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Welcome, welcome, friends! Come on in and settle yourselves down comfortably for what is sure to be a nostalgic retrospective of the year that just was. It's yo' girl Rarity here to lead you on the first steps of this grand adventure and I'll be your designated tutorial for the evening. Don't worry though I don't stick around for 40 hours, at least not unless you're providing free food! For the last few years I've been running an end of year top 10 poll in TV IV and I thought it was high time video games got in on the act. But before we go over how this is going to work, let's take a quick look back over the biggest haps of 2018!
So that was the year in video gaming but what about your year in video gaming? Before we start sharing our lists here's the general idea of how this works. You guys share your top 10 favourite games of 2018 ranked from 1 to 10. Every time a game ranks at #1 it gets 10 points, every time a game ranks at #10 it gets 1 point. At the end we add this all together to get a final list for SA's favourite games of 2018. That's the general idea but there's a few things to be aware of before you post.  VOTING RULES 1. 1. Any game that you have played in 2018 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. 2. The joy of this thread is in getting to shout about your favourites and hear Iabout 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. 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, I won't count it. 4. 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 if anyone picks in event of hentai games or Destiny. 5. 5. If you want to talk about spoilers in your post then by all means go for it but put a spoiler warning at the start of your list. 6. 6. If you want to go back and edit your list after the fact then go for it, just shoot me a PM or post in the thread to let me know you have or I might not count it. 7. 7. Deadline for submissions is 1st January 00:00AM PST. I'll then do a live countdown of the final results in the New Year! There you have it, simpler than dropping a four-liner in Tetris! Have at it, goons! Rarity fucked around with this message at 18:49 on Nov 29, 2018 |
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Nov 28, 2018 11:41
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I'll round up what I actually finished this year but wanted to drop by and say that bullet point list is the best OP in this subforum
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Nov 28, 2018 11:59
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Why would you not count under 10 games ranked whatsoever, instead of just giving 10 points to 6 points if the poster only wanted to rank 5 games, etc? I think I've played like 10-11 games total this year, and I'd like to contribute but I wouldn't want to rate all of them.
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Nov 28, 2018 12:17
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exquisite tea posted:Why would you not count under 10 games ranked whatsoever, instead of just giving 10 points to 6 points if the poster only wanted to rank 5 games, etc? I think I've played like 10-11 games total this year, and I'd like to contribute but I wouldn't want to rate all of them. To encourage participation. Otherwise a bunch of people could come in and just post 'I'm not doing a list but X was my favourite game' and then something gets a whole bunch of points despite people not really putting the effort in. I see your point though, I'll think it over.
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Nov 28, 2018 12:46
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Rarity posted:To encourage participation. Otherwise a bunch of people could come in and just post 'I'm not doing a list but X was my favourite game' and then something gets a whole bunch of points despite people not really putting the effort in. I see your point though, I'll think it over. Well the alternative would be something like Far Cry 5 or Death's Gambit showing up on my "favorite" list of 2018 if I was being honest, despite not really caring for those games at all! And anybody who didn't get to play 10 games this year effectively doesn't get to participate at the same level. 10 games is a lot!
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Nov 28, 2018 12:51
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Can I do a negative list of games that I hated that subtracts points from the total
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Nov 28, 2018 13:38
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Seconding that I’m not sure I even played 10 games this year, and definitely not 10 that deserve a spot on this. 5 seems much more doable.
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Nov 28, 2018 13:46
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You know sandwiched between incidents that directly affected peoples' employment and a david cage, counting cd projekt's tweets is really small potatoes.
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Nov 28, 2018 15:33
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Grapplejack posted:Can I do a negative list of games that I hated that subtracts points from the total Friend, I know that as a gamer your heart has been hardened by the neverending tide of yearly EA sports games that barely change, outrageously overpriced DLC packages and the brutal inescapable truth of accidentally making Mewtwo faint but this is not a thread of bitterness or hate! This is a place of joy where we can come together to celebrate the games that take us back to our childhood and remind us why we love this stupid dumb hobby so much in the first place  Avalerion posted:Seconding that I’m not sure I even played 10 games this year, and definitely not 10 that deserve a spot on this. 5 seems much more doable. I'd arrived at this conclusion as well. Therefore the new rule is You must list at least 5 games for your list to qualify
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Nov 28, 2018 16:01
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I'm gonna do a big dumb effort post while I'm bored at work but I need to wait for smash to come out
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Nov 28, 2018 16:03
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I'm going to wait until after Smash too, so please take that time to prepare yourself for a long ramble on Iconoclasts and waffling about monster hunter versions
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Nov 28, 2018 16:16
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Rarity posted:I'd arrived at this conclusion as well. Therefore the new rule is You must list at least 5 games for your list to qualify That's a lot more doable, thanks! I will write up an effortpost that nobody is likely to read when I have the time.
