|
*veeg deploys counter materia linked with justpost materia to steal back the rest of Rarity's post and make it for her*
Main Releases: The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, Neo: The World Ends With You, Skyward Sword HD 
Main Releases: Psychonauts 2, Humankind, No More Heroes III 
Main Releases: Deathloop, Tales of Arise, Lost Judgment 
Main Releases: Metroid Dread, Guardians of the Galaxy, Back 4 Blood 
Main Releases: Shin Megami Tensei V, Pokemon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl, Forza Horizon 5 
Main Releases: Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker, Halo Infinite, Dynasty Warriors 9 The Hall of Fame    Who will join these illustrious ranks in the annals of history?
|
#
¿
Dec 12, 2021 21:06
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 11, 2024 22:57 |
|
|
fridge corn posted:Good lord veeg Oh no. I did the graphics and a couple of jokes, Rarity is responsible for the words. I did not see this. Oh no.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 12, 2021 21:48
|
|
|
Thank you Esco. Everyone else please stop cyber bullying me.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 12, 2021 22:25
|
|
|
Regy Rusty posted:Me watching people leave their favorite games out in the cold by not ranking enough to affect the master list: Feeling the same way. Please, just add three more games, or number the ones you did not, please. Please. 
|
|
#
¿
Dec 15, 2021 12:48
|
|
|
More like Metroid Dreading the reveal of where it is on the SA GOTY list with no one voting for it and Nintendo choosing to end the series for another decade.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 15, 2021 14:16
|
|
|
Waffleman_ posted:
Furukawa and Miyamoto told me once, in a phone call, that the whole future of the Metroid Franchise rested on me. Then Miyazaki called me and said "He's called Big Hat Logan because he wears a big hat" and the deed was done. I chose FromSoftware.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 15, 2021 14:52
|
|
|
cheetah7071 posted:basically it's all rarity's fault Actually it sounds like it is my fault.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 17, 2021 08:46
|
|
|
I am excited for multiple goons lists this year. I want to see where my pals place their games 
|
|
#
¿
Dec 17, 2021 09:42
|
|
|
Apologies for the length of this list. I love to post about games I love.  I have ranked these games by 'Feel'. What I mean to say is I experienced many highs playing all these games and this is how I structured this list. I do know for a fact that some of these games are considered better than others from purely objective standings, but in the end how I felt in my heart is how I travelled this path. So, before 2021 I would complete maybe, at most, of 3-4 games a year. I mean, I would start tens of tens more, but I have an inability to focus and concentrate and would jump and flitter and bounce around no matter what the game. There are a thousand games on my steam list with '15 minutes played' and I feel bad about it because many of them are probably great as proven by what I played this year. It turns out, I desperately need structure and I need rules in place to ever have a chance of finishing games. Streaming my play sessions gave me the structure I craved and I owe this discovery entirely to the PlayStation thread goons and Bloodborne. If I had not streamed Bloodborne last year, then I have no idea what this year would have been like for me. It was never really a big plan, just a quick stream session to show the goons how much trouble I was having with the game and hope for maybe a few tips on getting good, but mostly just to laugh at my incompetence. It was supposed to be a quick hour long thing and then we would all move on. If this is your first GOTY thread then welcome because that is not what happened. What actually happened was me playing far better and having fun due to the fact that I was gaming with friends. I proceeded to play, and mostly get carried via summons, through the rest of the game over a few weeks. It was exhilarating and culminated with me beating the last three bosses Mergo, Gerhman, Moon Presence in a row. Finally I was honestly able to say I had beaten a FromSoftware game. The floodgates had opened and I wanted more Souls Likes. This was right before December which was mostly taken up with my wedding and the 2020 GOTY thread, so I only streamed once or twice and played alone at times I could. Bloodborne was my GOTY and Dark Souls was in 6th place (despite not finishing it) and after wrapping up the GOTY thread results I resumed playing Dark Souls again in January. This was when it all flipped. I decided that Bloodborne was not enough and that I would work my way through all Souls games. I would play Dark Souls 1-3, then Sekiro and then (if lucky enough to nab a fabled PlayStation 5) the Demons Souls remake. I vowed to do them on stream since we had a fun little thing going and I set a schedule so that people knew when I would be around and could drop in to see some silly gaming. To be very honest I was thinking I would stop after the last Souls game because that was the whole reason for streaming in the first place. A fun journey through some of the toughest games of all time just to see if I can; a game player who only ever chose easy for every game they ever played. After I beat Sekiro I was unable to get the Demons Souls remake. A few of the PS goons urged me to play something else until I could get to it and two years previously I had dabbled a little by streaming the last few Colossi in Shadow of the Colossus and a bit of The Last Guardian. So we chose to stream and complete the Last Guardian for true closure. It was while having an incredible time with that I hit upon a nefarious plan that would only impact myself: quote:I would play Games that many posters in this forum could consider the GOTY in an attempt to confuse and paralyse myself for my eventual GOTY post. Not only would I get to play the very best games I had missed for being bad at choosing games, but I would then have to figure out how I would rank them and what criteria I could possibly use but also to think long and thoughtfully about what I have played. This mission was a success. I have played, to completion AND on stream, 24 full games. They have been utterly amazing and have leant this to being the greatest year of gaming in my whole life. I have been spoiled and I am not sure how 2022 and the years to come will be able to top this. I am excited for them to try. That is the future though, and this is the now. Seriously not one of these games was anything less than great and I am blessed to have played them. So here we go. (I will spoiler many things but they will be behind tags)  Devil May Cry V This was my first Devil May Cry game, so I was quite confused about what was happening, though that soon subsided and I let the sheer bonkers nature of everything sweep me up with it. In terms of style and control it was incredibly slick and easy to get into. By the end I was doing my best to get those ranks up and when I was able to press the buttons correctly, hearing 'Sick Nasty' was always an endorphin boost! Plus Nico is the best character in the game!  Dark Souls Maybe this is a little unfair to Dark Souls 1, but I played this very early in my growth and I had just come off Bloodborne, which is head and tails the better game. I like it a lot but I think it is weaker than all of the other modern fromsoft games. It does have some of the greatest bosses in all of the souls games: Artorias, Bed of Chaos, and Lord Gwyn. When I play through the series again next year, I think I will enjoy it more.  Until Dawn This was a glorious little Horror Movie of a game. I got LVG to make all the choices while I did the controlling. There were a couple of moments where she would pick something left field that I definitely would not have, but it made everything funny and silly and the eventual ending memorable. Plenty of great jumpscares and it still looks utterly great. Hannah and Beth were done dirty by all of them except Chris and Josh. Felt tremendously sorry for them the whole way through! Just wish we had been able to save Josh and Chris.  What Remains of Edith Finch This was my first 'walking sim' genre game and it was a doozy. It was short and sweet with a really engaging story that was divulged to us in visuals matching the subject we were learning about. I really appreciated the effort that had gone into the way they chose to release the information. So much of it was truly heartbreaking and I would say that if I did believe in curses, then the Finch family was no doubt cursed. How can so many bad events happen to such a tight knit family? A couple were incredibly dark and one of them resonated so hard with me and my own previous mental health situations that it has stayed with me since.  Deathloop This is a current year release that I gave a chance on. I wanted to be a part of the discourse and the action, as a game mechanic is your friends invading you and putting a stop to your plans. I wanted to be as green at the game as everyone else. (Also Prey was my 2019 GOTY. So how could I not play an Arkane game on release?) I also had a suspicion it would be a product of the time sort of game and I can confirm this. The time I spent playing it was ace. Having goons trying to take me down made me so much better at it (especially as I was worried about controlling an FPS on a console as a KBM predominant) and it was always fun to see a familiar PSN name pop up on the screen. While I was better at defending from invasions than I was at invading, it was a great little snippet of gaming companionship I am glad to be a part of. The powers, the visual look, the voice acting is allll top notch and it was one of the best releases of the year - I need to play Dishonoured thanks to how much fun this was!  Return of the Obra Dinn I love puzzow games and this is one of the most unique in the genre, both in what you are doing and how it looks visually. Being an insurance investigator for a ship where the entire crew has passed away is a setting I would never have dreamed of and yet I want more of it. Piecing together events via an old timey watch and walking through a literal door into the past, leading me to noting down similarities between figures, positions, audio cues and death scenes was a welcome change of pace compared to what most games offer. It kept my mind working overtime and the sense of satisfaction from getting everything correct was overwhelming.  Resident Evil Village I am an oddball who has only played the early 'Tank Controls' resident evil series (1,2,3, Code Veronica) as well as the two new remakes. I tried, but never got into 4 or 5 or 6 or much of 7 - genuinely not sure why. I thought as part of Spooktober I would change all that and jump right in with Village. It was an absolute blast. Again, it was an FPS on a controller and I have so little confidence in my ability to aim and turn but the game is very generous when it comes to those with lower abilities (or so I feel). I ended up having a way better time than I expected. You do not need to have played Resident Evil VII to enjoy Village and each of the four sections was superbly inventive and mixed up the game. It did not wear out its welcome and it was quite a challenge the whole way through - second quarter considerably. Originally I was a bit annoyed at the end; I got stuck in a situation where my wallet was stuffed to the brim but the shop no longer had anything they could sell me that I needed - coupled with being at a point where I was down to only being able to be attacked once before death. Bad saving on my part! It looks wonderful, has the over the top acting from the villains that you always hope for. Not to mention it is legitimately creepy and scary in the places it needs to be. A very good game and a great Resident Evil.  