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another great thread filled with some great posts
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Dec 13, 2021 00:12
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some drat fine lists so far, drat fine
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Dec 17, 2021 20:20
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ahh, the smell of fresh goty posts
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Dec 25, 2021 07:37
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punk rebel ecks posted:I was worried that my post would have complaints over it being too long and having too many big gifs. no way, it's a fine list
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Dec 27, 2021 23:23
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mine's taking a while because I'm lazy and only started in earnest yesterday
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Dec 28, 2021 22:09
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i was waiting!
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Dec 29, 2021 01:51
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I usually replay a lot of older games alongside new (for me) stuff but there were so many great games this year that I just wanna shout out twenty of my favorite new experiences. Sorry for being greedy 20. Mario Party Advance 🎵Mystery Quest  I first began playing this on a whim, curious to see what a wholly single-player Mario Party, on the GBA no less, could be. I was not prepared to spend more than half an hour or so on it, much less finish the story mode! You are indeed playing Mario Party alone, on one great big board, and your task is to drive about in your little mushroom car solving problems for the board's many residents. These problems range from the mundate to the delightfully quirky, and you'll find yourself helping a struggling dolphin comedian with his delivery, solving a devious closed-room burglary, and even getting an intimate look at Bowser after hours. While it may be lacking in the "screw your friends over" department, Mario Party Advance brings plenty of charm to the table, and the minigames aren't half-bad either. 19. WarioWare: Get It Together! 🎵Penny's Song  While Gold is certainly a fun game, I was a bit discouraged that the previous WarioWare was just a remix of the series' heyday with comparitively little of the creativity its source materials were known for, so I was thrilled when Get It Together showed they've still got it. Actually controlling your favorite WarioWare characters as they struggle with a new perspective on their own microgames is such a fresh idea I'm surprised it took this long. 18. Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars 🎵Twin Recollections (Field Edit)  This game is exactly what I wanted, when I wanted it: a simple, unambitious turn-based RPG with all the essential trappings of traditional high fantasy, plus a dash of tabletop flair. To reinforce this, a disembodied narrator acts as your Game Master, voicing all the characters, "preparing" the various trials you overcome, and making little comments based on your actions and fortunes. He even falls asleep and starts snoring if you idle too long. The art is beautiful, the party is full of lovable goofballs who make the most of their limited dialogue, and the music makes a perfect soundtrack for your own tabletop sessions. While the game may not go all-in on the card conceit, it does still manage some effective visual tricks, particularly with the final boss. Voice of Cards does not reach for the stars, but it is content with itself, and that's perfectly alright. 17. Minoria 🎵Arbor ~ Snakeroot Garden  A certain other game further down (up?) this list got me in a big metroidvania mood, which led to me playing a certain other other game further up (down?) this list, which led to me playing all of the other games by its developer. Minoria is Bombservice's most recent game and, while it's a bit less polished than its immediate predecessor, it still nails the somber moonlit melancholy I love. The witches must be purged, and you're the only holy sword maiden left alive after a nasty ambush. Unfortunately you're not exactly there out of choice, but fortunately you got your naive, well-meaning assistant to keep you company. Combat is Souls-inspired: you've got estus healing, parrying, poise, a wide variety of limited-use spells, and an all-important dodge roll. Also, defeating any given boss without taking damage (or modifying your health in any way, really) rewards you with a unique drop, usually a powerful spell. While I understand this kind of mechanic can grate on people, I love it here. Every boss can be learned, and perfected. And if you ever decide to just not care for once, it's like taking your training weights off. 16. Dweller's Empty Path 🎵Cool Cat  A short game by Temmie Chang (better known for being the primary artist on Undertale and Deltarune), wherein you're an aloof young uh...well, you're not really sure, but the important thing is that