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Hello again GOTY thread, it's always a pleasure! Honorable Mentions Elden Ring I can't give this a ranking (this year) because I'm only 5 hours into it. It's my first FromSoft game, and so far I'm liking it! I killed two minibosses and then doubled back to a ruin dotted with soldiers to kill them all... only to discover a stairwell going underground I had no idea would be there. Friends, finding a secret you didn't have reason to suspect existed is an even bigger dopamine hit than a chest behind a waterfall. If the whole game goes like this then I'll be a big fan. That said, the LONE Wolf Ashes are unplayable garbage. They summon a PACK of three wolves! In this house, words mean things, dangit! Genshin Impact Another year, another way too many hours spent in this game. And now it's added the best region yet, and a card game, and oh dear I'm superhooked again... Wordle I played QUEST into TRAIN for a 2-round win and I'll love it forever. 10/10. AI Nirvana Despite being a huge fan of Uchikoshi, I haven't had time to play it properly. I'm halfway through the Mizuki route I think? Tama has definitely been the star of the show for me. I expect this, like Elden Ring, will be in my top 10 of 2023. 10. Dragalia Lost At some point, this game became good? And then it died. I tried it out at launch and then set it aside. There wasn't the right amount of content, and the writing didn't quite gel, but something about it was appealing enough not to delete it. I'd log in every couple of weeks to rack up the free pulls they passed out (the devs were so generous that it may have killed the game in the end... I can't imagine needing to spend money in this gacha). When end of service was announced I rushed through the main quest. The writing got better, the story got more interesting, the cast of characters became less tropey and more interesting, and the systems of the game became more engaging. It never had a big transformational moment, it just incremented itself into something special and solid in its own right, and it turned out to mean a lot more to me than I expected when the servers went down. I'm sorry to say it's dead now, and maybe someday they'll bring it back with a sequel or as a console port. It deserves it. 9. Bayonetta 3 The creativity with the demon summons, kaiju battles, and weapon forms was absolutely top-notch. I can have a bad habit of falling into a routine and sticking with one set of weapons for too long, but this game trained me fast to rotate into whatever new weapons and demons became available as soon as possible, and they never stopped coming. The set pieces and the Jeanne chapters were fantastic too. I wanted more Bayonetta, and I got more than I bargained for. I'm looking forward to the next game, whenever that comes to pass. 8. Fez Me, about five minutes into Fez: "Oh, THAT'S why everyone was raving about this game a decade ago!" As it turns out, this is the kind of puzzle game that is perfectly calibrated to scratch the itch in my brain. I regret leaving it on the backlog so long! The mechanics are simple but iterate as far out as possible. The puzzles are smart. The game has excellent signposting and a map that was helpful without taking away from the sense of discovery. Definitely a top tier game to break in my steam deck with. 7. Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn If this is the "bad one" I can't wait to see the expansions that actually get praised! It has a bit of a slow start, with the first 40 levels going from forgettable to mediocre. But by the time I had an airship, a Cid, and high stakes, the game felt like a true classic Final Fantasy. But it was hitting the 2.X content that made the game shift into high gear for me. That questline was a phenomenal culmination of everything that had come before, and showed how good they could make the game once they had some distance from 1.0 and had had some time to lay a foundation for the world and the story they were telling. And because I was on the free trial, I took a break to spend some time on side content like the kobold faction, Hildebrand, the postmoogles, and more. This game was everything that the forums have been raving about for years and I'm looking forward to doing, hm, probably Heavensward and Stormblood next year. I'll be caught up by... 2026 or so? Nice to have something to look forward to! 6. Drakengard 3 The thing that really surprises me, in retrospect, is how dang funny Drakengard 3 can be. It's a brutal experience shot through with horror and drama, but that makes the occasional detours into heartfelt moments and comedy hit all the harder. The gameplay itself was just fine, but it was the time spent with Mikhail and the disciples that made this a winner for me. Also, I'm normally one for English subtitles, but the dub cast knocked this game out of the park. The game never outstayed its welcome. Even with all 6 DLC campaigns, I never felt like the game was too long or retreading ground. If anything, now that I've put it down I'll be missing my dumb goofy dragon and the weird oddball disciples. Hopefully this game gets a modern port like Nier did, so the world can experience the wonder of the best/worst final boss of all time. 5. Great Ace Attorney I waited a long time for this one. Hell, I waited a long time for any Ace Attorney at all after Spirit of Justice came out in 2016. So imagine my delight at getting a two-for-one deal! GAA1 is a little on the weak side, and the compilation is if anything too long by a case or two, but as a whole package this is in the running for one of the best Ace Attorney games ever. Second only to the initial trilogy, and only maybe. I hope we see more Great Ace Attorney games come out in the future, in addition to mainline Ace Attorney, as they definitely left that door open in the finale. Also, this is one of the few games where I deeply regret never seeing it on a 3DS, if only because there's a certain amount of visual spectacle at the conclusion of the last courtroom trial that seems like it was calculated to be maximally