|
The last couple years, I had only ever played enough games to just fill a list but man I actually had to THINK about it this year.
|
#
¿
Dec 11, 2022 15:05
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 10, 2024 07:02 |
|
|
I've got all my banners finished, I've just gotta find time in my busy holiday retail schedule to do a write up.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 12, 2022 15:34
|
|
|
Feldegast42 posted:Not choosing a game means you still have made a choice You're not the boss of me, prog rock band Rush. Go back to singing about an Ayn Rand novel.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 12, 2022 20:54
|
|
|
God of Snore
|
|
#
¿
Dec 12, 2022 20:59
|
|
|
Also the nature of the Great Ace Attorney games as essentially two parts of one story.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 19, 2022 19:31
|
|
|
I should have mine finished tomorrow, it's just been a busy/stressful season and I haven't had the mental bandwidth to do too much at a time
|
|
#
¿
Dec 22, 2022 06:02
|
|
|
Honorable Mentions Final Fantasy XIV: Still playin' it, still lovin' it. Just had too many new experiences for it to need to be put on the main list. Gundam Evolution: A real fun Overwatch clone shot in the foot by predatory monetization, rough balance, and poor network stability. Dead game. SUPERHOT: SUPER HOT SUPER HOT SUPER HOT Bugsnax: A fun and relaxing time through existential horror Bloodborne: Hey, I actually beat more than one boss in one of these! Pokemon Legends Arceus: A pretty refreshing take on the Pocket Monster formula. And now the list  Squeaking into 2022 with the last couple missions in January, Ace Combat 7 is the product of my continuing embrace of anime plane combat. I could talk about the advances in graphics, systems, and sense of realism that comes from jumping from the PS2 to the PS4. I could talk about Plane Jail, the Jail where you get a Plane. I could talk about Long Caster, a good boy who likes him a burg. But the moment that defines Ace Combat 7 for me is the penultimate mission, Lighthouse. Chiefly, its music, Daredevil. You're leading a massive cross-nation squadron in a desperate last-ditch attack against a massive drone arsenal ship running on rogue programming. The last time you came up against one of these, you needed to use a superweapon designed to shoot meteorites to even get past its shield, and it's definitely not going down here. Your wingmen are begging, praying for a miracle. And then, against all odds, the impossible happens. Accompanied by one of the most flawless goddamn needle drops that has ever been in a video game. Ace Combat is well-loved for how it uses its music to tell its story, and goddamn, this moment gives me goosebumps. I played this mission in early January and in December I am STILL thinking about Operation Daredevil. What a fuckin' game. Also how the gently caress is there an Italian bistro in Strangereal  Early in the year, I did a playthrough of the entire Monkey Island series. Yes, this was before Return was announced, I was as surprised as you were also I guess that's a spoiler for later in the list. If you were to ask me what the best Monkey Island game is, it's probably LeChuck's Revenge. But my favorite Monkey Island is and has always been Curse. I am an absolute sucker for this lovely hand-drawn animation and full-rear end voice acting the likes of which you could only afford during the CD-ROM boom. The addition of voice acting did leagues to concrete the identity of the Monkey Island cast and the game has a charm that's impossible to replicate.  You know what, I did play a lot of Teenage Mutant Turtles 3 The Manhattan Project on my Nintendo Entertainment System when I was a lad. A lesser project would have just settled for a recreation of that or Turtles in Time, a simple retro throwback. But Shredder's Revenger opts to be a NEW Turtles brawler, and boy howdy. From the beautiful spritework to the masterful tunes to the gameplay that's just deep enough to be oh so satisfying but simple enough to pick up and play, it's both a look back and a step forward.  Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door is a game where a husband has to tell his wife he loves her a hundred times before she forgives him and you have to press A through every single one. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door is a game where I read a ghost's diary and got a game over, requiring me to replay like half an hour of the game. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door is a game where one of the bosses is Vince McMahon. Yeah, I think I understand now.  What the heck can I say, it's Sploon! Probably Sploon at its best yet, with a brand new setting and a bunch of improvements. The single player mode is basically Octo Expansion but even bigger, and Salmon Run being 24/7 means I can actually play it now! It's probably my favorite mode! There's still a little bit of ironing out they can do regarding the monthly events, the three team Splatfests are a fun idea, but Tricolor Turf Wars don't seem to be quite there yet and the Big Run is a little underbaked, but I can make my octo dab, game of the year. Please let Melody out of the Hot Topic so we can get more Chirpy Chirps.  The original AI: The Somnium Files was basically Kotaro Uchikoshi's best game ever, and the sequel is...well, it's pretty alright. Nirvana Initiative has the unfortunate spot of being a sequel to a Kotaro Uchikoshi game, therefore being a sequel to a game that sold like poo poo in Japan. This time, the culprit was the first game's level of violence giving it a CERO Z rating, essentially an AO, which reduced the game's retail reach. The violence has been toned down in this one to give it a CERO D (M), but in a well-intentioned but ultimately misguided attempt to make the game approachable to a potential new audience, the story has to go out of its way to have an option that does not spoil the previous game. This leads to a story that is both too standalone, with returning characters not showing any of the growth they showed in the previous game, but not standalone enough, with some returning characters being key to the plot. There's still a lot to like, the new characters are fun, the mystery is engaging enough, and the Somnium puzzle sections have been greatly improved. But that lack of commitment to the storytelling, a weak twist and final villain, and an overabundance of QTE action scenes left me feeling a bit conflicted.  