Returnal This is one of Sony's best exclusives and probably the game that best takes full advantage of every facet of the PlayStation 5's unique hardware. The haptic use in the controller is present in ways that will make you wish every game had them, it sounds phenomenal in both the 3D audio sense and design of every enemy and location and weapon, and to cap it off the visuals are blistering and pounding and stark and helpful. As a game it grabs you and shakes you around until you learn the patterns and become one with the movement. Not content with just that, it also tells an intimate and emotional story via interspersed events between the gameplay loop. This game is no walk in the park and the enemies are relentless - their attacks can at times fill the screen with colours and particles and you cannot stop moving for just one second. It rewards your focus and concentration and when everything clicks you the reward is feeling so powerful that nothing can stop you. If you have ever liked a Housemarque game then you will like this. If not, but you wanted a game that takes elements of Sekiro and Binding of Isaac and puts them in a 3D version of Nex Machina then you might fall in love with Returnal.  It Takes Two This is the official game of the year according to the Geoff Keighley Evening of Fun. (Out of the 2021 games that I had played I have no problem with this winning that accolade.) What I expected was a spirited little co-op romp that Lady Videogames and I could play together, full of split screen platforming and mirth. What we actually got was a game about a pair of awful parents who have lost their love for themselves and each other, do not realise how much it is affecting their child and are self absorbed to the point of affecting every little thing in their world, with split screen platforming, mirth and horror. It is not a long game, in fact I would say it is exactly the kind of length it should be. It is split into multiple sections, where each one apes a popular game type (3D brawler, isometric dungeon crawler, 2.5D platformer, final fantasy minigame) but always with its own game relevant spin. Most importantly it requires each player to work in harmony to complete each section which ties in wonderfully to the themes the game is tackling - can a marriage as broken as this one be repaired with serious work? When I say horror up above I mean it. There are some incredibly dark moments and I am quite shocked it won best family game. It is not a game I would let younger children play alone. I would hope an adult would be present to explain some of the quite intense and upsetting events. The very first one that got us was the forcing of a living vacuum cleaner to 'kill' itself by moving its heavy powered suction 'arms' into its own eye sockets. LVG and I were certainly NOT prepared for that. A definite must play.  Alien Isolation I love to be scared by media of all kinds. As such, I deliberately went for games I knew (or hoped) would give me a fright this October. Until Dawn had a few jumpscares, Resident Evil Village had more, but it was Alien Isolation that brought the A game and whipped me into a fearful frenzy. There is a constant sense of unease and dread that permeates throughout the game all of which is enhanced by how true it stays to the aesthetic and sound of the very first Alien movie. and it has some of the most extreme peaks I have experienced in a scary game. There were moments when I could almost feel the breath of the Xenomorph on my neck as I was playing. Medbay springs to mind as one of the most panic-inducing of the whole escapade. In fact, I made noises during this game that I never have done before. The story was extremely entertaining and as a real piece of Alien Franchise media it is better than a number of the existing films. The lead character is totally believable as what you could picture the child of Ripley being and there were some great plot moments and world building that did nothing to sully the time in between the first and second films. It was very respectful of the original media and I got a kick out of hearing some of the actors voice leftover dialogue, not to mention the music being a pitch perfect addition to Jerry Goldsmith's original score. The moment where I came face to face with the realisation that there were facehuggers, coupled with the eventual meeting of them is hands down the most terrifying moment I have experienced in a game. It sent my phobia into overdrive and the entire last section from probing deeper in the ships engine to the shuttle ending was relentless against me and that just meant beating it felt even sweeter.  Night in the Woods Throughout the whole of this game I could never figure out what kind of game it was or wanted to be. I still cannot. This is not a negative point at all and somehow I think Mae would appreciate my sense of confusion. I was enthralled throughout the game and in becoming friends with Mae, Bea, Gregg, Angus and Germ got to experience the full range of emotions that learning about someone's depth might bring. So many conversations between these wonderful anthropomorphs had me thinking about my own life being caught in the reflections of theirs, or how thoughts that had clouded my own days were being represented by members of this tight knit group. It was the video game equivalent of realising that while the world can seem bleak and the future bleaker, having a group of friends that accept you for who you are can make it bearable and maybe if all of you just band together, you can support each other until your dying days. Yes, life can be monotonous and repetitive and it can seriously affect your mood, but support structures and proper care (both medical and emotional) for yourself and from those around you is the path to winning. The one line that stands out the most and the one I think I will always come back to when I think about this will be "I believe in a universe that doesn’t care, and people who do." - Angus. It was the overarching message that called to me and one that I wholeheartedly believe. I think I would like to replay this and possibly spend a little more time involved in the lives of everyone. It certainly feels like there is a lot of depth hidden behind the paths I did not choose and this is worthy of at least one more replay.  The Last of Us I had put off playing this game for a long while for a silly reason. I had yet to play the Uncharted games and I knew that Naughty Dog had refined their formula so much by the time they made this, that I did not want it to be too difficult to get into them - and so I never got round to it because I never started Uncharted 2 due to not really feeling it after beating Uncharted. I am so glad I decided to ignore this worry, listen to the PlayStation goons and just get on with it. This game is as breathtaking and engrossing as the reputation it has built up over the years. It is one of the most complex video game stories I have absorbed and exploring the connections humans make during extreme circumstances of post apocalyptia had me from start to the end. I was warned that there would be some very dark moments and that playing this and the sequel back to back might be too emotionally draining for me. However I think choosing to treat them as one massive two part game was the absolute best thing I could have done. This served as an awesome foundation for my experience with the sequel. Throughout this game I grew to love Ellie and Joel as they battled the demons of their personalities, the world and each other. Also, the Factions multiplayer has been a constant Tuesday night event that I and multiple PlayStation thread goons come together to play a few rounds of and it is one of my most looked forward to gaming events each week. Tourism.  Metro Exodus I should have kept this game for spooktober because of all the games played this year, this one had the most frightening sections of all. I get ahead of myself though. I am not a metro player - 2033 and Last Light are both in my library but untouched - but I could not ignore the repeated insistence that this game was a fantastic one and whenever a goon makes an impassioned case on a game I cannot help but note it down for future play. This was the game I chose to end the year on and it made the perfect end point for a year of incredible fun. A partially open world FPS full of characters doing their best in a wasteland, Metro Exodus requires you to sort of forget how you would normally act in these kinds of games. There is an overriding sense of hope in this utterly horrendous version of Russia that radiates from one of the best supporting crews I have met. The story of Artyom, Anna, Miller and the Order (Duke, Sam, Damir, Tokarev, Aloysha) and the people they meet along their exodus is not just a rote apocalyptic tale, but one of self sacrifice and the desire to connect with others. This is not a 'guns blazing' game, even though you can approach it as such. It has an extremely detailed and lore rich world that if you take the time to immerse yourself in you will be enriched also. There is so much more going on than the surface shows and thinking like a human rather than a soldier is what will win the day. In terms of fear, I have a massive, massive phobia of slugs of which there is a section of the game where I had to deal with a great amount of them and I very nearly could not. I came so very close to putting it down. Seeing the end of the game though made everything I went through worth it and then some. An extreme high to end a year of gaming on.  The Last Guardian This is probably the third most emotionally charged game I played this whole year and the first one I encountered. I am not sure exactly how Team Ico did it, but in Trico they created something so incredibly believable, lovable, fearful and admirable that it almost defies the known logic that it is simply code running on a console. I have played games where there are animals that do their own thing before - Fable II comes to mind - but this is on another level entirely. The conceit of this whole game, the emotional core and everything you experience within it rests entirely on the connection you the person playing and the connection that you make with Trico. This is a level of uniqueness that only a game of this kind can make work. It could have been a massive dud, it so easily could have failed to work but they pulled it off and I am not sure if anyone else would ever try to do something as ambitious as this. This is not to say it will work for everyone - you certainly need a specific mood and mindset going in but if you have cats of your own, then I think it is much easier to warm up to Trico. Getting them (cats) to do anything, absolutely anything, can be a struggle and oftentimes asking Trico to stand or to come over or jump would result in the same pleading cries I have made to my own pets. I would forget while playing that Trico was not real, as silly as that sounds. His animation, his eyes, his cries and squawks, and his everlasting care for the young boy who rescued him from captivity shine throughout the lush world you both journey to. I will always remember the defining moment I fell in love with my little Catbird: I was running desperately along a shaking scaffold. Trico stood atop a pillar right in front of me. I was desperately running to catch up with him as the scaffold fell to the depths behind me. Reaching the end, I jump into the air to try and make the huge distance to the pillar. I am not going to make it. He lunges to grab me with his beak and ever so slightly misses grabbing me as I tumble to my death. Suddenly, from behind the pillar his tail whips out and straight up into me and I latch onto it, saved in the nick of time. Both LVG and I jumped and cried with joy at that moment - it makes me smile to remember our reactions. Of all games played this year, this is extremely special to me. ---- OK! My next post will be the games that count towards the points!