you've been having trouble sleeping and decide to go for a walk. So you do. There are dozens of little events to encounter, some cute, some mellow, some mundane, and one so indulgent it goes from funny, to annoying, and back to funny through sheer audacity and dedication to the bit. This is a very chill walking simulator type of game, and you can choose to end it at more or less any time by returning to bed for another shot at restful slumber, though the events you manage to find determine how that ends up going. Just go for a nice walk and clear your head, and maybe try not to worry the sassy witch who sleeps on your couch, and maybe keep away from that annoying hot demon guy. 15. Sonic Unleashed 🎵Jungle Joyride (Day)  There are a lot of kinda frustrating elements of Sonic Unleashed. Finding medals to unlock new levels is a bummer, the werehog levels are like, fine, but definitely a bit too long, and game developers still thought that deadly QTEs were the hottest thing ever. But at the end of the day, none of that really matters, because the daytime stages are so loving COOL!!!! 14. Return of the Obra Dinn 🎵Soldiers of the Sea  This devlish deduction game was a blast to play through with my partner, and though it took some educated guesses at times, we managed to solve every fate without looking anything up. Although the controls for navigating your notebook never stopped feeling cludgy to me and the final fate felt more like a punctuation mark than a real conclusion, Obra Dinn's premise and presentation, and the construction of each scene's mysteries, are absolutely top notch. 13. Garden Story 🎵The Mists  I came for the cute fruit and frog people, and stayed for the surprisingly mature story about life, death, and mending a broken community. The name refers more to the setting than your actions, however, though you do gain the ability to do some basic gardening a little over halfway through. The general gameplay loop revolves around completing daily tasks for whichever village you're currently residing in and trying to make their lives a bit better, usually by providing materials or combating the irksome Rot. This is your job as a Guardian, of course, but Garden Story is also one of those games where every NPC has a name and unique design, and they're all grateful for any help you're able to provide. And they're all so stinking cute I couldn't bear to let any of them down. 12. Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight 🎵Pardoner's Dance  Basically everything I said about Minoria also applies to Momodora 4, but while the former gives you lots and lots of variety in your offensive abilities, the latter is a bit more limited and so far more refined. Also a witch curses you with the ability to turn into a cat, which functions as your morph ball stand-in. Momodora 4 also has the same "perfect a boss for a sweet item" mechanic, which I still love. Such victories are a bit easier to pull off in this game too, with your powerful infinite-arrow bow supplementing your 11. Mega Man Zero 3 🎵Prismatic  I've played through a lot of Sonic games recently, but that's a story for another rank. I've also played through a whole bunch of Mega Man recently, and the Zero series stands at the top. 1 got things off to a bit of a rocky start with its unforgiving difficulty and seeming inability to recognize how large its own screen was, but 2 and especially 3 improve and ramp up so well. The levels are good, the bosses are good, the music is good, the mechanics are good, even the story is good?? A robot protagonist being forced to consider his identity when his body is no longer his own... Zero, we salute you. to be continued...... Looper fucked around with this message at 04:17 on Dec 31, 2021 |
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Dec 31, 2021 04:00
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Part Two 10. Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Heartbreak 🎵Moonlight  This Special Shoutout: rub-rub rub-rub rub-rub rub-rub rub-rub rub-rub rub-rub 9. Ynglet  Earlier this year, I played through the three Genesis Ecco games. Despite the brutal difficulty of the two not geared toward small children, they were all lovely games with astoundingly good underwater movement. This will be a bit of a theme with a few more of my picks, but movement mechanics that feel good and natural are key to my enjoyment of games, at least the ones where you are actively moving a character around a real-time environment, and it's a real shame that so many games use fluids as obstacles, floaty unpleasant low-gravity zones where everything is just slower. Every game with water should take a look at Ecco.  