLC is more of the same and it's of about the same quality, setting up the story/timeline around the story of the original game. It's more opportunity for strange murders, weird character designs and blanks to fill in. I'm really looking forward to the new game! Alright, and now... games that I wanted to play, have on me, but didn't get to: Amnesia: The Bunker - I am a fan of the Amnesia series and thought that the third game managed to salvage what reputation A Machine for Pigs nearly destroyed. I'll possibly give it a spin in the spooky season. Baten Kaitos 1 & 2 Remaster - Obviously not enough time to play two giant JRPGs this month. Played around 3-4 hours of the first game. It's got interesting mechanics as a card-based battler, but the pace of battle is a little odd to me, and then the town/world gameplay has some 6th gen clunkiness to it that is awkward to sit through. Before the Green Moon - I did play a couple of hours of this but it is pretty repetitive so I'm unsure if I want to push through to an ending or not. Bramble: The Mountain King - Seemed like it could be an Ico/Two Sons-like, maybe I'll play it in 2024. Cassette Beasts - While I'm not the hugest catch-em game enjoyer, this did seem cool. I played the demo, but I didn't have the time for a full playthrough. Humanity - I just don't turn the PS5 on much these days. Killer Frequency - Might be an even more fleshed out take on Interference: Dead Air's concept, still unopened in the Gamefly envelope. Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails - A Trails sidegame that is more like Ys and Gurumin? Definitely in my wheelhouse, but I couldn't fit in a 20 hour game into the back half of December. Lies of P - I sometimes like From-ish games from non-From companies so I had an eye on this one but didn't even give myself time to play the demo. Shadows of Doubt - Made my laptop run super hot, waiting for optimization and bugfixing and honestly the 1.0 release is probably not TOO far off. Starfield - Just too big for me to want to dive into, especially as reception of it has gone cold. Tchia - Have it on PS+, on the PS5 collecting dust. Touhou Artificial Dream in Arcadia - This one's pretty decent, a near 1:1 imitation of the SNES SMTs but with Touhou characters and a bullet hell minigame in place of negotiation. But I only played 4-5 hours of it and it's pretty large. Wandering Sword - Another issue of time. I did play the first couple of hours and it's pretty rad, but I am also waiting for a complete controller support revamp (which they say is coming). Wo Long - I do like the Nioh team. Maybe 2024. The games I wanted to play, and DON'T have (but probably wouldn't have had time anyway): A Guidebook of Babel, Another Crusade, Apocalyptic Vibes, Bat Boy, Beep's Escape, Bilkin's Folly, Can of Wormholes, Clash: Artifacts of Chaos, Decarnation, Drop: System Breach, En Garde!, Full Void, Gunbrella, Harmony: The Fall of Reverie, House Flipper 2, Loddlenaut, Logiart Grimoire, Logic Town, Meatgrinder, Melon Journey, Murderous Muses, Nocturnal, Prison City, Quester, Roto Force, Scene Investigators, Sludge Life 2, Small Saga, Stasis: Bone Totem, Stuffo The Puzzle Bot, The Last Faith, This Bed We Made, Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider, Viewfinder, Void Stranger, Whispers in the West, Worldless My final post will be about what I look forward to in 2024!
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Jan 1, 2024 20:43
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Foul Fowl posted:which is not to mention the elegance of its design, with the drive gauge serving as both your offensive meter (to let you drive rush to extend combos or dash across the screen and make your attacks faster, or to drive impact as a nuclear option counter which adds a significant layer to the neutral game, or to parry (with perfect timing being rewarded by a perfect parry, or to use better versions of your special moves, but uh oh, your drive gauge is also drained from blocking attacks and if you run out because you played too greedily and/or passively, you're now in burnout, which is absolutely loving awful because you don't have access to any of the above, and you take chip damage through your block, and you recover more slowly from blocking so your opponent can pour on the pressure, and if you get drive impacted into the wall you go into stun). Yeah something I forgot to mention in my post was how unusual it is for all the mechanics to work together properly in any 1.0 release of any modern fighting game. It can't be overstated how rare it is for a fighting game on launch day to not only have flawless netcode, but also no obvious over or underpowered characters, no infinite combos or broken supers, no weird moves with crazy frame data and no stage boundary glitches or bad hit/hurtboxes. Maybe this is more an indictment of the way most fighting games launch than praise for SF6, but capcom deserves credit for polishing the heck out of it before letting it out the door.
