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fridge corn
Apr 2, 2003

NO MERCY, ONLY PAIN :black101:
Hmm kinda wish I played Forspoken this year

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Sally
Jan 9, 2007


Don't post Small Dash!
First quarter of the year was all Mass Effect: Legendary Edition. A replay for me, but I never did any ME3 DLC outside of Javik, so the Citadel was a very welcome capstone. Big fan of the series but I was soured on the ending when it first came out and the hamfisted attempt to improve them. Yadda yadda, been said before. But unlock a lot of fans, I ended it there. Could've really used Citadel back then, haha. Like I say, very welcome capstone. The ending was once again such a forgettable wet fart that I am to know that I will soon forget it only for the Citadel DLC to take its place as the game ending in my memories. 10/10 gaming experience. Fantastic trilogy.

After such an extensive game, I wanted to try out some smaller titles. Everhood was a fun rhythm-based Undertale-like. In retrospect, pretty forgettable. Fun in the moment though. Decent art, decent battle-system--if forgettable songs, and decent storyline. Wears its influences on its sleeve too much. Never really feels like its own thing. Does some interesting things with Buddhism in its plot, but I kind of forgot I'd played it this year until I went to my Steam list.

Played Frog Detective 1: The Haunted Island on recommendation from a friend. Trailer looked promising. Actual experience was pretty flat. The premise and humour were pretty neat, but it just wasn't fun to play. Too slow-paced, too linear, too simple... I'd say I was interested in what a sequel might do, but apparently all of the Frog Detective games are just more of the same, soooo... not for me.

Then in an attempt to chip away at my backlog, I gave Jotun a fairer shake. Tried it when it came out but bounced off it after 20 minutes. Got further in this time. Is pretty solid. Great art. Not a big fan of the gameplay, though. Hard to put my finger on what it was. Not responsive enough? Defeated the first couple of jotun this time, but then I dropped this one.

Hit up Mudrunner next. I've been meaning to try this out since I saw Spintires. Sims aren't really my thing, but something about driving big logs back and forth a muddy wilderness drew me in. Had a blast playing this for a few weeks! Great graphics, loved the gameplay. Really felt like the Dark Souls of driving trucks. I had to put a pin in this because I was able to snag my next game on sale, but I'd like to return to this one at some point. The next game though...

...was The Case of the Golden Idol. This was gaming bliss for me. Absolutely loved it. Devoured the game and replayed it. Blitzed through the first DLC when it dropped too. Still need to play the second DLC... but I'm engaged in other games currently. Absolutely loved it. The puzzles were so satisfying. I'm not too proud to admit that I often reach for hints in puzzle games, but this was one so gratifying that I toughed it out and managed to get through without using them. Personal achievement unlocked. Last time I had this much fun in a puzzle game was Return of the Obra Dinn. Can't say enough great things about it. Art, music, atmosphere... again, gaming bliss.

Then come September I got myself a Switch. Been meaning to for ages and found a good deal, so it seemed like a great time to jump in. Start with the Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening Remake. I'm a bit of a fairweather Zelda fan--I've only really played Ocarina of Time and Link to the Past, and both of those only back when they released--so this really felt like a new experience to me. I'd played the very beginning of the game as a kid at a friends house, but never got through the forest. For decades I assumed most of Koholint Island was just endless forest! A little bit revelatory to discover it was such a tiny part of the game. Loved every part of this experience though. Well... except for that build-a-dungeon feature with Dampe. Didn't care for that and was annoyed I had to play it to get more heart pieces. Still, it wasn't terrible and I think it's telling my most negative experience with the game was so trivial and entirely optional. It was certainly no Chrono Trigger DS Magic Mountain nonsense. Fantastic game. Fantastic remake. Read up on how the original played and I can't imagine ever going back to the original cart after all the quality of life features added to this. Game rules.

Picked up Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition as a time killer game. Partly I was on a Zelda kick and partly I'd bounced off of Warriors-type games before and wanted to give them a fairer shake. Quite enjoy this one. I say enjoy and not enjoyed because I am sure I will be playing this for 100s of hours. I've only been playing it here or there when I need that sort-of-mindless-hack-and-slash type of game. Great for it! Can't say the story line is anything to write home about. It's not. But it scratches a gaming itch and I dig it. Playing it here or there in the last few months, I've beat the first Legend Campaign mode. Just started playing the mode where you wander around giant maps of previous games... gonna be here a while. Solid this.