So along comes Ynglet, the game I should actually be talking about, which nails what I just did talk about. Developed by Nifflas of Knytt and Within a Deep Forest fame, you play as an odd little space dolphin germ whose friends have been scattered by a little space germ meteorite and now you must swim through the abstract spaces between landmarks in Copenhagen to find them all. The visuals are simple yet entrancing, the sound design is beautifully reactive to your motions and different level objects, and the movement is just so so good. I strongly suggest playing the game fullscreen with headphones on. As you hop and dash through space bubbles, you can also choose to create your own checkpoints by pausing for a second in any static bubble, and the different difficulty settings add more of these "safe" bubbles between the many dynamic obstacles you'll navigate. And once you unlock the dash, you'll be grateful for the opportunity to mess around with it wherever you please without losing too much progress. Ynglet isn't a very long game, especially if you skip the extra post-game levels or Negative Mode, but if you like falling into a trance of fluidity then please check it out. Special Shoutout: The requirements for 101% completion. For those who don't have the game, you must physically be in Copenhagen, and more specifically in whichever area a level is based on when you play it. Once you start a file in the city, you have one week to finish that file. I'm told there is at least one speedrun submission for this category lol 8. New Pokemon Snap 🎵Shiver Snowfields (Night)  To be honest I'm still kind of surprised this game exists, but it does and I love it. There are pokemon, many more than the small chunk of Gen1 mons present in the original, and you can take pictures of them. A whole lot of pictures. And THEN, you can put silly stickers on them and upload them to PokeGram. The original had some cute interactions like encouraging a Pikachu to play at surfing or dunking a Charmeleon into a volcano but New Pokemon Snap takes those interactions to the next level and layers tons of them into each of the many different levels, to the point where they feel less like levels and more like the nature walks they were intended to be. I've seen people describe New Snap as more of a puzzle game, and that's certainly true when you're trying to track down a specific 4-Star Diamond shot, but it serves just as well as an chill trip through the woods with your favorite pokemon and was perfect for helping me through my second-vax fugue. Every pokemon present gets to shine here, from mascots Pikachu and Eevee to the otherwise forgettable Ducklett and Liepard. Sure the human characters can be a little annoying, and their requests can get downright devious, but New Pokemon Snap is the game Snap 64 was in my tinted memories.  Special Shoutout: Turns out Bidoof is perhaps the single most photogenic pokemon ever designed.  7. Anodyne 2 🎵Pastel Horizon  If there's an award for most improved sequel, Anodyne 2 runs away with it. I am not at all a fan of the first game, to the point where it is the only title I've straight up deleted off my Switch. An awkward and childish attempt at baby's first meta fiction that supposedly has a good part buried under too many overly large empty maps. So I wasn't terribly interested in a sequel and only checked it out thanks to some very heavy campaigning from its fans. Anodyne 2 is a haunting, beautiful game overflowing with sincerity and an earnest endearing confidence in every pixel and polygon. You play as Nova, a newborn Nano Cleaner charged with entering the hearts of troubled individuals and cleaning out all the Dust clouding them. As normal-sized Nova, you wander around large 3D spaces with the aesthetic of a forgotten PS1 game, and nano-sized Nova explores 2D top-down spaces in the same style as Anodyne 1 (though with far more approachable design). Gameplay in 3D is mostly exploration and light platforming, with the nifty ability to transform into a car to do sick jumps, whereas in 2D you're mostly solving Zelda-esque puzzles. You alternate between the two as you learn more about the setting, your peers, and yourself, living your life and making mistakes. Driving along surreal colorscapes, listening to ambient and wistful music, this game at times feels like a nostalgic dream. One of the nicest things about indie games and similarly small-scale projects is their capacity to channel the authors' unfiltered expression, and Anodyne 2 embodies that ideal. While I wish the actual gameplay were a bit more engaging, and the beginning is a bit slow (I wasn't fully onboard until leaving the City), the writing and mood are genuinely touching, and I don't say that lightly. Special Shoutout: Some of the most uniquely implemented developer commentary I've ever seen. 6. Touhou Luna Nights 🎵Voile, the Magic Library  Here we go, another metroidvania! I know very little about Touhou as a franchise, I tried one out years and years ago but it was extremely difficult and I don't think I have the patience to practice shmups. But I'd heard nothing but good things about Team Ladybug's games, it was on sale, and it just happened to feature characters from the one mainline Touhou I did play. And, Touhou Luna Nights rules??? You play as Sakuya, human(?) maid to a powerful vampire lord. Said lord happens to be an easily bored child, so you find yourself trapped in a parallel construct of the Scarlet Devil Manor and tasked