|
|
#
¿
Dec 27, 2021 02:01
|
|
|
 Forgotten City This was a wonderful little gem that deserves a wide, wide audience. The PS5 thread had a few posters talking it up and convincing others to have a go also, who then talked it up some more. After finishing Night in the Woods I was a little lost on what to choose next, especially as I was aware I was reaching December and wanted to make sure I finished all the games I had started. Forgotten City was sold to me as a small but engaging Skyrim Mod turned into a fully fledged game. It certainly is that, but oh my word is it so much more. Goodness this was a treat of a game and that a small team made this while teaching themselves how to code, how to animate, how to create a full game AND that it came out so well made is a sheer testament to the drive behind it. I will spoil the rest of my thoughts because people deserve to play this excellent game without any knowledge of what is going on. The promise it makes at the start is 100% paid off by the ending. A MUST play. As it is a time loop game, you have to repeat some tasks over and over. As you start you can tell friendly farmer Galerius to perform all of them for you and he will, which allows you to focus on learning new things and performing even more tasks. I thought this was just a really smart Quality of Life upgrade but it is so much more. Having Galerius be the one to do these tasks means he is visible as the saviour to a lot of folk who then vote for him as the city's new Magistrate. What I thought was a clever way of circumventing boredom with a neat game mechanic ended up being integral to the plot of the game. Not only that, but a lot of the game involves dialogue with others, and so many times things I desperately wanted to say were an option after I had mentioned it. It felt like the writer catered for my thought patterns and knowing how complex the behind the scenes for the game would have to be considering how open it is blows my mind. And it goes even further. By saving these people it makes the true end (which can be accessed without going through these motions) even more impactful, and boy, did this ending resonate with me and fill my heart with joy. I am a sucker for a certain kind of heartstring tug and this had that. It was immensely satisfying to learn all that I could about these people and then have my own thoughts validated and welcomed. You do not often get endings to games this earnest and 'happy' and I think this is a refreshing change of pace. There are 4 endings. I got 2 and 4. 4 is the ultimate one, the truest ending and if you want to see a competently made game by an incredibly small team end with one of the sweetest moments then please make sure you get number 4. I could not have been happier once my time in the Forgotten city was done.  Dark Souls 3 https://clips.twitch.tv/AdventurousShyNostrilFreakinStinkin-Q0GP-8B3FkJ4vn2H Mechanically DS3 is the Dark Souls closest to Bloodborne and because of this it excels. Bloodborne's speed mixed with Dark Souls' aesthetic is proven, in this game, to be the absolute best of both worlds. This game is fast and brutal and contains some of their all time greatest bosses. It is a wonderfully fitting end to a trilogy that surpasses all other video game trilogies. Visually the souls trilogy peaks here also. It being properly next gen compared to 1 and 2 means it has all the power behind it of the PS4 era. Being 60fps right off the bat with those lovely visuals means you can finally see into the gross and decrepit nature of the Souls universe (much the same way as you could Yarnham). Everything is appropriately gross and fantastical and worn down and burnt and all such. It is the most punishing of the three games and also contains the best DLC bosses in Sister Friede, The Demon Princes, and Slave Knight Gael(my very favourite boss of the trilogy). This is mostly due to the increased focus on faster swordplay compared to the slower pace of the first two. DS3 contains all the classic tropes that From are known for and if you had played it after spending years replaying DS1 and DS2 over and over I could see how it might not register as anything more than a 'Best of' game. I feel that what it is attempting to do, is to put to bed the idea of a Dark Souls and that this is FromSoftware bringing an end to the Souls universe once and for all. That this mishmash of bits from past games is in service to the main theme that 'This Must End'. I wrote a very long post about Dark Souls 1-3 earlier in the year, so I will not go over all of it again - other than to say this felt like the most fitting of an ending to what has been a groundbreaking game trilogy and I am happy that FromSoftware can make whatever game they wish to from now on. They earned it bigtime.  Dark Souls II https://clips.twitch.tv/AnnoyingMildReindeerTwitchRaid-Pa2-w-5v9mOzGf0v I know I said DS3 was the best of the Souls trilogy and while I think that is true, it is Dark Souls II that I had the absolute best time playing. For this I will always favour it above the other two games and know for a fact that my experience was not the norm. Bloodborne is where FromSoftware games clicked for me, but Dark Souls II is where Souls games clicked the most. I summoned a lot in Bloodborne and Dark Souls 1. I understood the games, sure, but I still needed a lot of help. Dark Souls II was where I started to rely on myself and believe in my own abilities. I still summoned a few times (Fume Knight, The First Scholar, Sinh the Slumbering) but for a LOT of the main bosses I went at it alone and I beat them by myself. It was this game that felt ever so slightly off from the first Dark Souls, where I truly fell in love with them all. I went out into the world with my great club and faced off against all manner of weird beasties and started to show that I had gotten gud with several of the bosses I one shot (like Burnt Ivory King). I had silly fun during one gaming session where I was repeatedly invaded by a guy called TheCoolSmelt who would toy with me and use chameleon to disguise himself and would change up his attire constantly. (Turns out he was a random person stream sniping and actually stayed with me for the rest of the day until I actually beat the very last boss - though really he was the true boss of DSII). More things I really enjoyed that elevated it above 1 and 3: - Power stancing with dual great clubs. - Being chased around by Percy, who was a very fun Mr X. type. - Majula is gorgeous with dreamy music and this makes it the best hub area. - Pharros Lockstones are a great mechanic even though I never got trapped in the Rat Waterways due to playing the game well after popularity. - Lucatiel's storyline. It is really exemplary in being the whole point of the games' theme. - Beating the DarkLurker - one of the best gaming moments of my life and the moment I started to really believe in myself. - Iron Keep elevator which is an amazing bit of memory trickery and why the theme of memory loss is so good and appropriate for a souls game. Basically it was not one thing specifically, but the sum of all these fantastic things that made the whole package for me. I struggled with enjoying Dark Souls 1 after Bloodborne, but Dark Souls II was exactly what I needed to 'get' these games and keep the whole journey going. Without it, I might never have gotten to DS3, Sekiro and...  Demons Souls https://clips.twitch.tv/VictoriousCrunchyParrotDendiFace-NhrQ7WD2lHfUHn8b (For context, chat had just informed me that there was an achievement for blowing out every candle in the Nexus. As I had just played Astro's playroom and this has a blow into the controller mechanic, I was trolled successfully.) I love the Dark Souls trilogy, however I love Demons Souls even more. Some might call Demons Souls a prototype, but I am not sure if I agree. It felt to me, as I played, that Demons Souls was a specific kind of game that had to be changed in small ways in order to fit into what Dark Souls could be. While Dark Souls II feels like Dark Souls only 3 degrees off, Demons Souls feels like you are trying to recall in detail the Souls trilogy thirty years down the line. In Demons Souls, the run from 'bonfire' to boss is the true gauntlet and the bosses, by the structure of the world, are a little easier than a boss in a Souls game might be. I missed this approach when I started to get into this game. In a way it could be classed as more unfair and more difficult due to the fact that some runs from worldstone to boss can be quite long and need you to focus more than if in a souls game, but I dug it. I had just come off Sekiro so I felt powerful and able. I completed this whole game without summoning once! Even with a cheeky boss like the Maneater, which was a frustration, I overcame it. While I found Demons Souls an easier time than every other FromSoftware game, which I think was due to having played them all right before with Sekiro being the one directly beforehand, there were areas in which the game is made tougher by various choices FromSoftware made. The healing items having a carry weight was one such thing and inventory management is essential in this whereas it was dropped by all subsequent games. There is a decent mix of bosses between straight up fights and gimmick that I really dig. I always enjoyed the gimmick fights in the others and I like that this game mixes things up more equally - it feels like it is trying to be more than just a simple hack and slash game but rewarding you with little puzzles too. For example, the best boss in the game is the Storm King and while at first it is daunting, once the gimmick is located your subsequent fight is one of the most beautifully rendered fights on the PS5. I should mention that I am talking about the remake this whole time. I never played the PS3 version, but the way the PS5 remake utilises the power of the PS5 made controlling it a joy. The haptics, the visuals, the sound, all of it, much like Returnal, are a package that made it worth the money spent. When you hit an enemy the controller responds as such and you can feel the thud and connections. The crackle of magic electrifies down the small speaker contained within and helps you feel as though you are casting that bolt. This is a game that does not feel dated in the slightest. That it manages to stand above the Souls Trilogy is a testament to just how correct FromSoftware got the formula right the very first time.  