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Jan 1, 2024 20:50
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Issaries posted:Top 10 Alan Wake 2 Jiffs: no simultaneous coffee sip, this list is invalid
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Jan 1, 2024 20:51
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Zaggitz posted:RARITY’S FAVORITE POSTER(That’s me, Zaggitz)’S TOP TEN LIST 
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Jan 1, 2024 21:26
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Issaries posted:Top 10 Alan Wake 2 Jiffs: Any Alan Wake 2 list or placement that doesn't include the Koskela brothers at least once just isn't gonna do it.
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Jan 1, 2024 21:58
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I just wanted to say. This thread is good. I enjoy reading it and seeing why people like games. It's done horrible things to my steam sale cart and I appreciate it. 
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Jan 1, 2024 21:59
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Top ten cool/interesting games that I never heard of until reading this thread and added to my steam wishlistImpAtom posted:1. In Stars and Time DalaranJ posted:
Nephthys posted:The Sekimeiya – An interesting form of mystery, I thought this had a lot of potential and I love the quality of life features such as a full reference system and section to write notes about each scene. The writing is good and the mysteries are genuinely really loving difficult. If you want a measure of how good this year was, I was fairly sure this was going to be in my top 3 when I finished it and it somehow didn't even make the top 10. An Actual Princess posted:6. corru.observer Jossar posted:
Erwin the German posted:6. Shadows of Doubt Venuz Patrol posted:9. BOSSGAME: The Final Boss is Your Heart Oxxidation posted:7. Turbo Overkill Mix. posted:27. MalViolence Mix. posted:
Rogue AI Goddess posted:1. Elsinore
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Jan 1, 2024 22:26
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Aipsh posted:I need to edit my post to say that BP is in AC6 as Rusty and that’s why it’s a game of the year i'm not cool enough to be rusty, though i am a planet defender and whenever i start typing a post badass music starts playing inside my head do with that what you will
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Jan 1, 2024 22:39
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Yes, top games added to my wishlist thanks to this thread: - Elsinore - Strange Horticulture - The Void Rains Upon Her Heart - Opus Magnum - Venba - Slay the Princess (okay this was already there) - The Making of Karateka - Killer Frequency
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Jan 1, 2024 22:46
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I bought Brotato, Blasphemous 1 & 2, and Void Stranger because of this thread, and added a dozen others to the wishlist for later. Also finally figured out how to hook the Steam Deck up to my TV and get a Switch controller synced to it and oh my god it's the perfect console.
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Jan 1, 2024 23:05
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morallyobjected posted:1. What a truly bespoke list. appreciate the words as always 1.  2. It's Media Molecule's best game by far, imo. I'd love for them to do a standalone release of it somehow. Maybe on disc???? 2a.  3. Yeah, the soundtrack really works when you're playing, though it's kind of just simple normal stuff. Our neck of the woods was literally inundated with twee folk revivalism during the 2010s, so the fact that I'm not alienated by TReN's jingles I think is a testament to how well they work in the context.
