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Just waiting patiently for my Griftlands posse to burst through the door at any moment 
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Dec 15, 2021 16:06
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| # ¿ May 13, 2024 23:00 |
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shoc77 posted:2. Sayonara Wild Hearts (PC): The soundtrack is absolutely amazing and I wish I can forget the game experience I had and replay it fresh again. My good friend, same. Same… 
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Dec 25, 2021 14:30
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Let us not dwell on dumb takes here. Instead, we can talk about things that matter in life, like all the sounds you hear when you use a workbench in TLOU2
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Dec 29, 2021 04:45
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2021 certainly felt like a continuation of the holding pattern that 2020 locked us into. As the war against COVID rages on, everyone’s existential introspection has evolved along with it. How this has affected pop culture is maybe less urgent of an analysis, but man, I gotta tell ya, I am so done with traditional end-of-year lists. Don’t get me wrong; I have looked forward to this thread every year since I started participating, and I love seeing the spread of taste and insight into how games affect us. I just can’t rank stuff the same way anymore; I gotta get off this modernist merry-go-round. So for the time being the best way I can characterize this is A GOTY List in Order of What I’d Most Like to Share with You. My catalog this year resembled a lot of catching up, with only one 2021 work making the cut. It’ll be a nice change of pace when I spend next year filling all ten spots with Triangle Strategy.  10. Langrisser I (2020, remaster): This has had its claws in me for about a week now. I don’t know what it is about moving guys around on a grid, man. This also has the benefit of a decently-composed class tree (*drool*), and the remaster has a nice visual palette with cool-looking little sword guys and girls.  9. Final Fantasy VII Remake (2020): I will resist dwelling on the duration-padding chaff that permeates the game to praise its innovation in mechanics, presentation, and narrative. I sincerely hope this is a bellwether for AAA titles because it demonstrates that there are still ways to keep reaching for new heights in this medium.  8. Magic the Gathering Arena: I can hardly speak to matters of metagame and optimization with much confidence, but Arena is a wondrous casual experience. For a while I would just wake up, concoct a deck idea, test it out, then tinker endlessly, honing in on a healthy medium between playable and flavorful. I also learned to draft well this year, which is enjoyable win-or-lose if a bit work-intensive. I don’t know if I’ll ever have a more devoted Magic year, and it was a good cycle for it.  7. Oxenfree (2016): The double-whammy of stellar soundtrack and evocative environments make for quite the adventure game cocktail. I picked this up for a buck and was not expecting to think much of it but it has impressive craft at every turn.  6. Hades (2020): In the interests of avoiding redundant comment, Hades is an all-time great airplane game. The Switch has already established itself as the superlative commuting machine, but a 30-minute run is exactly the chunk of time I need for interstate travel. I can cycle harmoniously between novel, crossword, and video game all before the wheels hit the runway. And hell, I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of this game! I’m barely into level 3 pact of punishment with some weapons, and I’m still finding fresh challenges and triumphs. Game’s a classic.  5. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice (2017): Such style. What the combat lacks in nuance it makes up for with feeling really fuckin’ metal every time. Immersive is another word that comes to mind; you sit down to jack into this game and you are on a sojourn right along with Senua, questing through her mind and every devil that accompanies it. It is one of the most visually impressive games made to date.  4. Super Mario Odyssey (2017): Year 2 with this puppy. I’m not much of a completionist and this has proven to be the best gradual gaming mountain to climb over, well, as long as I want. I think I still have hundreds of moons left to collect, if I so choose, but there’s still a distinct pleasure in just jumping around these majestically-designed worlds without purpose.  3. Griftlands (2021): Klei Entertainment really knows how to make a full-bodied product. Their art design has always been distinctive and stylish, their penchant for good writing outpaces most developers, and their game mechanics are balanced, challenging, and fun. Griftlands continues the tradition. To start, the game works to evolve Slay-the-Spire-esque deck-building by presenting its own spin on combat, while simultaneously adding an adjacent card game based on the idea of negotiation. What puts it over the top for me is the world-building and storytelling that comes in between these card sequences. You have relationships with an enormous cast of characters which are constantly shaken up by critical decisions you have to make. If a given character dislikes you, there will be a negative consequence. If they HATE you, it’s even worse. The whole thing fosters a vibrant, robust environment that you can really connect with. And the story is not merely dramatically effective, but hilarious as well. It is the best 2021 game I played.  2. Mass Effect 2 (2021, remaster): Each of the Mass Effect games has some measure of advantages over the others, but Mass Effect 2 nails the elements that appeal to me the most. Its style of storytelling is peerless, an apex of Bioware’s ambitions that was never seen again. The action itself is streamlined from its predecessor with just the right touch to make the game flow seamlessly. The characters are all my pals forever and they can come over any time for dinner.  1. The Last of Us Part II (2020): This year sees me in the midst of my second play through of Naughty Dog’s latest earth-shaking entry into mainstream games discourse. The narrative is even more emotionally potent when you can see the full arc of it developing; there’s also a lot of incredible little story details I didn’t notice on my first go. And the gameplay, hoo. When you finish a nonlinear sequence, whether you stealth your way through everyone or things went bad and you had to go Rambo, at the end it still feels like the whole thing was choreographed, like you’re making the movie as you go along. It’s magical. They tell me I gotta get a PS5 but TLOU2 still makes me feel like I already arrived in the next gen.
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Dec 29, 2021 23:25
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This is neither a critique nor a judgment but I had no idea an MMO was this IN in 2021.
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Dec 30, 2021 21:00
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Fun times as always, thank you to the hosts and participants. I can’t help but feel like I let down Griftlands. Maybe we all let down Griftlands.
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Jan 9, 2022 14:06
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If Triangle Strategy doesn't make my 2022 top three it means something went horribly wrong
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Jan 9, 2022 18:29
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| # ¿ May 13, 2024 23:00 |
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wuggles posted:I was real psyched for and then real disappointed by Octopath Traveler so I'm cautiously optimistic for Triangle Strategy The demo was pretty much improved Final Fantasy Tactics which is all I’ve ever wanted from the industry Kull the Conqueror fucked around with this message at 19:16 on Jan 9, 2022 |
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Jan 9, 2022 18:49
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