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Nov 28, 2018 16:21
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I'm gonna wait until I have a chance to play some of Atelier Arland DX to rank anything but I played way more than ten games this year so I will be doing a full post
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Nov 28, 2018 18:22
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1. Pillars of Eternity 2 : Deadfire Big fan of classic crpgs, loved those Baldurs Gates and Icewind Dales, loved the first Pillars, and this is more of that but even better. Some of the character concepts you can play are a psionic gunslinger, a werestag, or a paladin powered by their belief in capitalism - and then you and your party sail around a fantasy archipelago fighting monsters and bad guys in tactical RTwP combat, get to decide the future of the it's people by throwing in with your faction of choice. Also some god stuff happens but really - it's about playing pirates. Their last paid dlc is to launch soon now, and as free content updates Obsidian added a bunch of challenge modes and super bosses - I’m def replaying this again over the holidays. 2. Pokemon Ultra Sun You know what Pokemon is - catch & train a bunch of cool/cute critters then make them fight in turn based combat based around elemental rock/paper/scissors . Even though this is "just" one their 2nd versions of Pokemon Sun, it came with noticeable improvements to game-play, story and performance, def my favorite entry in the series so far. 3. Crusader Kings 2 Grand strategy game where you play through the middle ages starting out as a historical figure - ranging from famous kings and queens to nobodies history has forgotten - and their descendants. The game play here is both incredibly complex and open ended - it's up to you whether you want to try conquer the world and reform the old norse faith as a viking, found the merchant republic of Ireland backed by your fellows from the cult of Satan, retake Jerusalem as Jewish nomad with some help from China, or even just try and hold onto whatever plot of land you have while trying to not die from the black plague, defend yourself against Genghis Khan's horde and plot for your inheritance so that after death you continue playing as the genius son and not his inbred imbecile brother. 4. Tales of Maj'Eyal A rogue-lite dungeon crawler - with some of the most complex and unique classes I've seen in any RPG - in addition to the usual warriors and wizards you could also play as a time controlling Paradox Mage, a chainsaw wielding cyborg Sawbutcher or a Cthullu-esque Writhing One - all of these play in their own unique way instead of just being different flavors of particle effects. Speaking of effects though - don't expect much in the way of graphics. Despite that I feel the many different ways to play and beat this game make up for it. 5. Final Fantasy record keeper Warning, it’s a mobile gacha. If that didn’t turn you off on principle though - the gacha rates and free currency giveaways are actually quite generous, playing it as F2P is very much possible. With that out of the way - the main draw here is definitely the Final Fantasy nostalgia. Not just getting to play with your favorite FF characters or the retro pixel art - the combat system is surprisingly complex and very reminiscent of the classic final fantasy games. End game content is often a puzzle where you have to figure out how you can beat it with the tools available and depending on your (lack) of luck you might have to get really creative.
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Nov 28, 2018 20:47
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Reserved. I played a lot of games since I was unemployed for part of the year, so I was thinking of doing parallel top 10s for 2018 games and older games...you don't have to count the points for the older games, it's more just for the hell of it.