with simply providing entertainment for your master. The main wrinkle to this metroidvania is that Sakuya possesses powerful time magic that can be used to both slow and stop time for brief windows, as needed. A couple years ago I played and loved a similarly time-themed metroidvania, Timespinner, but that game doesn't really utilize its time mechanics all that often. Touhou Luna Nights is pretty combat-heavy and expects you to make the most of your abilities in order to survive; you probably won't make it past the first boss without plenty of slow-mo. This game also features a wonderful translation of what I understand to be a classic shmup mechanic: grazing, which rewards you for getting right up close to enemies and attacks for hefty health and mana refills. Effective use of grazing can render you more or less invulnerable even to powerful late-game bosses, but you gotta get up in there! Add in some incredible spritework and music (though the latter unfortunately peaks halfway through the game), and you've got me impressed. I'm very much looking forward to checking out Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth soon, despite having a similar level of familiarty with Record of Lodoss War. Special Shoutout: Master Spark  5. The Pathless 🎵Nimue  Sometimes you play a game and just feel like it was made for you. Abzu, one of those games with amazing underwater movement, was one of my favorites last year and so I was very keen on checking out the newest joint by Giant Squid Studios. The Pathless in contrast takes place on land (mostly), but I'm very pleased to say it also demonstrates a remarkable grasp of movement that just feels good to experience. You play as a nameless Hunter, who has traveled to a sacred island in hopes of figuring out what's going on with your missing animal gods. You are soon joined by a faithful falcon, and together the two of you dance across vast plans and forests. Littered across the landscape are various talismans that, when shot with your bow, provide you a satisfying surge of speed and refill your stamina gauge. This surge also applies in the air, and good archery means you can constantly flow with the wind to your destination. The world design is pretty clearly inspired by Breath of the Wild, and I mean that in a good way; there are no fast travel points but simply moving and exploring is such a pleasure I never found myself wishing otherwise. Boss fights are impressively cinematic, with a level of bombast and flair that eclipses much larger projects, and defeating bosses populates regions with friendly wild animals you can run alongside. Many of the ruined buildings you come across are unique and have recognizable purposes which, combined with your ability to hear the final thoughts of the dead, helps the island setting feel grounded. The color palette of every region is right up my alley, and I'm bummed the game isn't more popular because I love the Hunter's design and wish more fanart were out there. I'm just kinda rambling now but, the game is good! If you play it then don't be like me and not figure out how to do skill shots until the end.  Special Shoutout: The first boss fight, when the hunted becomes the Hunter and I realized what I was in for. 4. Metroid Dread 🎵E.M.M.I. (Patrol)  I'm frankly still in awe that Metroid Dread is real (even more surprised than I am about New Snap), and not only that, but it's incredibly good. Samus has never controlled better, and the action responds in kind with some of the best boss fights in any Metroid game. This is an incredibly influential series, but Dread emerged from the hyperbolic time chamber to prove just why Samus is the king. I still can't like, there's a game after Fusion now?? Finally?? There's good writing and dialogue?? Shinesparking is more versatile than ever?? I was so pleased with this game that it got me to play a whole bunch of other metroidvania, several of which ended up on this list! All I can say is, welcome back. Special Shoutout: Samus' dialogue. 3. Chicory: A Colorful Tale 🎵Gulp Swamp  From the developer of Wandersong comes a delightful and emotional story about imposter syndrome and the weight of an aging legacy. You play as the daydreaming janitor of Chicory, the latest Wielder of the Brush, a magical artifact that serves as the only source of color in an otherwise black-and-white world. You soon find yourself unexpectedly gifted the Brush, and all the responsibilities it brings. So you set out across the coloring book world of Picnic Province, both to bring color to its people but also maybe to figure out who you want to be. Does the answer scare you? Do you worry about telling your parents, about what they might think? As much as the people laud you simply for being the Wielder, are you really good enough for such a mantle? Chicory (the game) does not shy away from these questions, nor does it wallow in them. It presents itself honestly, and hands you a brush. I'm finding it hard to overstate how cathartic being able to scribble everywhere is. Chicory (the game) provides a similar kind of