Played Pokemon: Shield afterwards. I'm also a fairweather Pokemon fan. Had the original Red cart and played that thing to death. Picked it up again as FireRed because nostalgia... but the only other Pokemon I've played was Diamond I thought was only alright. This being the first truly 3D one was why I wanted to play it... and I quite liked it! Felt like a nice follow-up to my experience with Red. I'd wanted a 3D Pokemon since I saw trailers for Stadium and was disappointed it was only arena combat. There are a lot of complaints of the game, but a lot don't hit hard with me because I've not played many of the other games. I fear this is probably a similar situation to me liking Assassin's Creed 3 a lot but probably because it's the only one I've played aside from an hour of Assassin's Creed 1. Ah well. It has made add Arceus to my gaming wishlist, so like Link's Awakening Remake, it's rekindled an interest in the series.

Mario & Rabbids: Kingdom Battles was next. This game was solid. Very chill. Loved the art design and the lowkey XCOM combat. I am not very good at XCOM, but I like the gameplay. Being able to play a baby's-first-XCOM was kinda great. The humour was pretty solid too. The Rabbids work for me here. Wish there was a more interesting storyline and that the devs made more use out of Mario enemies in the game, but I enjoyed my time with it and look forward to trying the sequel. Sounds like a lot of my issues with this one get ironed out in that one.

Then to keep on the Mario train, I picked up Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury. Bit of a broken record, but like Pokemon and Zelda, I'm a bit out of touch with regards to Mario. Big, big, massive fan on the NES, SNES, and 64, but following that I just kind of stopped following Mario games. Last 3D Mario I played was 64. It was really great getting back into the franchise with this. The gameplay and level-design are so god damned tight. It's nice to be reminded of why Mario games are to cream of the crop. Every level was a treat. Well, that I've played. I'm on the Star World right now. Want to max out all my stars. Still need to play Bowser's Fury afterwards...

But then I picked up Fishing Paradiso for a chill change of pace. It's an indie pixel fishing game and you build up relationship meters with people by giving them fish. It was really doing it for me when I wanted a chill mindless game but didn't want to play Hyrule Warriors. Like Hyrule Warriors, though, the gameplay loop is so repetitive that I burnt myself out on this. Still haven't figured out how to go meet the space-god-fish. I'll come back and finish it eventually. It's got a solid chill vibe.

Coming into December, there are a few games I've got on the go. Started with Shin Megami Tensei V. SMTV is too early to call. Love the vibe, the music absolutely slays, the graphics and gameplay are great--and I'm only 5 hours in and know I have barely scratched the surface. This one is going to require much more investment of my time... Not going to add it to this year's list.

so I put it aside for Metroid Dread which is another sublime gaming experience. The controls are so smooth. So precise. Gaming bliss. The boss fights have utterly ruled so far. Also it incorporates past games so well but is really selling its own thing. I both hate and adore the EMMIs... great concept, flawed execution. They just aren't... fun. Like, I enjoy the sneaking and dodging and running aspect, but not the slightly grazing them starts the instakill cutscene where you have two tiny windows of opportunity to escape. Just leads to a lot of trial and error. Really feels like a two steps forward and one step backwards on improving the whole SA-X thing from Fusion. I've gotten through them all and just have to kill the final boss. Trying to get as many energy tanks and missiles as I can. This one's real hard--don't think I'm going to be able to 100% it, but I appreciate that the devs weren't shy in putting out a challenge. I just can't seem to store shinesparks when trying to get those hard to reach bonuses.

Lastly I've been chipping away at the first Phoenix Wright game in the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy. Really damned good so far. Love the writing. Very funny game and feels very satisfying to solve the courtroom logic. The logic is a bit... strange at some moments. I would keep getting ahead of the game and having the judge get annoyed with me, but I'm figuring out its pace. Moving from screen to screen is tedious when investigating, but again the courtroom experience is really paying off that build-up.





so...

Gonna only do a Top 5 for this year, but it's these ones:


  1. The Case of the Golden Idol
  2. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening Remake
  3. Mass Effect: Legendary Edition
  4. Metroid Dread
  5. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury

Issaries
Sep 15, 2008

"Negotiations were going well. They were very impressed by my hat." -Issaries the Concilliator"
:lol: at notable games list excluding the no.1 selling game of the 2023.