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Nov 28, 2018 22:59
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My rankings so far (obviously everything beyond the top 10 doesn't score): #1: Subnautica (2018) What it's about : Ocean survival game about crash-landing on an alien planet and trying to find a way off the planet. What it does right: One of the most addictive mining/crafting/building/upgrading loops since Terraria. The ocean depths are a fresh spin on the usual 'biome' game structure. Well-sized hand-crafted world with fun ways to traverse it, and varied, beautiful flora and fauna to scan and document. What I disliked: Endgame leans a little too hard on the loop; I wish building consumed less resources so I could more easily build a fun big sealab without having to spend a-Pix heck of a lot of trips. These are minor quibbles. #2: Prey (2017) What it's about : System Shock spiritual successor set on-- where else-- a spaceship post-disaster. Your enemy this time: shapeshifters that can hide in plain sight. What it does right: Fantastic level design, lots of lore to discover, actual living NPCs that can be saved unlike other games in this setting, manages a decent ammo conservation and crafting balance. Great campaign. Shapeshifting enemies turns the classic Prop Hunt gamemode of multiplayer past on its head, creating tension in any room (at first). What I disliked: Guns could feel better; The novelty of the shapeshifters doesn't last super long and they become extremely easy to spot. #3: Horizon Zero Dawn (2017) What it's about : Years after nature has reclaimed Earth following an apocalypse, a new generation of humanity fights for its fledgling survival. Not based on the anti-Semitic comic strip BC. What it does right: Fabulous bow and arrow combat, with different bow & ammo types encouraging multiple playstyles. One of the better open worlds I've seen (a genre I'm generally not fond of). Exploring ruins and learning about the old world is a treat every time, and made up for the complete lack of lore in Fallout 4. Where it misfires: It's still an open world game, and some of the sidequests are just not very good. Also, we need to stop the "climb tower to unlock map" gameplay system. Just because said tower moves doesn't make it not a tower! #4: Donut County (2018) What it's about : A local community reminisces about the destruction and disaster a hole-generating app has caused. YOU!! ARE!! THE HOLE!! Hole in one: Much like Katamari Damacy, growing bigger and swallowing larger objects into the hole is incredibly satisfying. A great variety of levels with cute interactions. Charm all over the place, as well as an exclusive duck quack button. Plot Holes: The gameplay does not change a whole lot over the course of the (pretty short) campaign. I wish there was just a little more interactivity beyond just the hole. #5: Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (2018) What it's about : It's literally Castlevania, and it was the bonus game from a stretch goal for the Kickstarter of the next Igavania. It slays: The second best in the Castlevania series behind 3, it reminds me a lot of Shovel Knight in that it takes from the past but iterates with smart modern design. I love the level design and routing, and the game just feels great to play. A horrible night for a curse: It's such a knockoff of Castlevania that the enemies do not vary much from the original series; bosses surprisingly easy. #6: Sonic Mania (2017) What it's about : It's loving Sonic, what are you talking about Runs like a dream: One of the best 2D Sonic games (and as a result, best Sonic games period), with gorgeous worlds, authentic speed, and legitimately creative new ideas. Skids to a halt: A couple of really annoying levels (oil ocean...), co-op gameplay is terrible. #7: Tearaway (2012?) What it's about : A paper delivery-person goes on a quest to deliver a letter in a world that you interact with either via your controller light (PS4) or finger (Vita). Love letters: Media Molecule's best game, superbly constructed and bursting with charm no matter which system you play on. Constant surprises and very clever usages of each system's unique gimmicks. Designing and drawing props is superfluous but fun. Looked better on paper: Platforming is not perfect, even as your character gets more abilities. #8: Destiny 2 (post-forsaken) (2017-2018) What it's about : Ostensibly, it's about humanity fighting back against the Red Legion as they attempt to corrupt the god-machine that powers our world. Realistically, it's about running back and forth shooting and watching the numbers get bigger. Destined for greatness: Coming in post-Forsaken, Bungie's learned a heck of a lot of lessons not only since the first Destiny but over the course of balancing Destiny 2 itself. The main quests are actually uniquely-designed and sometimes take you to entirely new locations, while the 'adventures' play more like Destiny 1's quests but still will venture into places like Lost Sectors so that they still feel fresh. The guns and powers still feel great. Destined for the bargain bin: Not getting a speeder until completing the game loving sucked. That was a bad and dumb decision. There is also not really a whole lot of postgame content, so once you've beaten the campaign, you can pretty much bounce, unless you intend on playing the DLC campaigns. #8: The Norwood Suite (2017) What it's about : Explore a bizarre hotel, performing errands for various guests as you learn about the history of the hotel, the politics currently at play, and make your way to the basement party. This is my jam: From the maker of Off-Peak, Norwood Suite is essentially one giant trading quest like a Zelda game, but in a surreal and quirky world that evokes MODE, only a bit more down-to-earth. Suite is even more down-to-earth than Off Peak but