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Jan 1, 2024 23:19
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Here's what I'm currently playing or planning on playing in the near future: -Moonscars -Mega Man 11 -Strangers in Paradise: Final Fantasy Origins -Disco Elysium -Lost Judgment -Armored Core 6 -Lies of P (If I get a PS5 soon-ish you can add Tekken 8, FFXVI, and FFVII Rebirth to the list) I had every intention of getting AC6 and Lies of P at launch, but SF6 came out and I immediately knew I wouldn't be playing them anytime soon, so I pushed it off until they go on sale, lol. I was actually playing through Moonscars before I made my list, but hadn't played enough at the time to feel comfortable adding it to the list then. Now that I'm close to the endgame, I would say it's... fine? I'll have plenty of time between now and next December to rank it, but I'd say it's mid. I do like its art direction
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Jan 1, 2024 23:42
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I went on a buying spree also, a bunch of games I saw on these lists are on sale on Switch/PSN right now: Dave the Diver World of Horror I Was a Teenage Exocolonist Brotato Cassette Beasts Case of the Golden Idol Storyteller UnderMine Dredge I’m jealous of pc people who get to play Slay the Princess, Void Stranger and that System Shock remake DC Murderverse fucked around with this message at 23:45 on Jan 1, 2024 |
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Jan 1, 2024 23:42
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Even though my backlog is incredibly full, nevertheless this and related threads got me to add the following onto/back onto my wishlist: - Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children - Marvel's Midnight Suns - Pentiment - Erannorth Chronicles - Gordian Quest - Cyberpunk 2077 - Astraea: Six Sided Oracles - Hexarchy - Backpack Battles - Final Profit: A Shop RPG - Railroader Okay, 1-2 of those were basically out of nowhere, but if you did mentioned one of those in this thread, it has at least partially contributed to a future impulse buy. This, of course, looks nothing like my Top 9 - To Play List - (more) Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - (more) Tale of Immortal - (more) Apollyon: River of Life - Grim Dawn - Astral Ascent - Halls of Torment - Slay the Spire - SokoChess - Pathfinder Kingmaker This, of course, is completely meaningless and I expect to ramble around my backlog completely at random anyway.
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Jan 1, 2024 23:56
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SlothBear posted:Yes, top games added to my wishlist thanks to this thread: 
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Jan 2, 2024 00:09
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Picking a top ten games that are now on my wishlist because of this thread is actually pretty hard, there's way too much cool stuff! So I'm going to split it into two. Top five games that everyone has already played Armoured Core 6: looks sick, might try AC3 or 4 first since I'm pretty sure I have those already Forspoken: this actually crossed my scan when it first came out but I ignored it for some reason Lies of P: I'm probably going to want to play Sekiro and Elden Ring before this (and Bloodborne if it ever comes out on PC) but I do like me some soulsbornes Astral Chain: pretty sure I'm getting this mixed up with another game because I keep thinking it's a JRPG and not a PlatinumGames brawler Dead Space Remake: I liked the original, didn't like 2 as much and don't think I ever played 3, but it sounds like DSR changes things up a bit more than just "DS1 with better graphics" and I liked it enough to give it another look Top five games everyone hasn't already played Chants of Sennaar: Heaven's Vault is one of my all-time faves so this is a no-brainer. Case of the Golden Idol: Same except Obra Dinn Lunacid: always tried and failed to get into the KF games despite really liking them in concept, maybe this game will deliver the same vibes with more modern controls Astilibra Revision: I'm not expecting this to be a transcendent and revolutionary experience like VSR, but even if it's just a solid action platformer with time travel nonsense a la Timespinner I am 100% down. Also, corvids Slay the Princess: all of my friends have been raving about this and now this entire thread has been too
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Jan 2, 2024 00:24
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God I love FE Engage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5YUuHFTXmc and TOTK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7OPgmFnh0w Barreft fucked around with this message at 00:41 on Jan 2, 2024 |
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Jan 2, 2024 00:37
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ToxicFrog posted:I think EL really doesn't put its best foot forward. The first area of the game is just a completely linear sequence of flat rooms, the first boss is Ok I Guess, combat doesn't really start to pop until you have a few more souls, etc. Actually there's Ori 2 and Iconoclasts too. But it's a solid game nonetheless!