Escobarbarian
Jun 18, 2004


Grimey Drawer
Tears of the Kingdom is there, actually

Quantum of Phallus
Dec 27, 2010

My GOTY 2023 was Zelda TOTK. It’s one of the best games I’ve ever played. Every second there’s something fun to do.

frytechnician
Jan 8, 2004

Happy to see me?
I hardly played any games this year but here are the few that I did and enjoyed:

Most Thrilling Game ---- HUNT: SHOWDOWN

Whilst I'm not typically the competitive FPS shooter type any more, Hunt really does offer the sweetest feeling gunplay and extraction based mechanics out there. Killing someone in this game feels incredibly hard earned and legging it to an extraction point with your bounty is absolutely heart-pounding. Sweaty as hell but in the right way and absolutely best played with friends.


Most Pleasant Game ---- TRIANGLE STRATEGY

Just a really charming game all round. Loved it's cast, the story, the music and it's overall vibe. An incredibly nice, wholesome experience without overstaying its welcome. Sticks the landing plot-wise and leaves you satisfied upon its completion.


Game I Had To Uninstall Because I Was Playing It Too Much Instead Of Other Games ---- SLAY THE SPIRE

The definition of finely tuned. Because of its "just one more run" nature and the absolutely perfect length of time it takes, I ended up just playing this and virtually nothing else for months so I had to axe it. Have reached Act 20 with all characters so I'm going to chalk this down as complete for now.


Best Non-Serious Co-op Game ---- VOID CREW

This one is a blast with some friends. Essentially, it's FTL meets Deep Rock Galactic meets Sea Of Thieves. Highly recommended with 3 - 6 people.


Game Of The Year ---- DWARF FORTRESS STEAM EDITION

If you've ever wanted to know what it's like to build a highly complicated, multi-layered ant farm and then fill it up with alcoholic idiots, this game is for you. Horrendous learning curve but worth it. Never ceases to raise a smile with the unfiltered anarchy that occurs. Quite possibly the greatest value for money proposition in gaming.




Edit: For ranking purposes, let's go with:

5 - Void Crew
4 - Slay The Spire
3 - Triangle Strategy
2 - Hunt Showdown
1 - Dwarf Fortress Steam Edition

frytechnician fucked around with this message at 11:34 on Dec 4, 2023

VideoGames
Aug 18, 2003

Quantum of Phallus posted:

My GOTY 2023 was Zelda TOTK. It’s one of the best games I’ve ever played. Every second there’s something fun to do.

Are you going to add four more games? I would love to count your whole list.

frytechnician posted:

I hardly played any games this year but here are the few that I did and enjoyed:


Likewise, these are awesome. Are you classing them as 5 - 1 for the purposes of the counting?

hey mom its 420
May 12, 2007

I haven't played many new games this year, but of the new ones I did play here are my top three. Interesting that they all contain a 6 in them.

3. Final Fantasy XVI: I usually don't like games with lots of cutscenes, but this one does them really well and it's just the right amount of over the top. I get why it's called final fantasy. Gameplay is also really fun and good

2. Street Fighter 6: Great entry in the SF series. great to play online and with buddies

1. Armored Core 6: One of the best From games so far. Story, characters, combat and customization all own. I still kept playing missions just for fun after beating NG++ and S-ranking all of them

VideoGames
Aug 18, 2003

hey mom its 420 posted:

I haven't played many new games this year, but of the new ones I did play here are my top three. Interesting that they all contain a 6 in them.

3. Final Fantasy XVI: I usually don't like games with lots of cutscenes, but this one does them really well and it's just the right amount of over the top. I get why it's called final fantasy. Gameplay is also really fun and good

2. Street Fighter 6: Great entry in the SF series. great to play online and with buddies

1. Armored Core 6: One of the best From games so far. Story, characters, combat and customization all own. I still kept playing missions just for fun after beating NG++ and S-ranking all of them

Again, if you add two more games in the fourth and fifth spot I can count them amongst the entrants. :3:

hey mom its 420
May 12, 2007

uhh sorry, I'll just add some stuff that I played even though it's not from this year. I'll go with 5: Slay the Spire and 4: Guilty Gear: Strive

BeanpolePeckerwood
May 4, 2004

I MAY LOOK LIKE SHIT BUT IM ALSO DUMB AS FUCK



you can list any game you played this year, but 5 is the minimum :blastu:

VideoGames
Aug 18, 2003

hey mom its 420 posted:

uhh sorry, I'll just add some stuff that I played even though it's not from this year. I'll go with 5: Slay the Spire and 4: Guilty Gear: Strive

It does not have to be games released this year - just games you played and loved enough to put in a list. (I prefer this because not everyone can afford all the new games, or they are terribly slow at getting round to all the games and playing stuff from 20 years ago).