impactful in 3D. Oh well! 4. Metroid Fusion Oh poo poo I can hear audible footsteps run run run run hide hide hide 3. Super Mario Sunshine 3D Mario has only gotten Bowser's Fury in the last five years, and this drought finally went on long enough to force me to dust off the only 3D Mario game I had never played. Once again I find myself regretting a gem like this languishing in my backlog, because Sunshine had me grinning from start to finish. So many Mario games string together a series of biomes and set pieces, like the paintings of 64 or the worlds in Galaxy. Sunshine paradoxically shows more ambition with a more restrained set of environments. Even though the level select system could have allowed them to make any kind of level environment, every level is designed to expand on the idea of Delfino Plaza, creating a sense of 'place' that few Mario games have ever really tried to do. And sometimes that can feel uninspired or repetitive, but here it creates a sensation of the island continually opening up and expanding. Little things like seeing the Ferris wheel in the distance in world after world made it feel meaningful and interesting when I finally got to it mid-game, to give just one example. I can absolutely see why a Sunshine DLC for Odyssey was so hotly requested for years. An open world version of this, with the levels integrated into the island, is the natural culmination of the careful design of this game world. I will say that the linear progression of getting the first 7 stars of each world, in order, was restrictive. And I have downright angry things to say to whomever approved the blooper surfing/8 red coins challenge. But beyond a few niggling issues like those, it was truly a worthy addition to the series. 2. Return to Monkey Island Just seeing a new Monkey Island game, at all, is an astonishing feat. To get a new one after Disney gobbled up LucasArts, while they're actively pushing Pirates of the Carribbean, is amazing. I had figured it was locked in a vault forever in favor of their OTHER wisecracking pirate comedy. But to have Ron Gilbert come back 30 years later to this series, carrying forward his original vision? While balancing that vision against the changes made in other games in the intervening years, and courting fans of all the games together, and absolutely nail it every step of the way? Return to Monkey Island's success is a triumph in the face of literal decades of built-up expectations. And the game itself was great! In presentation, it had the signature voice acting and music of the franchise. It had an art style that, as it turns out, looks pretty great in motion. The characters were fun and the writing was by turns hilarious and thoughtful. Gilbert tells a story in this game of a Guybrush who is becoming obsessive to the point of destructive to everyone around him, with Elaine patiently trying to give him support and perspective when he's clearly going too far. It was an interesting direction to move the characters in, one I'll be thinking about for a while. I wouldn't mind if this was the final game, and I also wouldn't object if they made another half dozen, which is about the highest praise I can give it. I'm just happy with what we got... which is maybe what Guybrush is trying to say on that park bench. 1. Kirby and the Forgotten Land Well THAT sure turned into Resident Evil 2 when I didn't expect it! This game is just a cozy bit of perfection from start to finish. It's stylish and cute. Serene and ominous. Simple and clever. The challenges are fun, the combat upgrades are interesting, and the puzzle levels are engaging. The game is joy and coziness and engagement in perfect proportion. It runs the exact amount of time it needs to. The main campaign is just short enough to leave you wanting more, and the postgame remix is perfectly paced. DLC doesn't even feel like a missed opportunity because the game feels complete and whole out of the box in a way that is altogether too rare nowadays. A perfect game, elegantly executed, and exactly what I needed, when I needed it. Final list: 10. Dragalia Lost 9. Bayonetta 3 8. Fez 7. FF 14: A Realm Reborn 6. Drakengard 3 5. Great Ace Attorney 4. Metroid Fusion 3. Super Mario Sunshin 2. Return to Monkey Island 1. Kirby and the Forgotten Land
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Dec 23, 2022 05:32
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| # ¿ May 10, 2024 05:29 |
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Gonna be a great day!
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Jan 7, 2023 14:23
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redreader posted:I remember spending like 2-3 hours on portal 2, over ten years ago and not playing more of it. Looks like that needs to be remedied! Be sure to do the coop as well as the single player campaign!
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Jan 7, 2023 18:50
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7 of my 10 didn't rank at all, the other 3 are in the top 30. Hitting the popcorn hard now.
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Jan 7, 2023 21:00
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BeanpolePeckerwood posted:incredible games. i'm curious to see how much bigger the vote and participation is this year compared to 2018/19 The entire 2018 thread was just 9 pages long!
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Jan 7, 2023 23:16
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A wonderful thread, just like every year. Thanks to both Rarity and Videogames! I will happily take a GOTY probe, but you have to whisper 'Arise, Tarnished' in 6 hours. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Jan 8, 2023 00:33
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| # ¿ May 10, 2024 05:29 |
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A grand time as always! Everyone have a good year of videogames!rope kid posted:Thanks, goons. Thoons. Goongrats!
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Jan 9, 2023 02:12
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