still incredibly weird. When you get to the dance floor, for example, there are multiple dancers that are twice as tall as everyone else, and it's like you've stumbled into the last populated corner of Second Life. Every character has multiple conversations both with the PC and with other characters that you can listen in on. The hotel is full of hidden passages to uncover, a couple which are mandatory but most of which are entirely optional. Hitting the wrong notes: Gameplay never evolves beyond "get item from one character, give to other character, get new item". I'd like it if the game had a Jazzpunk level of easter eggs, but maybe I'm just projecting my perfect pipe dream walking simulator on to this. No run button!! #10: Bleed 2 (2017) What it's about : Side-scrolling run and gun action, in the Treasure vein. Bullet heaven: Fast and fluid arcade action; dashing, shooting, and reflecting form an elegant combat loop. Great music, and great bosses. Bullet hell: Visuals look very "Macromedia Fusion"-era. THE REST: #T-11: CrossCode #11: John Woo Presents Stranglehold #12: Dishonored 2 #13: Contra 3 #14: Metal Gear Solid V #15: Zelda: Phantom Hourglass #16: Xanadu Next #17: The Room 4: Old Sins #18: Golf Story #19: The Invisible Hours #20: Yakuza Kiwami #21: Samus Returns #22: Infamous First Light #23: Jeanne D'Arc #24: Splasher #25: Uncharted 4 #26: The Painscreek Killings #27: Jackback Party Pack 4 #28: Azure Striker Gunvolt #29: Steamworld Heist #30: Hero of the Kingdom II #31: West of Loathing #32: The Sexy Brutale #33: Splatoon 2 #34: Dragon's Dogma #35: Cursed Castilla #36: Miss Fisher's Deadly Maze #37: SIMULACRA #38: Subsurface Circular #39: A Hat in Time #40: Spycraft: The Great Game #41: Snipperclips #42: Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones #43: RUINER #44: Unfinished Swan #45: Drill Dozer #46: Xenoblade X #47: Ahnayro: The Dream World #48: Hero of the Kingdom I #49: Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within #50: Pocket Kingdom #51: Portal Knights #52: Infamous Second Son #53: Ducktales #54: Ducktales 2 #55: Dying Light #56: Sylvio #57: Torchlight #58: Cat Quest #59: Bound #60: Gravity Rush #61: Nelly Cootalot #62: Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter #63: Fallout 4 #64: Lightning Returns #65: Project Snowblind #66: The Evil Within #67: Battlefield Hardline #68: The Low Road #69: Another Lost Phone #70: Off Peak #71: Destiny 1 #72: Arc the Lad 1 #73: Mass Effect Andromeda #74: STATIK #75: Skylar & Plux #76: Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty #77: House of Da Vinci #78: Haven Moon #79: Sublevel Zero #80: Dead Secret #81: Here They Lie #82: Knee Deep #83: SiN #84: The Black Watchmen #85: Hiveswap Act 1 #86: Darkwing Duck #87: Ara Fell #88: Megaman Battle Network 1 #89: The Fidelio Incident #90: The Inpatient #91: Implosion #92: 20001: A Space Felony #93: Dragon Quest Heroes #94: Earth Defense Force: Insect Armaggeddon #95: Pan-Pan #96: The Order 1886 #97: Yume Nikki #98: ICEY #99: The Count Lucanor #100: Kelvin & the Infamous Machine #101: Fire Emblem Heroes Book 1 #102: Resident Evil 1 HD #103: Batman: Arkham Knight #104: Until Dawn #105: Shadwen #106: The Division #107: LEGO City Undercover #108: Watch Dogs 1 #109: No Man's Sky #110: SiN Episodes #111: Commando 3 #112: Observer #113: The Perils of Man #114: Cold Fear #115: Batman: Arkham VR #116: The Signal From Tolva #117: Red Faction #118: Shiness: The Lightning Kingdom #119: D the Game #120: Barrow Hill: the Dark Path #121: Theatrhythm #122: Kamiko #123: The Last of Us Remastered #124: Stray Cat Crossing #125: Old Man's Journey #126: Emily is Away Too #127: Midnight at the Celestial Palace #128: Black Sails: Ghost Ship #129: The Mark of Kri #130: Black: The Fall #131: Monstro Battle Tactics #132: Leaving Lyndow #133: THOR.N #134: Adventure Time: Finn & Jake Investigations #135: Chip & Dale 2 #136: Chip & Dale 1 #137: Tailspin #138: Bear With Me #139: Moon Hunters #140: Phil's Fill-a-Pix Adventure #141: Conceptis Fill-a-Pix #142: Hustle Cat #143: Rhiannon #144: The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit #145: Minecraft Story Mode Episode 1 #146: Quiet City #147: A2Be #148: Homefront #149: Tender Loving Care BEATEN, BUT UNDECIDED ON PLACEMENT (but won't be in the top 10): Minit Nex Machina Livelock Drawn: The Painted Tower Hidden Paws Sagebrush Cube Escape: Seasons Cube Escape: Lake Cube Escape: Theater Tattletail Bulb Boy Quern: Undying Thoughts Among the Innocent: A Stricken Tale Hollowed Juniper's Knot Marie's Room Blameless Escape the Game Intro The Monster Inside Cat Burglar Mafia III The 10 worst games I beat this year: Matterfall - Housemarque makes great games but this is not one of them. Buy Nex Machina instead. Maybe your sales can convince them not to do that dumb Battle Royale game. Hidden Agenda - By the makers of Until Dawn, Hidden Agenda is two hours of hidden object gameplay and a lovely story with a 'crossdressers be crazy!' trope twist. yawn Hidden: On the Trail of the Ancients - lovely first person node-based (Myst-like) adventure, way shorter than I was expecting, with a ridiculously convoluted hint system. Torin's Passage - Old Sierra point n click adventure game for... teens? It has a range of humor that seems both childish and inappropriate for kids, but regardless, the animation is CD-i quality, the puzzles are dumb, and the interactions are just not fun. And I dont give a heck about any of the characters! The Park - Funcom's walking simulator split off from The Secret World. You'd think that, given TSW's strongest aspect is lore, that the walking simulator WITHOUT combat would be a good idea. It's terrible. They hosed up so bad! Dying Reborn VR - Poor use of the VR space, low effort puzzling, pretty much low effort everything. Alphadia Genesis - One of Kemco's many mobile RPGs that made it to Steam, it