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Jan 2, 2024 02:01
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I finished Chants of Sennaar last night, it was great overall and really scratched the Obra Dinn itch though I agree that the stealth segments were pretty meh. There were a couple of "I'm really dumb and stupid and missed obvious stuff" moments like how in area 4 I missed the page that unlocks the super basic terms of that area's language so I was just stumbling around like a headless chicken for longer than usual, and also in area 5 I struggled hard until I figured out exactly how to spin the puzzle rings when using a controller to play (hint: it's not the same as how you usually interact with puzzle stuff so it was kinda annoying!). Overall great aesthetics, especially the vibrant colours that defined every area and gave them all very different vibes, and the strength of the conlang writing systems where I started being able to identify word grammatical categories before I actually figured out what they meant exactly just from glyph features.
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Jan 2, 2024 02:50
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The real hero of this thread (besides VG) is Beanpole for replying to as many people's lists as he does. I do read at least parts of every single person's list, but BP puts in the work of making sure many people's get acknowledged publicly, so props to him! Only like three more pages of lists to catch up on..
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Jan 2, 2024 02:52
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I'm no hero, never was, never will be...I'm just an old poster, hired to do some shitwork
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Jan 2, 2024 02:58
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I may not have read every single word but I've read every game title everyone posted so basically I've read at least every single list itself. Partly because I'm always looking for more games to play, fill up my wishlist and get mroe games to get more trophies in. Bring it on!
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Jan 2, 2024 03:02
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My picks for memorable video game music this year (from things I played): Octopath Traveler - Song of Hope https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojMRV3kEVpg Armored Core 6 - Steel Haze (Rusted Pride) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nLrkkl6mtU Ys VIII - Sunshine Coastline https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvBla5NUlvk This one is memorable for being the first overworld theme in the game, and one of the top youtube comments sells it well: "If their aim with this song is to convey how exciting and joyful adventuring is to Adol, they knocked this one out of the park and off the island. I'm so happy while listening to this. " Every video game that is doing boring orchestral overworld themes is failing compared to this. Live A Live remake - Megalomania https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJUIP-L1Wuo For whatever reason Squenix has taken down every video of the remake's version of this song except for this one. Anyway it's a great arc song for the game - once you hear it for the second time, you get what's going on and you get pumped. I would post Guardian Of Light from Alan Wake 2 but someone already did that.
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Jan 2, 2024 03:05
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Microcline posted:so I don't get confused  I know you explained it in I think either last year's thread or the one before but I still can't make head or tail of this stuff. I do find it very impressive that you do, though!
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Jan 2, 2024 03:09
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Green line means ranking went up from last year, red line go down.
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Jan 2, 2024 03:10
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bewilderment posted:Live A Live remake - Megalomania I noticed that, too, and apparently a lot of other people did. But this one I found back in April is still hiding in plain sight https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZrsPmXLmUE
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Jan 2, 2024 03:16
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exquisite tea posted:Green line means ranking went up from last year, red line go down. Woah woah, slow down, Poindexter....
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Jan 2, 2024 03:24
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Looking back on my memorable music picks I guess the thing they all have in common is electric guitars. FF16's music was good but not memorable enough to me other than the main battle and boss themes. Titan had the guitars going but too heavy and gloomy for my taste (but appropriate to the fight).
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Jan 2, 2024 03:50
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Top gaman songs of 2023: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCu93MKq7ec Contact With You - Armored Core IV It's technically the theme of the main character, but most players will associate it with the first time it plays, the infamous Balteus. On one side of the wall, the song represents insurmountable odds. On the other side of the wall, it is a celebration of your triumph. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJUIP-L1Wuo MEGALOMANIA - Live A Live You think you're ready for it at the end of each chapter. You're not. The drop fuckin' bangs every time. https://twitter.com/shibuyagato/status/1552700416692977664 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYJg_CCkYq8 Too Big To Fail - Hi-Fi Rush Hi-Fi Rush has some fantastic licensed music for a lot of the bosses, but the replacement songs in Streamer Mode aren't anything to sneeze at.