Thank you for the two extra entrants!

Issaries
Sep 15, 2008

"Negotiations were going well. They were very impressed by my hat." -Issaries the Concilliator"
How do we deal with expansions and stuff?

I replayed cyberpunk 2077, when it got the expansion Phantom Liberty. Does just listing the base game cover both the game and expansion or are they separate entries?

VideoGames
Aug 18, 2003

Issaries posted:

How do we deal with expansions and stuff?

I replayed cyberpunk 2077, when it got the expansion Phantom Liberty. Does just listing the base game cover both the game and expansion or are they separate entries?

In the past the expansion counts as seperate if you played it seperately.

So you can give phantom liberty a single entry, but if you played them together as one game then I will categorise it under the ultimate edition of cyberpunk. I will fret about these things so you do not have to :)

Captain Invictus
Apr 5, 2005

Try reading some manga!


Clever Betty

VG posted:

In the past the expansion counts as seperate if you played it seperately.

So you can give phantom liberty a single entry, but if you played them together as one game then I will categorise it under the ultimate edition of cyberpunk. I will fret about these things so you do not have to :)
put pizza tower in the list of notable releases for January you charlatan

VideoGames
Aug 18, 2003

Captain Invictus posted:

put pizza tower in the list of notable releases for January you charlatan

Somebody did not notice that I already edited it yesterday ;)

Captain Invictus
Apr 5, 2005

Try reading some manga!


Clever Betty
Your deceptive vagueries confounded me, villain. Curses!

Regy Rusty
Apr 26, 2010

Escobarbarian posted:

I’m sorry but if you don’t order your list 10-1 you are literally a cop

Seriously have some pride in your work

Shard
Jul 30, 2005

If 5 is the minimum here is mine.

1) Baldur's Gate 3
2) Pizza Tower
3) Street Fighter 6
4) Super Mario Wonder
5) City Game Studio

Jay Rust
Sep 27, 2011

cheetah7071 posted:

For anyone having trouble ranking, but who does have a list of games they played, here's a tool to help you out:

https://rankingengine.pubmeeple.com/

Jay Rust
Sep 27, 2011

Shard posted:

If 5 is the minimum here is mine.

1) Baldur's Gate 3
2) Pizza Tower
3) Street Fighter 6
4) Super Mario Wonder
5) City Game Studio

Write a sentence for each or perish

Regy Rusty
Apr 26, 2010

Jay Rust posted:

Write a sentence for each or perish

Reading the rules?????? No time for that I gotta post!

BeanpolePeckerwood
May 4, 2004

I MAY LOOK LIKE SHIT BUT IM ALSO DUMB AS FUCK



we're only on page 2 and people are already curbstomping their own lists by not reading the rules. absolute degenerates

BeanpolePeckerwood
May 4, 2004

I MAY LOOK LIKE SHIT BUT IM ALSO DUMB AS FUCK



fridge corn posted:

Hmm kinda wish I played Forspoken this year

There's still time to add one more RPG from Japan to your 2023 roster.

Escobarbarian
Jun 18, 2004


Grimey Drawer

Shard posted:

If 5 is the minimum here is mine.

1) Baldur's Gate 3
2) Pizza Tower
3) Street Fighter 6
4) Super Mario Wonder
5) City Game Studio

My dude have you considered properly reading the OP

VideoGames
Aug 18, 2003

Shard posted:

If 5 is the minimum here is mine.

1) Baldur's Gate 3
2) Pizza Tower
3) Street Fighter 6
4) Super Mario Wonder
5) City Game Studio

If you could please just put a little down on what you love and I can add you to the entrant spreadsheet.

Part of the reason why we love to hear why people like things are for the countdown quotes and anyone here could say something lovely that would help beef up the reasons to play a game and it is nice to have those shout outs :)

Goa Tse-tung
Feb 11, 2008

;3

Yams Fan
I wrote a whole rear end .doc and then lost it, so here my list from memory:

10. Chants of Sennaar
Hard as balls language puzzles, cool presentation.

9. Age of Wonders 4
Billions of possible combinations for how and what to play, One-More-Turn 4x of the year.

8. Spellforce: Conquest of EO
Beats out AoW4 with a more focused development of your faction, with an added personal quest system. Cool presentaion.