may LOOK competent but it is phenomenally boring. Weeping Doll VR - It's by the Dying Reborn people. Omikron the Nomad Soul - David Bowie's only involvement with games ended up being for David Cage's first of many trainwrecks. Horrible traversal, underutilized soul transplant mechanic, ridiculously bad story, and a literal game-stopping bug that they never patched out that happens to everyone. The 11th Hour - Without a doubt, one of the worst games of all time, and its FMV shlock is not even entertainingly bad. Has a 'riddle' game mechanic that mostly involves walking around the manor clicking on everything and hearing one of 3 or 4 random heckles until you click on the right thing. It even has special heckles when you click on something that should be the answer to the riddle, just to tell you it isn't. The 7th Guest fucked around with this message at 10:31 on Dec 15, 2018 |
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Nov 29, 2018 01:33
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I can agree that Hidden Agenda was awful. What a waste of a fun evening idea
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Nov 29, 2018 02:47
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i love making lists and will definitely have one but i need to play smash first!!!
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Nov 29, 2018 03:47
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This could change if I buy and/or get through anything new in December (just got Hitman 2 and Astro Bot), but as of right now here's what I got: #1: Bloodborne This took three years of off and on play. First brick wall was the Shadows of Yharnam. Was stuck on those a couple months. Then it was Rom for almost a year. Finally when I broke through that I managed to finish the game shortly after this past January. Then I immediately played through the game again and beat it in a week. Excellent and deeply rewarding to master. Hunter's axe rules. #2: Monster Hunter World I played 4U before this one and had a great time but this definitely feels like they ironed a lot of the kinks out while putting the monsters and environments on a system that could really do em justice. Being able to have running battles with a fire breathing T. Rex without having to sit through any black screens is greatly appreciated. Like Bloodborne it's super rewarding to learn the monsters and your weapon and nothing feels quite like it. Also with this and BotW I'm really into this trend of putting delicious food and cooking more at the forefront. Give me a minigame where I can play as the chef cat and run a kitchen. #3: Into the Breach I've always had an interest in tactics games and RTSs but I've been complete dogshit at them. I'll do fine in the tutorial levels but once it gets out of baby mode I constantly gently caress up. By telegraphing everything the enemy does, I was able to do well in Into the Breach. Honestly the turns feel less tactical and more like a puzzle to be solved. Ended up putting more hours into it in one month than any game on Steam I've had for the past six years. #4: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night I played through some of the DS Castlevanias before, but never managed to get around to this one. Hollow Knight finally gave me the inclination to check it out and finish it. What an excellent game and series. Love all the weird monsters they pull from folklore to fill out the castle. Great atmosphere and music. #5: Dead Cells Basically like a roguelike SotN-style Castlevania with more linear levels and beefed up combat. I'm still working through it but it didn't take long for me to really fall in with this game. Combat feels awesome and gets really tough when you're juggling multiple enemies in a single encounter. Really can't wait to keep seeing what it has to offer. #6: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze Retro did a good job setting DK apart from some other 2D platformers. Feels a lot heftier than most other platforming protagonists. Fun, challenging levels and surprisingly good and chill music. #7: Beat Saber Picked up a PSVR this year. You can honestly say that this game feels pretty thin with just 11 songs and no ability to upload custom ones like the PC version, but playing it reminds me of the first time I ever played Guitar Hero at a Best Buy and being star struck immediately. Hitting the blocks is super satisfying and it feels great when you hit a flow state and just start chopping stuff up.4 #8: Spider-Man Feels great swinging around the city. While a bunch of people said the combat was a Batman rip-off I think they did a great job of emphasizing Spider-Man's mobility and making you juggle a bunch of different threats simultaneously. Also loved a lot of the angles they took in the story, especially with Octavius. Did find a lot of the pro-cop and anti-drug stuff a little off putting. Also wish they made some elements of the web swinging a bit tougher and less automatic, like the lack of fall damage and the wall running. #9: Superhot VR It feels awesome when you dodge bullets and punch dudes in the nuts, and this would probably be higher if it weren't for the hand tracking issues I kept running into. Still feels great to block bullets with knives and shoot back at the same time. #10: Splatoon 2 I really loved the style and idea behind the multiplayer, but I'm still not able to gel enough with the controls to do well. The rest: Stardew Valley Liked the concept but just lost interest. Nier: Automata Weird case where all the discussion around the game gave me a warped perspective on the plot so while playing through it I kept expecting some big twist which kept me from engaging with the plot as it was happening. Also I wasn't into the combat enough for it not to feel like a chore by the end. Yoku's Island Express Just didn't play enough of it.