The Witness https://clips.twitch.tv/GleamingShakingCasetteWow-flH1gFBOn1jC9Byo (This game caused me to come up with ever increasingly convoluted name schemes for puzzle solving.) Puzzows are my thing. I know Johnathan Blow is a menace and not a great guy, but this game he is responsible for is something that infected my mind for the whole time I was playing it. I would see puzzles everywhere and I would smile and think back to one that was causing me problems in the game. The premise of this game is so remarkably simple and easy, and yet taken to complex extremes that stretch your very grey matter. All of the hundreds of puzzles in this game are solved by taking a line from one spot on a grid to the other. That is it. The whole game. Describing it like that sounds like the dullest thing ever but actually playing the game is like nothing I had prepared myself for. It starts so gently, getting the line through the small grid but as you progress through the island, completely isolated too, the puzzles add more rules to their required solutions. Some puzzles require you to use colour coding to separate pictures on squares, some require you to listen to sounds and match waveforms and some require you to make shapes that are identical to the ones imprinted on the panel. My most favourite are the pillar puzzles, where the panel is wrapped around a column and you have to unfold the puzzle in your own mind. Then there are the secret puzzles that when my mind finally discovered them it broke in two. It turned the game from a fun puzzle solving marathon into an obsession with finding as many as I could. I needed to solve every puzzow right there and then. I think by the end of the game I got about 90% of everything possible which is great, but most importantly, I completed The Gauntlet, which is a series of puzzles so fiendish that I have to explain how it works. You are given a record player and turning it on plays a very peaceful piece of classical music (Edvard Grieg - "Anitra's Dance”) and lights up three panels. Solving these three lights up more, all the while this piece plays in the background. As the music comes to the end, a second piece of music plays and it is In The Hall of The Mountain King. Not a peaceful tune at all. Once that finishes, the record switches off. Now, as these two tracks were playing you have a number of puzzles to complete that are only possible while the record player is on. Once it switches off, if you have not finished all of these puzzles, then they also switch off. These two pieces give you 6 minutes and 30 seconds of solving time. These are not simple puzzles either and they use all of the different types you have seen earlier. Not to mention that every single one of them is random. Once they switch back on, they are entirely different puzzles to be solved. There are 14 in total and each section has varying numbers and amounts of randomness to them and require you to pay close attention to how you solved earlier ones. It is tough and compelling and completing it was the best moment of all moments in this utterly excellent game. It is one of my few platinumed games. Why are there so few games like this? Issa puzzow!  Outer Wilds https://clips.twitch.tv/RespectfulSmoggyYamTBTacoLeft-Os226Imj4QCIGM0B How to talk about Outer Wilds without crumbling? This game is one of the greatest ever made and by the very end of the full experience (not counting the Echoes of the Eye DLC as I have not played it) I was in bits. It connected with me on a deeply human basis and left me both full of hope and tremendously empty inside. The ideas that I conjured up during play were proven over and over to be flawed and incorrect. As everything slowly unfolded, the truth about what the game was saying to me was revealed with a matter of factness that showed it had always been that way and that the universe is a strange, majestic place where fairness and destiny and fate are concepts that we create that it has no need for. Outer Wilds is a deeply affecting piece of media and to talk about what exactly got to me means I have to go behind spoiler tags. Like Forgotten City up above, play this game blind. It deserves you to. It is one of the most finely crafted video gaming experiences you can ever be a part of and allowing it to show you what it has to offer is infinitely more rewarding than reading my words. I really genuinely thought I could save everyone. This is what goes through my mind first of all when I think back to my time with the game. Most video games tease you with things and the eventual win condition is to make that thing teased either not happen or to find a loophole around it. I thought that learning about the supernova of the star was the turning point where I would then spend the rest of the game trying to figure out how to save all of the Hearthians in 22 minutes. Outer Wilds is not that game. And it is all the more magnificent for not being that game. It is a game about acceptance and finality and continuity and it excels at what it wants to be. When I truly learned that not only could I not save the Hearthians, that I could never have saved them, and it is only by sheer random chance that I was even aware of the supernova, that was when the grimness of what it means to be alive in a universe without such concepts of 'fairness' set in. I remember thinking about the young Hearthians playing hide and seek at the start of the game. That they had only 22 minutes of life before the whole of existence ceased. That it was not fair they never got to live and be who they wanted to be. It sits with me how much of a reflection of our own chaotic existence this game is. Exploring the small section universe was a ton of fun and I never quite got the hang of the ship due to my own incompetence. Finding out that there was never any change to the setup of the planets, just that you learned more with each life and that technically if you knew it from the start you could have gone straight to the end is a pretty big selling point. Mobius Digital had full faith in every player to uncover the truth however they wanted and that the game resonates with so many is the truth behind their expert crafting of the game. Most games fail to stick their endings (not really been a problem for me this year with all these wonderful experiences) but Outer Wilds does not even dare let you finish without thoroughly following through with what it sets out to do. The result is a sendoff that is so hauntingly beautiful that just hearing that music is enough to bring me to tears of joy and sadness. Like I said earlier: this is a game about finality, about the end of existence itself and of hope in the face of said nothingness. I was sad I only got to experience 22 minutes with my Heathian colleague and my Nomai friend, but together we helped usher in an entirely new existence for another set of lifeforms. While we no longer breathe, perhaps in these new stars the strands of our existence still reside. Please, please, please, play Outer Wilds. Please.  The Last of Us II I played this back to back with TLOU and in every way possible this is the better game but only because of the foundation provided by the first game. Having seen the full story and learned all that it wants to tell me; I am stunned. Somehow, despite being a mod of a busy Games forum, I was unaware of anything that happened in this game or the first. I am truly glad for that because the narrative I experienced has been one of the most emotionally puncturing, resounding, distressing and hopeful that I have ever experienced. If the TLOU was about learning to reconnect then TLOUII was the opposite and learning to let go. It is a revenge tale but one with protagonists who are not cliches and can both be excused and understood for their actions due to 'The Sins of the Father'. Ellie and Abby are victims of their father figures whose misdeeds and mistakes spur both on horrible quests in an effort to atone for things neither had a part of. This game is a tragedy and it is told phenomenally. TLOU was great, but it ended in such a way that I genuinely could not conceive of what a sequel could be. I thought the stories told were at a satisfactory end and I was content with that. Looking at the box art, all I could ascertain about Part II was that Ellie looked extremely angry. Returning to it after the fact, I can see more than just anger in her face. I see the anguish and pain and I see her hopelessness. To discuss the visuals; the game looks phenomenal. At various points in time I feel like I am watching real life. The attention to detail in both the look of the game and animation is unsurpassed. From start to finish I had my breath taken away by the visuals. Every aspect of the game is ND pushing the system to the limits. This does also mean that when it is brutal, it is harrowing. So many times I was taken by surprise and had to look away from the screen. All the way to the end I was gasping and half closing my eyes at what might happen next. This is an affecting game but as mentioned earlier, the story is where everything truly has the greatest impact. The ending of this game left me unable to properly render words. I stammered and short circuited because I was overwhelmed. Very few games stick a landing so hard where I feel such a strong sense of completion, and here I experienced a powerful story with a lot to say that fully resonated. I would place it alongside Nier:Automata in that it is something I only ever wish to experience once and have that playthrough as my ultimate memory of the game. Even if they release a TLOU III I will not go back to either this or the first game. Ellie, after Left Behind, was my favourite female protagonist. Maybe my favourite protagonist ever. Going into this, she remained that way all the way up to a certain point and can I just say I have never been so worried for a fictitious character as I was her. I was happy to leave it in the farm house. She had a life and love and she was on the road to starting to get better. Then Tommy comes along and knowing how much she is struggling with