7. Terraformers
Addictive roguelike cardbased turn-based planet terraformer, with a cozy atmosphere and inclusive representation.

6. Jagged Alliance 3
We are so back. Finally a good JA2 sequel. Sneaking around in real time, setting up snipers and crossfires or turnbased fights, initiating with various unique talents, with great presentation. Wish the game had a way to play a randomized forever mode.

5. Magic The Gathering (with Forge)
What can I say, Forge lets me play one of the most expensive games for free. I would never go back.

4. Thief (with The Black Parade)
Imagine you traveled 25 years back in time, and Thief released a studio quality prequel, for free. Ten absolutely brilliant Thief levels, brand new and easily breaking into my top 10.

3. Cyberpunk 2077 (with Phantom Liberty)
PL ending made me cry.

2. Baldur's Gate 3
Jesus Christ this is so good.

1. Roadwarden
Witcher 3 meets Citizen Sleeper, BG3 is unlucky I played this 2022 game only this year. Blew me away with mood and writing.

Goa Tse-tung fucked around with this message at 11:07 on Dec 8, 2023

Help Im Alive
Nov 8, 2009

It's chaos...absolute chaos

fridge corn
Apr 2, 2003

NO MERCY, ONLY PAIN :black101:
Veeg managed to set all this up and write a very stellar OP all by himself but I'm afraid without Rarity at the helm to bring the smackdown all we have is absolute chaos :(

Jay Rust
Sep 27, 2011

tbh... the rules aren't SUPER clear, they're really wordy. Some bold might help?

quote:

1. Any game that you have played in 2023 is eligible. It could be a game from this year, it could be a game from the past, it could be a game from the future if you're some kind of time travelling god. It could be a gacha game, it could be a romhack, it could be a randomizer, it could be a mod, as long as you played it this year it's all good.
2. The joy of this thread is in getting to shout about your favourites and hear about the hidden gems that you missed and we can only do that if you talk about why you've chosen the games you have. You can write a sentence, you can write an essay, whatever you like as long as you write something. Any lists posted without reasons for their picks will not be counted in the final vote.
3. If you want to list more than ten games go for it but I'll only count your top ten. If you want to list less than ten games then go for that too but I won't count it if you've done less than five. If you don't want to rank your picks then that's fine as well but again, we won't count it.
4. Don't be a dick about other people's choices. This is a positive thread to celebrate the best of video games, not a place for people to get lost in an argument over which AAA release poo poo the bed worst. If you want to be critical then take it elsewhere. Please note that this rule will be waived in the event anyone picks hentai games or Dota.
5. Please use spoiler tags. One of the best part of these threads is people hearing about new games they want to play and we don’t want to spoil them before they even start playing.
6. If you want to go back and edit your list after the fact then go for it, just shoot one of us a PM or post in the thread to let us know you have or it might not get counted.
7. Deadline for submissions is 1st January 00:00AM PST. We'll then do a live countdown of the final results in the New Year!

fridge corn
Apr 2, 2003

NO MERCY, ONLY PAIN :black101:

BeanpolePeckerwood posted:

There's still time to add one more RPG from Japan to your 2023 roster.

Escobarbarian
Jun 18, 2004


Grimey Drawer
BP like “I just moved fridge….with my freaking posts!”

VideoGames
Aug 18, 2003

Jay Rust posted:

tbh... the rules aren't SUPER clear, they're really wordy. Some bold might help?

This really helps and I will do some updating later, thank you.
I have just been taking them as read all these years but that is foolish of me.

TheHoosier
Dec 30, 2004

The fuck, Graham?!

Luckily for me I only played a handful of the 2023 releases, and it just so happens that they're the best ones!! Read 'em and weep:

1. Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon - I absolutely loved this. The atmosphere, writing, controls, boss fights, customization, and especially the music were all stand-outs for me this year. Hell, I still fire up Contact With You just to vibe with while I'm working. I hadn't played an AC game since the PSX offerings, but I trusted From enough to pay full price without reading reviews. I was rewarded with an intense game that was a thrill to play and a great story to experience. The further you dug, the more it had to tell you.

It stands in the shadow of From's other games, but is a titan above its peers. This game rules, please play it if you haven't.