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Nov 29, 2018 04:23
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1. Return of the Obra Dinn - Lucas Pope's new masterpiece after Papers Please. This is an incredibly satisfying mystery game with an incredibly unique gameplay style that I haven't seen anywhere else - there were 60 crew members on the Obra Dinn at the voyage's start and you have to deduce what happened to every single one, as well as match faces to names. Lots of clues, and a phenomenal presentation style. I can't recommend this enough if you're a fan of piecing things together from the information presented to you. 2. The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories - SWERY's best game so far, in my opinion. While Deadly Premonition and D4 are more quirky, I feel that The Missing's themes and emotions resonate far more strongly. This is one of the only Inside style platformer games I actually like, and it's all because of the superb atmosphere and great character work. This game is very genuine and heartfelt, in a way few others are. 3. Cultist Simulator - While a lot of people say the "game" part of this atmospheric plate-spinning card game from Sunless Sea writer Alexis Kennedy is fairly lacking, I strongly disagree. I feel like the mechanics perfectly convey the concepts of stumbling around in the dark, trying to grasp rules you don't understand in pursuit of eldritch mysteries and power. The joy here comes from discovering how the various elements of the game interact with each other, rather than the moment-to-moment gameplay itself. That's fine because the process of discovery feels very satisfying, especially when accompanied by bite-sized pieces of microfiction written by the peerless Alexis. 4. Unavowed - The latest adventure game from Wadjet Eye, this is a very cozy and well-done experience, despite being somewhat derivative and lacking challenge. This is Wadjet Eye in top-form, delivering a game that takes elements from Bioware RPGs to shake up the traditional point-and-click formula. The characters are interesting and well-realized, the VAs are solid for the most part, the art is beautiful, while the music is dripping with a sort of comfort and familiarity, akin to the Blackwell games. 5. The Council - An episodic telltale-style game, this is surprisingly compelling despite the janky presentation, B-movie grade plot and hit-and-miss voice acting. What drew me in are its unique gameplay contributions in the narrative-adventure genre: there are skills to level up and consumables to use, but no combat whatsoever, only social interactions and investigations. The Deus Ex Human Revolution style dialogue confrontations feel a lot better when there are actual real consequences to them. Each character has their own hidden weaknesses and immunities to your skills, and you have a limit pool of effort points to use them, so it can be fairly challenging. The neat references to art and political history in the late 18th century peppered throughout the game hold my interest as well. 6. Spy Party - This asymmetric multiplayer title plays like nothing else I have ever seen. One player is the Spy, and needs to discretely accomplish several objectives before time runs out, while blending in with the NPCs at the party. The other is the Sniper, who needs to suss out which of the party-goers is the Spy by watching for suspicious behavior. While very simple on the surface, the more you play the more depth you discover: different objectives, NPC behavior patterns and hidden tells are some of the things you need to learn and keep track of to succeed at higher levels of play. The game is also surprisingly polished for an Early Access title. You might find it difficult to find other players at your level as a newbie, bu the veterans tend to be friendly and eager to teach new people the secrets of the game. 7. Higurashi: When They Cry Hou - The Steam release of Ryukishi's VN masterpiece is the best version released so far in English, especially if you apply the unofficial patch which adds the PS3 port's art assets and Japenese voice acting. If you aren't familiar with this series, it's an incredible, if at times overly verbose, mystery which likes to deeps its toes into psychological horror every now and then. There are no choices to make, or game mechanics of any sort, so treat this like a good book with added music and visuals. This is an interesting tale which explores recurring themes of distrust, abuse and isolation. The only downside (aside from the author's tendency for overly long narration) is that two of the eight arcs are yet to be released on Steam, so you'll have to wait for the conclusion. 8. Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire - A solid CRPG in an interesting world set in an archipelago undergoing the woes of colonisation. Its well-done morally-grey factional politics are somewhat undercut by a tired combat system, uninspired dialogue and a main narrative overly mired in metaphysics divorced from the rest of the game. Nevertheless, if you are a fan of western RPGs with real-time with pause combat, this game is definitely worth your time.