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Jan 2, 2024 04:02
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I loved this song, from Bramble. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5py8d0pfCVM
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Jan 2, 2024 04:22
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It's also very funny that that one meme video is like the only surviving video of the remake Megalomania. Every other video has been taken down, even when it complies with SE's "gotta have gameplay" terms
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Jan 2, 2024 04:33
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This is really cool! I was thinking about scenarios where a game would have a substantial rise in the next year, since I’m usually at least a year late on new releases (for example, I still haven’t played Disco Elysium, Elden Ring, or Baldur’s Gate 3). Looks like Slay the Spire had the biggest year-over-year jump in places and Hades had the biggest jump in percentage points. I’d think big rises would have to be some combination of the game coming out near the end of the year, initially limited to a single platform, and not a super well-known developer or series beforehand. I’ve only known about this thread for two years but it’s the best thread of the year! Already added a bunch of games to my wishlist based on people’s descriptions 
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Jan 2, 2024 04:41
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Waffleman_ posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYJg_CCkYq8
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Jan 2, 2024 04:59
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Best Fan Sequel of the Year: Thief: The Black Parade. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xc0VnVuwqYQ The Thief games have maintained a strong fan map community since the release of the first game. The community may be smaller than those making levels for id Soft or Bethesda games, but they nevertheless have maintained a high sense of quality. This is not even the first time the community has banded together to make a full-length narrative campaign (Check out T2X for Thief 2). However, this campaign far exceeds the high bar previously set. It represents roughly a decade of work from community's most prominent map makers, all of whom pushed themselves beyond their previous excellent work. The end result is something that feels like a lost 3rd Looking Glass title in the series. The design feels like a natural evolution of the design philosophies present in the classic studio's existing two entries. The epic and dynamic structures of fan favorite missions like Life of the Party and Return to the Cathedral are present in nearly map of the campaign. You often start in the city streets and must navigate into your target location. Once there, things don't always go according to plan. Events take mid-level turns, objectives change, and you must react. These missions often follow three act structures that ratchet up and then release tension. My first run had me spending an hour an a half to two hours per-mission, each feeling like a complete and fleshed out experience. What's more impressive is that these massive non-linear, multi-staged missions never had me lost. The geography of each area was memorable and clearly presented. If a new objective required me to return to a previous spot, I could easily navigate back even without opening the (Well designed) map. It's all executed with a level of polish that exceeds the original games. Advancements in computing power have let fan patches remove limits in the original build of the engine, which the mod team has taken full advantage of. Levels can now be far more geometrically complex, push striking weather and environmental effects, include more NPCs, and allow more complicated AI scripting and behaviors. This means the game winds up being similar to recent Nightdive remasters in that it looks the way you remember Thief looking, while actually being much more advanced. It's often visually striking and consistently moody as hell. So, if you've ever been a fan of Thief or its spiritual successors (Dishonored), this campaign is absolutely worth getting this classic up and running. (Also, if you choose to play on a Steamdeck, try out the community control scheme declaring itself "The PERFECT modern Thief controls." They live up to their name with great analogue movement, track pad weapon and item wheels, gyro aiming that only activates when an arrow is drawn, really great stuff and makes this mod feel effortless to play. I tried out a bunch and tried fiddling on my own, but as soon as I gave this profile a spin the game just felt more natural than it ever did before.)
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Jan 2, 2024 05:00
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| # ? May 25, 2024 00:35 |
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If we're talking about standout music from games right now, I have to really emphasize Herald of Darkness. It's a good song that's part of the sequence that bowled me over the absolute most this year, and there were some incredible sequences in games this year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxs_HYw_mLk
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Jan 2, 2024 05:10
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