a deep loss, guilt and PTSD puts her sense of loyalty towards the one person who saved her over the world and uses them to make her give up everything she had somehow won. I got so angry at him and so upset for her. I was genuinely worried. Someone on stream asked me 'Is Ellie redeemable' and obviously I like to believe everyone is and can be. There was a caveat though: If she killed Abby then she would have fully crossed a line that would have hurt me, especially after Abby let her go twice. Up to the end of Day 3 everything that Ellie and Abby went through was understandable from both their points of views. They were both victims doing the wrong things because the world in which they were born into is a hideous mess of war and murder. Joel, Tommy and Jerry were born before the infection. All three of them should know better and let them down drastically. Joel via his fatherly love for Ellie but dooming of finding a cure, Jerry by ignoring his hippocratic oath out of a desire to be the saviour of mankind and Tommy by preying on a young girl's severely damaged mental state. Goodness. You get why Joel and Jerry did what they did, even if you might oppose it. In this horrendous world these kinds of things happen. A desire to save everyone and a desire to save just one. They are mistakes made while hoping to do good. Tommy though. Yikes. He came in and broke up a happy family for spite and revenge and continuing this destructive cycle that had claimed so many lives. Switching the game to Abby midway through originally made me feel like the story had suddenly lurched back to the start but I have to say, the way it made me replay those three days and grow to find her to be just as compelling as Ellie was a risky move that worked out phenomenally. I originally did not want to play as her. Seeing what she did to Joel and how upset she made Ellie made me feel just as taken in as Joel must have near the end of his segment. I did not want to 'be' her and I wanted to see Ellie's story through. As I played through Abby's story though, everything slowly fell into place and you come to understand that in another time these two could have been good friends. Abby is not the monster Ellie sees, she has just done a monstrous thing for personal reasons just like Ellie. I really grew to love Abby and felt so awful for her as the days went on. She essentially mirrors Joel from the first game in destroying an entire group just to save a loved one. She also grew to understand the fact that revenge does not make things better and this is why she twice left Ellie alive and even at the very end, emaciated and still trying to save Lev, she was going to let Ellie kill her. I mean man. The moments where you, as Abby, were hunted by Ellie really hit home how much of a vengeful demon Ellie had truly become. She was terrifying and her unbridled anger issues were something Joel mentioned during the museum scene. I was so, so happy that Ellie let Abby go. It was the right thing to do. She should never have been there in the first place, but she saved Abby and Lev without realising it. She let go of Joel and the painful memory and she was reminded of the good memory. Abby took her chance at a reconciliation away from Joel but there is nothing more Ellie can do to bring that back. It is gone forever and killing Abby does nothing to change that. Her only choice is to let go of Joel and let go of Abby. Yes, this is a bleak game, but not all of the time and there are some truly joyous emotional beats that rival the Giraffe scene from the first game. The acoustic version of A-ha's Take on Me was stunning and when it clicked what she was singing I was over the moon. The museum scene is THE greatest scene in this game. Hands down from start to finish it is perfect. Every last section of the museum and dialogue of that event is a masterpiece. Ashley and Troy knock it out of the stratosphere and I feel enriched for being able to take part in it (as weird as that may sound). Abby got the most intense action set pieces though, the royal rat authority scene had my heart pounding and me flailing around. The horseback through Haven scene as well was a mix of worry and awe at the surrounding area - some serious standouts in terms of visual prowess with the way that fire moved. Then there is the epilogue. Ellie tries to play the guitar again and she cannot. She can, however, finally think of Joel as something other than a battered and bleeding mess. That last memory with Joel where they both agree they will try to get past his choice I am just in awe and love with it. So much said with so little. Firstly if they had ended it after Ellie said 'Okay' with an upbeat tone I would have loved it in an incredible mirror to the first games 'Okay'. Secondly that she went years before properly talking to him, making that last moment with him positive (despite what happens to him the next day final) was sorely needed. It provided the smallest bit of closure for me. Thirdly I knew he would not be an awful homophobic dad. I said it as much way earlier in the game when they were looking for guitar strings that she should tell Joel and he would be OK with it. I knew it. Fourthly when he says he would do it all over again that is when it truly hit me just how much of a Dad he is to Ellie. That is also the moment when she realises too. She wanted to die and wanted to mean something and Joel stating to her face for the first time she is properly speaking to him in years that what he did hurt her, and that him doing it led to where they are, and that he still confidently says he would do it again. Goodness. She gets it, we get it, he always got it. He might as well be her Dad. I am so, so glad I played these back to back. In a way they are not really sequels, they are one long story and it is one that suckered me in wholly. I shall be thinking of this game a lot in the years to come and the impact both have had have left an indelible mark on my heart.  Final Fantasy VII https://clips.twitch.tv/EnergeticBenevolentDurianDendiFace--v0oNF17gJQ_VSRO (Thanks Rarity.) I would never in a million years have expected to put a jRPG, let alone a 24 year old jRPG, into my list of games played. That it is this high in the list is the most surprising thing of all, but it turns out that when something is called a classic, then it has that descriptor for a very good reason. The entire time I spent with this game was captivating. Aside from knowing probably the biggest spoiler for a video game ever, I had zero idea of what to expect and where the story would take me. That I was able to experience the whole thing so long after the fact and still have a fantastic time is a testament to how solid of a story this game has and how greatly it is told. The music for this is some of my most favourite in all video games and since playing it I hum to myself a huge number of those tunes that just love to get stuck in your head: JENOVA, Costa Del Sol, the Battle Theme, Aerith's theme and too many others. There is something about the music that is iconic as soon as you hear it. It lodges there straight up and all these years later stands up to much more produced work. Those melodies are powerful. Thanks to this being the PS4 port I was able to turn off random battles for a bit as I climatised to the way jRPGs play. By the end of the game everything was being done and played exactly how the game wanted me to do. I did everything I could find (both sidequests, minigames and conversations) to my level of satisfaction and on the urging of the stream, I bred Chocobos and got the Knights of the Round summon. That was a blast to use, even if it took the same length of time as an episode of network TV Amazingly my chocobo breeding showed off my ‘Real Life Luck Elemental abilities’ (™) as I bred exactly the correct chocobos first time without any missteps. I need to find a way to bottle this ability and use it when it would be super helpful, like asking for a raise at work. LVG and I performed voices for all the characters for the whole stream as well because we love to goof around and I found voicing Hojo (high pitched manic greasy), Sephiroth (calm and assured rumble) and Red XIII (sean connery style) the most fun. Definitely not a full on triple AAA production, but I think reading everything aloud was what caused me to properly immerse myself in the story more than if I had just read the text in my mind. Not to mention it meant everyone watching could laugh at our ridiculousness. The big spoiler was blocked by Square, sadly, which surprised everyone watching as I think I was the only person alive who had not seen it. Ahead of time I was informed by another goon that the entire end of the game was also blocked from direct streaming. Not wanting a repeat of this, I streamed my PC streaming the game from my PS5 to get around it and it worked a treat. To mention the story again, it was completely bonkers but I was engrossed for every single minute. It went places I thought you could only find in wild fan theories and with every new bit of information piled on top of the out there stuff I had already taken in, I grew more and more invested in Cloud and the gang and once the game was over I desperately craved more. Next year I am playing Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy IX, Final Fantasy X and as many other jRPGs as I can (Xenogears, Chronotrigger, Suikoden to name a few) and it is all thanks to my experience with this excellent bit of retro gaming. I have a new gametype to consume and it is partly due to this wonderful and truly classic experience. If you now tell me to play a jRPG, I am THERE.  Sekiro Every person has, at one point, felt themselves the equivalent of a god and Sekiro gave me that moment. This is the scene: I have just spent an hour fighting Genichiro, slowly learning and improving and absorbing his general moveset. I know the stories of this boss, this is one of the moments where people put the game down; oftentimes forever. I am in the second phase and doing better than ever before. There have been many failures but this time looks like THE time and with a final few swings of my blade I beat it. I get happy. I see a brief cutscene and then suddenly it is a secret phase 3. I am not prepared for this. I have 4 heals left in my gourd and through a miracle I still have a resurrection, but it was only through an exhausting few hours that I had gotten here in the first place. Just at that moment I spot the lightning behind Genichiro and I remember there is a special lightning reversal move. I know this is going to come in handy but I CANNOT remember how to do the move. I quickly pause the game and check the moveset in my menu to remind myself how to do it. This clip picks up from that moment: https://clips.twitch.tv/FriendlySpikyVultureTakeNRG-5LOQ-5PvcbAPPSXO This is a screenshot of the chat during that fight.  