Tales of Monkey Island, the fifth game in the Monkey Island series, was seen as a long overdue return to the franchise after Escape had released 9 years prior. Anyway, it's been 13 years since Tales. Whew. Ron Gilbert returns to helm the series for the first time since Monkey Island 2, and that possibly explains why it's the best in the series since 2. It's just some good-rear end Monkey Island! The in-game hint guide is a stroke of genius design, and the ending is almost a meditation on the nature of Monkey Island as a franchise. Good poo poo.  Speaking of long dormant franchises, loving 16 years! When a cult game on the level of Psychonauts releases a follow-up after such a long time, there are understandable fears. Will the game be updated to modern standards to the point that it's no longer recognizable? Will it go the other way and stubbornly refuse to push itself forward and end up as a relic? Double Fine still fuckin' got it. Psychonauts 2 is a perfect evolution of the original game, bigger, better, more refined, and still wickedly funny. The new powers perfectly align with the returning mechanics and the worlds are more creative than they've ever been with the increase in technology. Shout outs to PSI King.  Another banger from Rope Kid. What if Okami, but instead of sumi-e paintings it was illuminated manuscripts? Following an apprentice illuminator working in a Bavarian village, just about every aspect of Pentiment's visual and gameplay design work together in harmony to reinforce the themes on display. Reverence to the past vs acceptance of the future, faith vs the truth, and the changing face of Catholicism during the Protestant Reformation all factor into three murder mysteries where you never know what the answer really is. Game made me mark out over a font.  2022 was the year I became a Gundam guy. Don't fuckin' look at me. Super Robot Wars 30, the latest entry in the long-running crossover franchise (don't worry, it's 30 because it's the 30th anniversary. It's actually more like 50 games) and the first mainline entry to get a western release, hit Steam last year and fellas...it's some Super Robot Wars. So many fuckin' robots. You wanna see Gaogaigar punch a Zaku? Maybe Getter Robo throws a tomahawk at one of those wheely assholes from Victory Gundam. An entire subplot based on the fact that J-Decker and SSSS.Gridman have two characters with similar names! In a western media landscape exhausted with multiverse crossover nonsense, something about Super Robot Wars just does it right. The way it integrates most of its series naturally into its setting rather than just relying on dimension portals (there are still some) lead to extremely funny lines talking about how Code Geass happened right after the One Year War. It's never too hard, which makes it the perfect comfort game, and while I would say Pentiment is the better game, Super Robot Wars 30 perfectly encapsulates what 2022 was to me. New interests, new favorites, new friend groups, I bought some plastic boys. We dig giant robots. Nice. 10. Ace Combat 7 9. The Curse of Monkey Island 8. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge 7. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door 6. Splatoon 3 5. AI: The Somnium Files - Nirvana Initiative 4. Return to Monkey Island 3. Psychonauts 2 2. Pentiment 1. Super Robot Wars 30
|
|
#
¿
Dec 22, 2022 19:56
|
|
|
I'm probably the only person who hasn't played Elden Ring yet
|
|
#
¿
Dec 22, 2022 20:11
|
|
|
AceOfFlames posted:It's 30% off on Steam rn Tempting.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 22, 2022 20:53
|
|
|
I'd recommend getting at least the Deluxe edition, which has all the DLC missions and characters. The Ultimate edition also includes the DLC that adds the vocal versions of the theme songs to play instead of instrumentals, but it's usually extremely expensive and you can just mod it in anyway, but it's on sale for 57 bucks right now, so if you want to, there's no better time. I got it on a similar sale from an external keyseller and the vocals really add to it lol
|
|
#
¿
Dec 22, 2022 21:16
|
|
|
Also I technically have not beaten TTYD yet but the Shadow Queen can suck an egg.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 22, 2022 22:32
|
|
|
Waffleman_ posted:I'm probably the only person who hasn't played Elden Ring yet  ah drat
|
|
#
¿
Dec 23, 2022 06:43
|
|
|
morallyobjected posted:my favourite thing about Elden Ring is that people thought the message that pointed you to the tutorial was a troll/trick, so a bunch of people ended up just skipping it and wondering how they were supposed to figure out the controls Yeah no there's a literal tutorial box now that tells you to go down there lol
|
|
#
¿
Dec 23, 2022 06:47
|
|
|
From Soft's next game is going to be mission based though
|
|
#
¿
Dec 23, 2022 20:49
|
|
|
Natural 20 posted:One day someone will make a game with the open world depth of BotW or what people claim is true of Elden Ring, but with the Combat of DMC/Bayonetta and I will go insane and disappear for a year. Wishing this for FF16
|
|
#
¿
Dec 24, 2022 02:06
|
|
|
GUNTANK WOOOOOOOOOO I also got into gunpla this year but only did three models, with one on backlog and another on preorder.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 24, 2022 19:22
|
|
|
I already know I'm the only one who has my GOTY even on my list
|
|
#
¿
Dec 25, 2022 15:36
|
|
|
Oh no, my uniqueness!