2. Baldur's Gate III - What else is there to say that hasn't already been said? A landmark game in the industry, BG3 kind of feels like the impossible being made possible. It's a testament to the game's overwhelming strengths that its VA cast have become industry celebrities and its devs have seemingly intimidated AAA studios into becoming corncobs. I was already a huge fan of the IE games, so this was an easy sell for me regardless, but I wasn't prepared for how good this would actually be. Tremendous poo poo, Larian. Well done.

3. Quake II Remastered - Nightdive Studios continues to be masters of their craft: bringing gaming's legendary roster of boomer-shooters to you in a gorgeous updated package with QoL features, packed-in expansions, new content, and the care these games deserve. You can tell that the Nightdive devs love these games, and they want to remind you that loved them too. I can't wait for System Shock 2.

We don't talk about Blade Runner

4. Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin - Jack is the hero we need but don't deserve. After bouncing off Nioh but enjoying the demo for this, I hesitatantly bought this. After I finished, I was ready to go again. This game owns, owns, owns. The class system is a blast to engage with. The combat flows wonderfully, with an appropriate amount of challenge. Memes aside, the story is actually very interesting with the final stretch being particularly cool. This game didn't lose me or bore me even once.

Even if you don't like FF or Nioh, you should play this. Don't be afraid to consult Beforeiplay or a guide if you need some help dissecting the stats; it is a Team Ninja game after all. It does have the issue of too much loot cluttering your inventory, but luckily it's pretty easy to solve that. Good rear end game, folks.

5. Silhouette Mirage - I had no idea this game existed before it was a Saturn Game Club entry. It's an amazing 2D run'n'gun with light RPG elements for Saturn/Playstation by Treasure that's oozing with style and personality. I have no loving idea what's going on in the game, even with a translation patch, but I don't care. The game is a buttery smooth Rollercoaster of cool setpieces and amazing boss fights, with enough depth in the combat system to keep you engaged. Hell, the first boss is a bug wizard that opens wormholes from which goddamn Battleships fire on you. Another boss has to be killed by poisoning his soup, and yet another is a horrific anime girl fish monster.

This game is extremely rad. Emulate if you have to, but give it a chance.

TheHoosier fucked around with this message at 16:09 on Dec 4, 2023

VideoGames
Aug 18, 2003

TheHoosier posted:

Luckily for me I only played a handful of the 2023 releases, and it just so happens that they're the best ones!! Read 'em and weep:

Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon - I absolutely loved this. The atmosphere, writing, controls, boss fights, customization, and especially the music were all stand-outs for me this year. Hell, I still fire up Contact With You just to vibe with while I'm working. I hadn't played an AC game since the PSX offerings, but I trusted From enough to pay full price without reading reviews. I was rewarded with an intense game that was a thrill to play and a great story to experience. The further you dug, the more it had to tell you.

It stands in the shadow of From's other games, but is a titan above its peers. This game rules, please play it if you haven't.

Baldur's Gate III - What else is there to say that hasn't already been said? A landmark game in the industry, BG3 kind of feels like the impossible being made possible. It's a testament to the game's overwhelming strengths that its VA cast have become industry celebrities and its devs have seemingly intimidated AAA studios into becoming corncobs. I was already a huge fan of the IE games, so this was an easy sell for me regardless, but I wasn't prepared for how good this would actually be. Tremendous poo poo, Larian. Well done.

Quake II Remastered - Nightdive Studios continues to be masters of their craft: bringing gaming's legendary roster of boomer-shooters to you in a gorgeous updated package with QoL features, packed-in expansions, new content, and the care these games deserve. You can tell that the Nightdive devs love these games, and they want to remind you that loved them too. I can't wait for System Shock 2.

We don't talk about Blade Runner

Just an FYI, the previous posts have been discussing the rules and that you have to have at least 5 games for your entries to count. Are there two more you can add, and can you assemble them into an order? Otherwise these votes will not count.

Aipsh
Feb 17, 2006


GLUPP SHITTO FAN CLUB PRESIDENT
I haven't finished two three palm-smash slam dunks of my top 10 yet so you'll all have to wait.

In the meantime, laughing and hollering at the lack of FFXVI. Clive-a-dead on arrival baybeee

Aipsh fucked around with this message at 16:08 on Dec 4, 2023

TheHoosier
Dec 30, 2004

The fuck, Graham?!

VG posted:

Just an FYI, the previous posts have been discussing the rules and that you have to have at least 5 games for your entries to count. Are there two more you can add, and can you assemble them into an order? Otherwise these votes will not count.