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Nov 29, 2018 08:17
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1. No Man's Sky - Yea it was over hyped and had shallow gameplay to many people's standards. I enjoyed it because as a PC gamer only, it's nice to have a space game where I can sit back on my couch with a controller and have casual fun. Hello Games also has been releasing updates making the game more enjoyable. 2. Terraria - The game has been out forever, but I've been playing the heck out of it this year. I like building forts and arenas to combat bosses and invasions. Lots of various weapons to play around with. I hope Terraria 2 will see the light of day. 3. The Witcher 3 - I wait a long time to buy games so I can get them cheap. The Witcher 3 was one of those. As old as it is now, it's still a really well done game that I keep picking back up for a play through. This is another game that does a great job utilizing a steam controller so I can kick back and relax while playing on my 60" TV that's connected to my computer. 4. The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth - I played quite of bit of the vanilla game over a year ago, and earlier this year I bought Rebirth. Roguelikes are fun now and then and this game scratches that itch. 5. The Talos Principle - This feels like a poor man's Portal. A 3d puzzle game that utilizes the same tools throughout the entire game. It's made by those who brought the Serious Sam franchise. It's a fun little game. I managed to beat the game without needing to check online on how to pass certain puzzles which I feel was a great accomplishment.
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Nov 30, 2018 03:20
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1. Heat Signature: I feel like most roguelites/run based games don't really use random generation in particularly effective ways, but heat signature really does. The game gave you an amazing variety of tools to use and kept the base gameplay simple enough that there were always about a half dozen ways to accomplish any given objective. And just as importantly it plays really well/has great "gamefeel". 2. Dwarf Fortress: Official GOAT as far as I'm concerned. The sheer amount of cool stuff you can do remains unrivaled. It's been one of my most played games every year for the past 7 years or so. A big part of that is down to the great community tools and how easy it is for me to create custom content. Armok knows it has plenty of problems but that doesn't stop me from enjoying it. 3. Pyre: The gameplay is surprisingly deep and engaging. The music and art are amazing. The story actually succeeded in making me have feelings about a videogame story/characters which is a neat trick. I particularly liked the way that the typical "you are the protagonist" videogame advantages became part of the story/moral dilemma. Also that they didn't chicken out with it and have a good ending where everyone gets rescued. It's definitely a game I feel no real desire to go back and play additional times but I definitely don't regret the purchase price. 4. Grim Dawn: Ashes to Malmouth: Not a whole lot to say here. Out of all "active" the Diablo-likes on the market this is the one that best delivers what I want from a Diablo-like. Character building feels like it actually has depth and consequence unlike Diablo 3 but it's not completely bewildering like PoE. 5. Hollow Knight: I first played this game in 2017 and for whatever reason very few people seemed interested in it back then. I played it again on switch just so I could experience it while it was having its moment among the gameosphere. All the features a lot of people seemed to hate actually helped me find it extremely immersive. A lot of people call it a Dark Souls clone but it, like, totally isn't. It's a pretty standard 'troidemup (imo the best 'troidemup) that just happens to have a dark fantasy setting/aesthetic. Honorable Mentions Xenoblade 2: Fun game, but the combat system is basically "solved" after a certain point and every battle begins to feel the same. Also the character designs are exactly what people who say "I hate anime" mean by "anime", ugh. The gacha system was an uncecessary pain in the rear end, was the game originally planned with microtransactions or something? Monster Hunter World: A great evolution of the franchise but the previous MHs I've played were MH3 Ultimate, MH4 Ultimate, and MH Generations, each of which has like four times the content. World just felt anemic to me by comparison. It didn't hold my interest long enough for DLC to come out or for them to unfuck my beloved heavy bowguns. Monster Hunter Dirty Double Cross: Great game, probably the biggest MH ever aside from maybe the MMOs which are probably poo poo. But it was so hard to go back to a 4th generation game after all of the improvements made with World. Super Sm5sh Bros.: This what you get for releasing in December! If Waluigi was in I might have waited to make my list. The 7th Guest posted:#11: John Woo Presents Stranglehold Good list but Chip and Dale 2 deserves to be above THOR.N. The Moon Monster fucked around with this message at 13:58 on Nov 30, 2018 |
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Nov 30, 2018 13:45