I will never do something like this again. A moment in a game famed for being one of the most punishing, most unrelenting, most soul destroying, where everything that could possibly happen aligns and I am bathed in the 'zone' and it all works out perfectly. I did not get hit, I did not need my heals and I finished him on my favourite move of all time: the Mirikiri. That was my greatest moment and I cannot believe I have the ability to rewatch it whenever I wish. Of all six major modern FromSoftware titles, Sekiro is at their very peak. They are making a game devoid of the Souls legacy and utilising aspects they wish. This is not a souls game, though it shares many similarities. It is a wild offshoot that knows exactly what it wants to be and excels in every single area it touches. Sekiro is tuned and perfected via the mechanics FromSoft put into it. There is no need for them to spend ages balancing weapon sets and magic spells and armour sets. You have one weapon, one outfit and some accessories that alter your basic attacks. This is it. This narrow focus allowed FromSoftware to direct all their energies into creating the absolute best combat system present in a video game. There is no way to proceed in Sekiro without learning how to control The Wolf. There are simply tough enemies who will punish you if you hesitate. You are the Shinobi and you control the flow of combat. This game relies on you far far more than their others. In the Souls and Bloodborne, you could go grind for a while and buy levels, or find armour/weapons and come back to problem point, or get a friend to join in and wail on that boss causing issues together. Sekiro does not allow any of that. If you want to get past a boss, or an area, it comes down to you improving and besting your ownself. The biggest killer in Sekiro is not lack of health or damage, it is lack of self confidence. Once you know you have the moveset down, you can beat the game from the very first moment. This is part of its beauty. Everything is so incredibly controlled that this game gives the most rewarding feeling from beating bosses that I have ever experienced - to know you beat Genichiro, a Horse Riding General or Owl #2 and that you did it because you performed those moves the right way. There was a boss that broke me. Of all bosses in all FromSoftware games, this was the boss that gave me the most trouble and actually had me doubt I would ever make it past. I am talking about Guardian Ape. I could not focus, I could not see the moves and I could not trust my skill. I felt as though this whole journey would come to a crushing end and I would give up. With no summoning it was down to me, and me alone, to get past the Ape. When I eventually did I felt in kind of a stupor and sadly it never quite felt like I had bested ape or myself, mostly that I had done something that I should have been able to do 9 hours earlier. It remains my only weird feeling in beating a FromSoftware boss and I think my exhaustion and anger at myself making so many silly mistakes for the whole day lead me to not really getting the joy I should have. When I play this game again I look forward to taking on my nemesis a second time. I shall savour winning. Some people make the point that this lack of diversity means you cannot replay the game in varied ways, like say an all magic run or an all great club run and this is 100% true. You do not need to, however. The combat is so good that I want to keep playing Sekiro because I want to get even better at what it offers. It is a game where I truly believe I am capable of improving so much that I could do a whole run of the game with no hits and I would want to. That there is no DLC is extremely sad to me and I hope after Elden Ring (which I am very much looking forward to) they get a chance to return to making an extremely precise and limited game again. I have gushed about the combat a lot, because it is so great, but I cannot ignore just how fluid the animations and moving is. Skeiro is a joy to control. The levels have such a great depth to them - verticality abounds - that you are able to get around the environment almost faster than you can keep up. Sekiro zips between ground and roof, cliff face and bridge, tree branch and wall. He speeds between spaces on the screen and coupled with just how good the areas you fight in look, you never lose track even if your enemies do. There are some truly beautiful looking areas in the game and all look period appropriate, reminding you of all those stylistic Wuxia films. The music, by longtime FromSoftware composer Yuka Kitamura, punctuates throughout the game in the most understated tones. Of all the FromSoftware games, this is the one I think about most of all. I want to replay it all the time. Bloodborne had a good run as my favourite FromSoftware game, but Sekiro came along and respectfully surpassed it. This is the best game they have made and hopefully Elden Ring can live up to the incredibly high bar that they themselves have set.  Final Fantasy VII Remake https://clips.twitch.tv/PleasantQuaintPeafowlShazBotstix-VNqigNFgBrmzqAYI Elden Ring is coming out next year. Final Fantasy Remake VII 2 at some other point in the future. If I was told you can only ever play one of those two games I would choose FFVIIR2 without hesitating. A ton of games this year took swings at Portal 2, which has been my most favourite game of all time since I played it in 2012. Many of the previous entries listed here stood face to face with Valve's best game and tried to claim that number one spot for themself. Of all of them, only Final Fantasy VII Remake made it flinch. I will be honest. As you could tell from entry 3 I was not a jRPG player before this year. I had attempted to play so many of them over the years - pretty much from the moment I got a NES. I borrowed games over the years, I bought games, I rented games and the results were always the same. I tried to enjoy what I call 'wait gaming'. Somehow it never quite clicked. I could not quite handle the battle system of jRPGs and stopped trying. Because I have no nostalgia whatsoever for the original Final Fantasy VII. It was only a game I knew had grabbed an entire console generation and that it had one of the most well known video game spoilers of all time. That was it. Literally a complete ignoramus in regards to what FFVII was about and who was in it. FFVIIremake was heavily lauded last year and myself, in yet another attempt to be able to experience something with my friends, tried the demo out. Holy moly, the demo was great and I was surprised. This was not wait gaming at all! This was some strange method of attacking and then after you filled a bar with this, you could choose to do some seriously cool things. I could not believe this. I might somehow get to play a Final Fantasy game and enjoy myself! I bought the full game when it was released on PS4 and proceeded to play it for about sixish hours and then I fell off. I forget where and why but I did. Yet again another casualty of my difficulty in keeping myself aligned without a schedule. Then I got a PS5 and I heard that FFVIIremake was due to get both an upgrade as well as some DLC and I figured just maybe it would be fun to stream and then I can say I have beaten a final fantasy - a little bit like last year's Bloodborne. And, just like Bloodborne, this game did the impossible: It got me enthused to play an entire genre of game that I had never had an interest in. Bloodborne got me into FromSoft, FFVII remake got me into jRPGs. As I was playing this game, I loved it SO much that I began the original in my own free time and not on stream. This is not a thing that happens to me very often. I played the original right up to before the plate drop and me realising how much of a great time I was having helped me to understand what I owed to this game. A whole universe of game experiences talked about by goons across the forums were now something I might actually be able to share with them. For this alone it deserves the number one spot but there is SO much more. So let me start at the beginning. I replayed the first few hours and slid neatly back into the combat. This combat is superb by the way and near the start of the game I remember saying that if all combat in jRPGs was like this then I would play all jRPGs. What I did not get was that this was a very smart system designed to engage exactly with people like me who struggled with the idea of turn based waiting so prevalent in the series. They rightly assumed that between each action we felt a bit helpless and by giving us the ability to have our characters run around and perform smaller actions that it would make us feel more in control. We would slowly, over the course of the game, realise that actually, the actions you could select once your metre had fully risen were the most powerful things you could do ingame, and the idea would be to constantly switch between your characters (each characters metre rises faster when you are not in control) to get to those actions. They eased me into turn based action battling without me even realising it. By the time I was at the end of the game and fighting Sephiroth I had completely eschewed the regular hack and slash stuff and was managing my party with the actions instead. I was playing the game as a standard jRPG - I had been conditioned into it. It made playing FFVIIoriginal a joy. (Also at this point I nearly beat the spoilered boss without any proper materia selected in my party through the action menu stuff because a) I am SUCH a luck elemental and b) the battle system when you truly get into it is SO good.) The idea