Yeah I'm an idiot. I edited the post.

MZ
Apr 21, 2004

Excuse me while I kiss the sky.
I've still yet to play many this year (Armoured Core 6, Baldaur's Gate 3, Spider-Man 2, Alan Wake 2, Lies of P, Jedi Survivor, RE4 Remake, Dead Space Remake, Blasphemous 2, The Case of the Golden Idol, Pizza Tower, Cocoon, Chants of Senaar, Teardown)....
.....but these are my top 5 from what I did get around to:

10. Hitman 3
What to say, it's more Hitman, if you liked the others you'll like this.

9. Quake 2 Remastered
This is how to do a remaster! Keeps the spirit, look and feeling of the original but updates everything for modern systems and adds lots of QoL features. Playing at 120fps is super-smooth too.

8. Midnight Suns
XCOM meets Slay the Spire, the mechanics of this game work really well and it's great to play. But there's a lot of stuff around it that's difficult to get through (several different currencies, way too much dialogue, friendship meters, etc.).

7. Hi-Fi Rush
Fun music-beat-em-up game that came out of nowhere, great art-style and music choices.

6. God of War Ragnarok
It's a AAA game that does AAA things really well, definitely the most polished on this list. Extremely impressive visuals, story, acting, sound, music and the one-take thing is neat.

5. The Talos Principle 2
Didn't care much for the story, but a great puzzle game and by far the best value of the year (launched at £25 when others are touching £70). Impressive use of UE5 tech too.

4. Cyberpunk 2077 & Phantom Liberty
What a turnaround this game has had, gone from being a complete mess at launch to becoming CDPR's best game. Update 2.0 was a sensible overhaul of the complex systems and Phantom Liberty was a great expansion - bring on the sequel.

3. Gran Turismo 7
There's a lot wrong with this game, which I'll get to in a moment, but even despite this it's probably the best racing game I've ever played - and I don't really like sim-racers.
It's the first GT game I've ever played and the first racing game I've exclusively played in cockpit mode (I never do that with racers, and I don't even have a VR headset). Every car really does handle differently and their commitment to rendering 1:1 interiors of real cars is ludicrous. The haptics & adaptive triggers on the DualSense really adds a lot to the feel of the game, it's also one of the few PS5 games that renders at a full 4k60fps, so it looks amazing too.

The problems are many: the in-game credits system is a real grind and some cars cost several million to buy (so several hours of grinding to buy just 1 car). It's online-only, so you need a connection even to play the single-player content (it's sold as a full-priced disc game). There's some weird QoL stuff missing like you're completely unable to customise the HUD for some reason. There's no rewind function so if you make a tiny mistake it could end your entire race. You start almost every race right at the back with a rolling start. The menu system is a bit convoluted. There are micro-transactions for buying credits (again it was sold as a full-price game). Certain cars only go on sale at certain times or in rotation. The free roulette tickets are awful and give really low payouts....
.....but it's really fun to drive!

2. Super Mario Wonder
Wonderful from start to finish, great fun to play and full of really inventive ideas built on traditional Mario platforming. My only complaint was that it's slightly on the easy side (apart from the final final secret level) and I wish there was more of it, aside from that it's about a near-faultless game as you can get.

1. Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
I wouldn't have guessed at the start of this year that two Switch games would be number 1 & 2 on my list, but here we are.
TOTK really surprised me, they added a bunch of new building mechanics that work really well and add a lot of depth and fun to the established Zelda formula. Compelled me to keep playing even after beating the final boss, there's lots to experiment and have fun with here.
The Switch is really showing it's age however, the framerate and resolution really dips at times - I'm amazed they got this to work on this ancient hardware at all, but that gets forgotten very quickly as it's just so fun to play.

morallyobjected
Nov 3, 2012

Aipsh posted:

I haven't finished two three palm-smash slam dunks of my top 10 yet so you'll all have to wait.

In the meantime, laughing and hollering at the lack of FFXVI. Clive-a-dead on arrival baybeee

the same people not including FF16 are also anarchists who don't read the rules post, so I'm not worried

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exquisite tea
Apr 21, 2007

Carly shook her glass, willing the ice to melt. "You still haven't told me what the mission is."

She leaned forward. "We are going to assassinate the bad men of Hollywood."


Please rename the thread subtitle to “Post at least 5 games and write a sentence”

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