energy as Katamari or Luigi's Mansion in that sense, where you can just make a big mess. Your brush carries four different (very pleasing) colors at a time, changing based on the region you're in, and you can mix things up further with a bunch of silly patterns and stencils. The music is, I think, easily Lena Raine's (of Celeste fame) best work, with lots of gentle pastoral instrumentation that still knows how to shred when the chips are down, as the boss fights hold nothing back. Co-op mode can be toggled at will, generating a second brush for you and a partner to scribble that much more. Also, if you happen to be colorblind, note that while coloring things in is a major game mechanic, using or distinguishing between specific colors is never necessary. Even if you don't find the story incredibly, aggressively relatable, there is plenty of charm and whimsy to be found in the clever drawing puzzles and silly food names and dressing up like a clown. Special Shoutout: Drawing my very first "cool s" only to realize I drew it in a river, and watching it slowly wash away... 2. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice 🎵Fountainhead Palace  The pinnacle. I am no stranger to FromSoftware, and Sekiro is the pinnacle of their combat and world design. The swordplay? Incredible. The posture system? Incredible. The grappling hook? Incredible. The skill and perseverance this game expects of you? Incredible. There are no bad bosses, there are no bad environments, Sekiro is just sublime from start to finish. The sheer triumph I felt from defeating the final boss is not something I'll forget soon. After accidentally triggering the bad ending without any backup saves and having to blitz through most of the game again, the breathtaking view from the entrance of the Fountainhead Palace was a sight to behold. And no battle felt so initially insurmountable as the well-hidden rematch against Owl, but I kept trying and trying and eventually, I defeated him in one of the cleanest fights I'd had, only taking a single hit myself. These are the highest of highlights, but Sekiro is full of moments like them, of persevering and overcoming. Special Shoutout: DO IT   1. Sonic Mania Plus (feat. Amy Rose) 🎵Wildstyle Pistolero  In most other years, Sekiro would've taken the top spot, but this entry is a bit special to me. About two years ago, or approximately when the release date for the Sonic the Hedgehog movie was revealed to be nothing less than Valentine's Day, my partner agreed to go see it on opening night with me. Not only that, she, saint that she is, agreed to watch me play through the games I'd grown up with to hopefully better understand why this weird blue hedgehog boy is so popular, as her only real prior experience with Sonic was a very awkward convention panel full of angry nerds. I had loved Sonic as a kid, and later distanced myself from the series as games started coming out on consoles I didn't have, and I considered myself too grown up for him at that point anyway. As an adult, I was kind of embarrassed to admit how big a fan I used to be. Anyway, neither of us expected the movie to be any good, just an excuse for a funny date night, but it turned out to be fun! And along the way through the old games, my partner thought Classic Sonic was really cute and I was reminded that yeah actually these games are wonderful. It was 2020, and I had both free time and The Technology, so while this Sonic Quest was originally intended to encompass only Sonic 1, 2, 3K, Adventure, and Adventure 2, it then grew to include Heroes, and the Advance games, and Shadow, and oops now I'm snowballing into playing the entire series (at least when getting a game working wasn't a huge pain). Over these past two years, I have played 65 different Sonic games, finishing almost all of them, and in the process reconnected with an element of my childhood I used to be ashamed of and maybe even learned to be a little more honest with myself. After working through the Sonic 4s, Lost Worlds, and Booms, I honestly felt a bit emotional booting up Sonic Mania and just looking at the title screen. Not only is it an incredibly good game following up some of the least regarded, but it's an incredibly good game made by fans of the series, and their love and passion for a sassy hog infuses every bit and byte. Sonic has had his highs, and he's had his lows, and he's still here running. Perhaps it's a bit silly to project such sentiment onto a famous and profitable mascot, but I can't help admiring how Sonic has persevered over the years, buoyed by an extremely active fanbase that produces many fantastic mods allowing me to play the good poo poo as my favorite character and fosters so much creative drive for other endeavors. My point is, Sonic is not cringe, nor is he fail. Sonic is based. Special Shoutout: hanging in there 
Looper fucked around with this message at 04:16 on Dec 31, 2021 |
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Dec 31, 2021 04:02
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wuggles posted:I love the goty thread.