of materia and how it works to enhance and give you spells and linking and stuff is a super fun system here (and a lot more fun in the original but only because the game is bigger). Knowing what to slot where and how it will affect the makeup of your party was something I seriously enjoyed doing in both games - in fact there is a lot of crossover in what I love and the reason this is higher is because once I finished the original it caused everything in this game to make more sense. The story here is only a fraction of FFVIIoriginal. Having now played the original, it has many similar story beats but shown in ways that completely differ. I can only assume for those who played the original back in 97 and then tried to play this two decades later it would be the equivalent of a memory being slightly off. In fact there were many times where I did not get what was being shown to me, only to play the original and see a moment which would make a cutscene or dialogue suddenly click and my love for this game would jump even more. While there is only a section of the first game on offer, what IS here is so involved and in depth that if this was the only game they made then it could be classed as a fully contained story. It has these yellow flowers of great prominence, and whenever they show up then so do these dementor-like spirits. People think they are the flow of time and fate and at one point you drastically change the flow of the original game - you even beat a boss called Fate in order to break through dimensions on the urging of Aerith and Sephiroth. This means anything goes, and two characters appearing in the last few cutscenes now mean whatever happens in FFVIIremake Part II it will not be anything we have seen before. The second best thing in this game is the music. It is probably my second favourite Video Game OST after Nier:Automata. Every track here is an enhanced and faithful recreation of the original and some are remixes mashed together. You can even find, in game, records of older tracks just so you can hear them again here in this one. I have completely gravitated to this soundtrack and listen to it on spotify constantly. My favourite of all being (J E N O V A - Quickening) which starts off bombastic and over the top with a full orchestra and vocals creating a huge surge of worry within. Then about two thirds of the way in, that melody drops and oh my word. It is something that hits me very hard emotionally and I wish I could grasp why exactly. Not a second musically is wasted throughout the whole game. It is top tier forever. The VERY best thing in this game is the cast. Cloud and the gang are people I fell head over heels in love with, more than any other game this year and more than any other game since Portal 2. Every single one of them is a fully fleshed out, realised person and whatever they felt throughout I was right alongside them. Over the course of about 50 hours I got to know every single one of them inside and out and preconceptions were tested and broken. They were a treasure to be around and the game very cleverly changes up your party constantly so that you get time with everyone. (Rather than FFVIIoriginal where I did not really pick specific characters). Everyone has multiple moments where they get to shine and when they do, they are brighter than anything else. Even side characters are fully formed thanks to the expansion of the side quests and of the sector seven slums. I grew so attached to Jessie, Wedge and Biggs, that during the plate moment I was extremely cut up about Jessie and Biggs dying. That was very tough for me. As was dropping a whole plate on innocents. That VERY much angered me. However, it was the moment during the cutscene where Wedge, (who was rallied into action to save the sector seven slums people by Aerith, which was an amazing moment), was caught under falling debris trying to save cats. His face was so sad and resigned that it just destroyed me. That was a Friday evening and I went to bed utterly shattered and broken. That session had started so happily and ended with me a wreck. I spent the first part of Sunday's session in a similar state. When Barrett spoke about the sector and the loss of life it continued to wreck me. Nothing wrecked me as much as that moment underneath the slums when I found Wedge. I thought it was a trick - I am getting emotional just writing about it - and that it was not really him. To find out he was alive and I lost myself with joy and determination to save him and battle all the beasties I adore these characters, and those are just side ones. The main core cast are even more realised and picking out favourites cannot be done. They have so much dialogue, voiced beautifully, alongside emotive animations that capture the essence of what the original was attempting to do with basic polygons. This game is stuffed with moments that run the entire gamut of human feelings. I cannot even say that a particular relationship is well developed because all of them are; Cloud and Barret, Cloud and Aerith, Cloud and Tifa, Tifa and Aerith, Tifa and Barret…every single combo and trio gets more than enough time to simmer and boil over with exploration into who these people are to each other and it is richer for doing so. The DLC too is phenomenal, building on the great combat but focusing on one singular character who fast became my favourite. Yuffie controls the best, has the most interesting moveset and her story did not feature at all in the original, but feels so integral to the experience of the remake. It puts away the idea that Remake was just luck and solidifies the belief I have that Remake Part II is going to continue exactly what they started and will not let me down. Also at the end of the DLC you see the main cast again having fun where we left them at the end of the main game and I cannot tell you just how incredibly overjoyed and brought to tears I was to see them all again. It felt like seeing long lost family members. All for a game based on a beloved franchise entry that I had never experienced before this year. I have wanted to talk and talk and talk about this game since I finished it, but have been saving it up for this thread. I fell super hard for this game. Portal 2 is a perfect game and now FFVIIremake stands right at its side in the VG Hall of Fame. Dah dah duh dun, dun dun du da dah!
|
|
#
¿
Dec 27, 2021 02:15
|
|
|
Thank you everyone for the very kind words about my words. There was a lot and I still feel I missed out tons of stuff - especially with Sekiro, Outer Wilds and FFVIIremake.Runa posted:Oh god I realize now that I have so much to say about FF14 that the full version might not be really appropriate for a goty ranking thread If I can write a dissertation you most certainly can write however much you wish! Also after I finally play FFXIV I can come back and bathe in the words (Which is what I do all the time - so many great words read after the fact!) Please write as much as you wish!
|
|
#
¿
Dec 30, 2021 15:40
|
|
|
wuggles posted:I love the goty thread. Also once I play FFXIV I am coming back to read everyone's posts about it. 
|
|
#
¿
Dec 31, 2021 17:46
|
|
|
Rarity posted:Interesting that the rush of votes for Bloodborne in 2020 coincided with a certain mod's playthrough of the game #AskQuestions Hmmm. This is odd. Someone should investigate.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 1, 2022 11:04
|
|
|
I gotta make the graphics and Rarity gotta create the posts and quotes. 
|
|
#
¿
Jan 1, 2022 17:33
|
|
|
If I even think about that track from Outer Wilds, I start crying. That was the tune from this whole year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR_wIb_n4ZU
|
|
#
¿
Jan 1, 2022 20:50
|
|
|
I did not read stuff about FFXIV (or games I have on my backlog) because I want to experience them as blind as possible.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 4, 2022 10:28
|
|
|
It is NEARLY time. Before we start though, I want to say a HUGE thanks to Rarity for all the work done this year. It is bigger than ever and I know she did a ton of collating and organising and sketching out posts and whatnot and she is not going to say thanks to herself in her own posts. So thank you. Thank you for starting this awesome tradition and putting all the effort in again for this years and this is my most favourite forum based event Thank you!!! (Ok everyone, see you in 17 minutes!)
|
|
#
¿
Jan 8, 2022 15:43
|
|
|
And you all said last night that Rarity never trolled...
|
|
#
¿
Jan 8, 2022 16:04
|
|
|
Axel Serenity posted:Kena not even breaking Top 75 is heresy : Neither did Dark Souls II (the best Dark Souls) or Final Fantasy VII (stone cold classic.) My world is crumbling.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 8, 2022 16:21
|
|
|
Endorph posted:It's existence is a small miracle. Senerio posted:Now that I can legally obtain a copy without paying an importer to send it from the Philippines I am happy. Zore posted:If you have even a passing interest in giant robots beating each other up you should definitely get this game.  74. SUPER ROBOT WARS 30 (Banpresto) 27 points, listed 5 times Who doesn’t love giant robots? VG: Well I am always thinking of Robot Wars!
|
|
#
¿
Jan 8, 2022 16:36
|
|
|
Are you feeling comfortable yet, friends? Are you getting into this countdown groove? Well, just in case you’re not up next we have a stone cold classic.Iverron posted:Like playing it for the first time again. Whizzing Wizard posted:Nostalgic in way that calls back without feeling like empty imitation. morallyobjected posted:There is no such thing as too much time spent on Gaia.  72. FINAL FANTASY IX (Square Enix) 27 points, listed 3 times, #1 1 time That’s right, 20 years on from its release FFIX still gets enough love to feature in our countdown! But could you expect any less from what is definitively the best game of all time? VG: I genuinely cannot wait to play this in April!! Bursting at the seams like Zell waiting for a mission.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 8, 2022 16:45
|
|
|
Regy Rusty posted:Can't wait for VG to play IX and experience an actually good Final Fantasy game Wooooow.  I played FFVII, FFVIIremake AND am playing FFVIII right now. This is some serious shade on that trio!