|
|
#
¿
Dec 25, 2022 15:59
|
|
|
*Having dinner with a monastery of catholic monks* How bout that Martin Luther?
|
|
#
¿
Dec 26, 2022 22:03
|
|
|
You circumcised your times?
|
|
#
¿
Dec 26, 2022 22:43
|
|
|
y'all are gonna make me do a third playthrough of sleepy pups
|
|
#
¿
Dec 27, 2022 00:20
|
|
|
Mix. posted:(yes, I know there's a fan translation, but considering how messy the fan translation for GAA was... yeah.) As someone who did a little bit of work on the fan translation for AAI2, I can assure you it's top-notch and feels as official as it can.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 27, 2022 04:28
|
|
|
Yeah, well, AAI2 is not specifically about racism, so there's no real room for slurs.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 27, 2022 05:06
|
|
|
I know I spent a lot of my Nirvana Initiative writeup being a bit more critical of it, but it's still really good despite my hindsight nitpicks.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 27, 2022 22:06
|
|
|
Barreft posted:Here's FF7R's Aerith's voice actor reacting for the first time to herself, I read posts earlier praising her performance: I'm gonna be honest, when I was playing FF7R and it hit the point where her theme started playing, I kinda had to sit with it a bit myself.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 31, 2022 02:15
|
|
|
Looper posted:permaban everyone who listed elden ring as their #1 Permaban everyone who listed anything but Super Robot Wars 30 as their #1
|
|
#
¿
Jan 2, 2023 00:15
|
|
|
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvrVacan11s
|
|
#
¿
Jan 2, 2023 03:19
|
|
|
SRW music is kinda cheating since most of it is just really good anime openings https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En2Z_CNRQ4k
|
|
#
¿
Jan 2, 2023 03:21
|
|
|
Ms Adequate posted:Girl it's SUCH a loving great song, incredible boost to the game's general vibes and I remember it immediately hooked me It's very funny that two big games with vocal themes titled "Still Alive" came out in the same year
|
|
#
¿
Jan 3, 2023 00:34
|
|
|
Yeah, and most of the main bosses have respawns basically directly outside their fog doors, which takes a lot of the tedium and frustration out of doing multiple runs of a boss.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 3, 2023 17:05
|
|
|
I expected my Goty to not even be in the countdown so it's fun to not have any stakes
|
|
#
¿
Jan 7, 2023 17:32
|
|
|
Tourismo
|
|
#
¿
Jan 7, 2023 17:36
|
|
|
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJxunr9SPLQ
|
|
#
¿
Jan 7, 2023 20:48
|
|
|
A solid 6 of my list did not place, and I'm only waiting on one more to appear in the countdown.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 7, 2023 23:34
|
|
|
Rope Kid better come in to accept his award
|
|
#
¿
Jan 7, 2023 23:52
|
|
|
fridge corn posted:Will pentiment ever be available on a real console?? I'm kidding!!!! But seriously....??? It's published by Xbox Game Studios so.....maybe???? Maybe not? Probably not.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 7, 2023 23:55
|
|
|
Waffleman_ posted:Game made me mark out over a font. I was half expecting this quote
|
|
#
¿
Jan 7, 2023 23:59
|
|
|
ShoogaSlim posted:games only available on windows OS's shouldn't count It's a good thing that Pentiment is available on the Xbox Games Console.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 8, 2023 00:05
|
|
|
Here's my list roundup 10 - Ace Combat 7 - DNP 9 - The Curse of Monkey Island - DNP 8 - TMNT: Shredder's Revenge - DNP 7 - Paper Mario TTYD - DNP 6 - Splatoon 3 - 22 5 - AI Nirvana Initiative - 13 4 - Return to Monkey Island - 29 3 - Psychonauts 2 - DNP 2 - Pentiment -2 1 - Super Robot Wars 30 - DNP
|
|
#
¿
Jan 8, 2023 00:14
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 10, 2024 07:02 |
|
|
If I convinced at least one person to play robot anime games, my job will have been done
|
|
#
¿
Jan 8, 2023 00:15
|
|