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Dec 31, 2021 15:51
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happy new year everybody
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Jan 1, 2022 22:54
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my musical selections are already baked into my goty post, which you should peruse if you haven't already
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Jan 2, 2022 00:03
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Stux posted:this ithread is now for talking about old school runescape. the pheonix pet in my post is a 1/5000 drop and i love it. what color should i make it: purple
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Jan 3, 2022 02:39
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I'm bad at unbeatable but the music and style are incredible
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Jan 3, 2022 22:02
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i forgot to actually post them until now but my honorable mentions are: fire emblem project ember: incredibly good love letter to when fire emblem was at its best, would've def made the list but i'm not done deltarune ch 2: i wanna wait for the whole game to be finished knuckles chaotix: horrible level design but the slingshot tether gimmick really clicked and the garish 32x colors speak to me
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Jan 5, 2022 00:39
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thank you for taking a break so i can get caught up and comfortable
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Jan 8, 2022 19:45
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i just got the final ending in replicant yesterday and hell yeah
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Jan 8, 2022 20:29
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nice
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Jan 8, 2022 21:49
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i saw a misspelled game name but was too polite to point it out
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Jan 8, 2022 21:55
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this was a good year for unexpected sequels
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Jan 8, 2022 22:08
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SEKIROOOOOO
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Jan 8, 2022 22:11
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CharlieFoxtrot posted:I ate breakfast and did some paperwork so fell behind... worked for pokemon snap!
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Jan 8, 2022 22:29
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i wouldn't call ff7r a souls-like
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Jan 8, 2022 22:37
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i may have bounced off the dlc but outer wilds is still so absurdly incredibly good
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Jan 8, 2022 22:56
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i got a half full glass of rose, pounding my fork and knife on the table for the countdown!!
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Jan 8, 2022 23:14
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Runa posted:gently caress, looped 
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Jan 8, 2022 23:16
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i'm so glad all the praise last year worked, 13 sentinels was a delightful ride
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Jan 8, 2022 23:29
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this is a planned intermission, please take this time to refresh yourselves instead of your browser
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Jan 8, 2022 23:42
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dang we've got one heck of a top 5
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Jan 8, 2022 23:48
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ErrEff posted:Due to technical issues, the rest of the rankings will be randomly chosen from this list: https://www.randomlists.com/random-video-games 
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Jan 8, 2022 23:50
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Jay Rust posted:the only loop I care about is the challenge-reward loop inside all video games 
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Jan 8, 2022 23:58
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Relax Or DIE posted:Looper of the year goes to: Looper 
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Jan 9, 2022 00:01
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oh poo poo
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Jan 9, 2022 00:06
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IT'S HAPPENING
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Jan 9, 2022 00:17
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alright i finished my glass now post the number two!!
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Jan 9, 2022 00:23
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METROID DREAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Jan 9, 2022 00:29
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it's real and installed on my nintendo switch and fantastic
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Jan 9, 2022 00:30
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hell yeah
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Jan 9, 2022 00:37
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thank you rarity and videogames!! and you, the gamers
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Jan 9, 2022 00:38
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probate me before i flip out at how low chicory ranked (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Jan 9, 2022 00:48
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| # ¿ May 11, 2024 11:21 |
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Aidan_702 posted:Oh man I wanna know which goon had the most auteur list with like, most unknown indie games or most arty try hard. i see you somehow missed 7th guest's triumph of a list
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Jan 9, 2022 09:00
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