|
|
#
¿
Jan 8, 2022 16:48
|
|
|
Entenzahn posted:Rebuild it. Make it bigger. Make it nicer. Remake it again, but out of gold. Zore posted:A colony of mole-people who shun the sun and eat mushrooms. Erwin the German posted:Do you like being a cannibal? Your colony can really like cannibalism.  70. RIMWORLD (Ludeon) 28 points, listed 5 times, #1 1 time But what about a colony that really likes video games?  VG: A colony of gamers???
|
|
#
¿
Jan 8, 2022 16:55
|
|
|
Darkoni posted:This is a game for grandmas and babies and hardcore gamer dudes. Chadzok posted:So pure in essence that it seems like it should always have existed. Torquemadras posted:You will both sound like alien linguists trying to make sense of a shitpost.  68. BABA IS YOU (Arvi Teikari) 30 points, listed 6 times VG: Puzzow is always win!
|
|
#
¿
Jan 8, 2022 17:05
|
|
|
Whizzing Wizard posted:It is both incredibly detailed and unpolished in the way that only these games can be. Microcline posted:The ability to boost into low orbit to slam into the other side of the planet at supersonic velocity. Ms Adequate posted:I am what is medically termed a 'slut'.  66. DYSON SPHERE PROGRAM (Youthcat) 31 points, listed 5 times I’m not sure what that has to do with video games MsA but you do you girl VG: Is this part of the program?
|
|
#
¿
Jan 8, 2022 17:15
|
|
|
FFXIV Porn posted:A game that laughs in your face when you ask it to tell you how to play it. MonsieurChoc posted:I'll pay money as long as Kawazu makes his weird games. Harrow posted:How the hell did this get released?  64. SAGA FRONTIER REMASTERED (Square Enix) 31 points, listed 4 times, #1 1 time I don’t know Harrow but it sounds like you’re glad it did! VG: I even put it on my list thanks to your recommendations, Harrow!
|
|
#
¿
Jan 8, 2022 17:25
|
|
|
CAR CRASH CRACKERS posted:Excellent production values in this GOTY thread Rarity posted:VG's graphics are off the scale, I loving lost it Too kind!! Thank you Aidan_702 posted:When Veeg finally sells out and becomes a trashbag streamer, pranking LVG live in questionable ways for donations the production values are gonna be amazing Funny thing is this is LVG's dream.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 8, 2022 17:30
|
|
|
Jay Rust posted:Finally a good game on the list
|
|
#
¿
Jan 8, 2022 17:32
|
|
|
Coming in at #62 we have a result that is going to make one goon very happy.Looper posted:A haunting, beautiful game overflowing with sincerity and an earnest endearing confidence in every pixel and polygon. Dr. Fishopolis posted:You should play this game if you meditate, or if also you don't meditate. Metis of the Hallways posted:This entry is reserved for annoying Stux.  62. ANODYNE 2: RETURN TO DUST (Analgesic) 33 points, listed 5 times Friends, we live in a world where Stux is right. Yes, I’m scared too. VG: In the words of Isaac Kleiner: "A red letter day".
|
|
#
¿
Jan 8, 2022 17:35
|
|
|
We’ve already made it to the top 60 and our next game is a perennial favourite. Here’s your #60!TheIndividual posted:The closest we'll ever get to a good 3d Castlevania. Dr. Fishopolis posted:You know it, you've played it. If you haven't, you're doing it wrong. CAR CRASH CRACKERS posted:I'm so glad I got cyber bullied into attempting to play it again. wuggles posted:I have finally grown eyes on my brain  60. BLOODBORNE (FromSoft) 33 points, listed 5 times, #1 1 time I can tell you now that FromSoft have four of their Soulsborne games in this countdown. Here is the first one to represent what may well be Something Awful’s favourite genre. And wuggles, you should probably see a doctor about that, mate. VG: Yesssssss! Bloodborne! Gateway to souls games! Oh yes, hoonter. You are the reason I have become this terrible gaming. Blessed is this night I get to post you…
|
|
#
¿
Jan 8, 2022 17:45
|
|
|
Bloodborne. Bloodborne bloodborne bloodborne. Bloodborne bloodborne. Bloodborne.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 8, 2022 17:47
|
|
|
Entenzahn posted:Very evocative of old folk tales and ancient myths. Social Studies 3rd Period posted:It's the way the story and event systems interlock together where it really shines. Mode 7 posted:An amazing narrative magic trick that captures the feeling of playing a GM'd roleplaying campaign. a ghost dog posted:It's crazy how this game makes you care about your random party.  58. WILDERMYTH (Worldwalker) 36 points, listed 8 times You thought Wildermyth was bad? Well friend, you were myth-taken. …I’m sorry. VG: All is forgiven.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 8, 2022 17:55
|
|
|
Fridge is not trolling. He genuinely enjoys it!
|
|
#
¿
Jan 8, 2022 18:01
|
|
|
shoc77 posted:It just grew from strength to strength. DemoneeHo posted:I don't think there is a single class that I haven't had fun playing yet. TheIndividual posted:Currently sitting in queue while writing this. Arist posted:You already know what #1 is.  56. FINAL FANTASY XIV: SHADOWBRINGERS (Square Enix) 36 points, listed 4 times, #1 1 time There may have been controversy around the voting rules but it pays off for Final Fantasy XIV as it makes its first of two appearances in our countdown. Is this a good sign for Endwalker? Only time will tell… VG: Why do they call it Final fantasy when we are talking about the 14th, eh? And airplane peanuts?! What is the deal with them?
|
|
#
¿
Jan 8, 2022 18:05
|
|
|
sivo posted:It finally got its hooks in Coffee with Bullet posted:The best boss fights of the series VideoGames posted:A wonderfully fitting end. Bust Rodd posted:Blah blah blah perfection.  54. DARK SOULS III (FromSoft) 37 points, listed 5 times, #1 1 time Here we go with our second Soulsborne entry as Dark Souls III shows up for the first time in our countdown. This game came out five years ago but it’s still getting love from the FromSoft faithful! VG: A very righteous position for an extremely wonderful ‘3’ in a trilogy. Maybe even the best ‘3’ of any trilogy.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 8, 2022 18:15
|
|
|
Rarity posted:Lots of FromSoft games showing up in VG's entries. Not sure this is on the up-and-up Hmmm. Hmmmmm. Yeah, someone needs to investigate. Too much favourtism going on. Something fishy here.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 8, 2022 18:18
|
|
|
wuggles posted:And he quoted himself! Rarity did all the words and quotes - this is all her hard work. I only posting the evens, did the graphics and adding my own little comment on the ones I posted (if they even need a comment).
|
|
#
¿
Jan 8, 2022 18:19
|
|
|
Uh oh, I do so hate to be the bearer of bad news but such is the harsh nature of our countdown. Some games will soar to success, others will crash and burn into obscurity. We’re not even in the top 50 and we’re already about to see the first big 2021 release make its appearance. Which game has failed to leave its mark? Could it be Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart? Or perhaps it’s Halo Infinite? We’ll find out now as we reveal your #52…Aidan_702 posted:One of the most relentlessly inventive games I’ve played in years. ShoogaSlim posted:This game should usher in a cavalcade of copycats. Ineffiable posted:It is such a blast playing it with my wife. fridge corn posted:Playing this with my beloved was certainly one of the highlights of the year.  52. IT TAKES TWO (Hazelight) 38 points, listed 6 times, #1 1 time Oof, the official TGA Game of the Year doesn’t even crack your top 50. It’s an absolute disaster for It Takes Two. But then what other fate could there be for a game that expected goons to have friends they play video games with! VG: Geoff Keighly just called me to tell me he is super upset about this and he will not let me back for the TGAs next year.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 8, 2022 18:25
|
|
|
anakha posted:Considering your squees of delight yesterday when you finally started getting the hang of Triple Triad, Are you honestly 100% sure you're gonna be done by April? I am genuinely not sure. Plus there is Elden ring in Feb...um....uh oh...
|
|
#
¿
Jan 8, 2022 18:29
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 11, 2024 22:57 |
|
|
I tried, I really tried to get my dance in order for tonight, so instead I guess I have to write a series of winding haikus about it instead.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 8, 2022 18:33
|
|