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#5 Enderal (Skyrim full conversion mod) This is a crazy impressive full conversion, probably the most impressive I've seen in ~25 years of gaming. An original story and setting with full voice acting of very decent quality, revamped character progression in an old-school XP based style, massive amount of handcrafted locations to explore. The only thing that's holding the whole package back, is that it's running in the old creaky engine we all know and hate. There's some mod jank around, like you literally eat skill books to spend skill points, and use a shout called 'Meditation' to teleport to a special area where you pick talents. The amount of modding going on also means there's a crash every now and then. What you get in exchange is a full fledged 'see that mountain you can go there' RPG with dozens of hours of high quality content, for free. It runs on the base game, no DLC needed, and comes with its own user friendly installer, which also makes a backup of your current mod setup. If your brain is broken and you spent 100+ hours in Skyrim, welcome back. #4 A Link To The Past randomizer This is the best lootbox game available at the moment. It's stupidly exciting for me to open chests in this game, even when 95% of them contain trash. It's also great fun to watch people who actually know what they're doing playing the game, and pick up some speedrun tricks to shave off ~30 seconds of my 5 hour clear times! #3 La-Mulana 2 I always loved the idea of La-Mulana, but it also sounded like way too much of a pain in the rear end to actually play, so I just watched an LP instead. When I heard La-Mulana 2 was coming out, I went 'gently caress it' and bought it completely blind, I didn't even read any reviews. After about 26 hours and about as many notebook pages scrawled full of notes, I'm still having a blast. It seems a bit less obtuse, only about 3-4 hours of that time have been spent randomly wandering around whipping walls for progression. There seems to be more systems around to nudge you towards the next step on the way, but not too much to take away the feeling of being a trailblazer. It seems like a very safe sequel though, it's very much just more La-Mulana with some tweaks to cut some of the annoyances of the first one. I did gather that there were some bugs and controller issues, but I got lucky on that front. Running the game through steam overlay and using a steam controller, it wasn't difficult to get a working configuration going. I only suffered 1 crash to desktop so far, which didn't even cost me any progress. #2 Path Of Exile I don't know what the hell is going on at Grinding Gear Games, that makes them capable of pumping out new exciting content for free(*) every 3 months. I'm real glad they do though. Not a game for everyone to be sure, it has a learning cliff instead of a curve, and the early game is slow and clunky until you learn how to mostly skip it. It's still the only ARPG that does that Diablo 2 thing to me where I go 'wait what time is it and when did I last eat something'. *) I've spent like 60€, max. I think. Not gonna check. #1 Europa Universalis IV (with Tag Switch mod) The basic gameplay of EUIV gets a bit rote after you get a good handle on how to play. It's not that difficult to grow into an unassailable blob that the AI can't threaten in any way. I was burnt out on the game, but then I watched some videos by Arumba that had a really neat concept: every 10 years he would randomly switch himself to be another nation. This turns out to be a really fun way to play, and there's even a mod that supports it, so there's no need to mess with console commands or anything fiddly like that. It's really interesting to see in what kind of horrible messes the AI manages to put their nations in, and both challenging and fun to try and right the ship. It's also terrifying to end up as a neighbour of one of the nations you previously turned into a mean lean world conquering machine. Keeping track on how the AI does with your nations after you're done is interesting in an infuriating way. It really revitalized my interest in a game I already love a lot, in a way I didn't think was even possible. Just writing this makes me want to start yet another tag switch campaign. StoryTime fucked around with this message at 09:36 on Dec 5, 2018 |
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Nov 30, 2018 16:29
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Whoa Tag Switch sounds really fun...do you have a link to the mod page? Is it a steam workshop tool? It's been a while since I've gotten into EUIV since I've mainly played HOI4 since it came out, if I was in a map-mood, but that sounds really fun.
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Nov 30, 2018 17:14
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In Training posted:Whoa Tag Switch sounds really fun...do you have a link to the mod page? Is it a steam workshop tool? It's been a while since I've gotten into EUIV since I've mainly played HOI4 since it came out, if I was in a map-mood, but that sounds really fun. My copy isn't on Steam, so I don't know exactly how the workshop version works, but here's a link: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=697521727 I think that version still needs some console commands to avoid weirdness when switching. Read the description, it's not that complicated. Edit: essentially when the switch happens, the nations you can see or can't see goes haywire for a while. It's mostly harmless, and console commands can fix the problem. Or you can just play through it, with varying effects.
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Nov 30, 2018 17:49
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Grapplejack posted:Can I do a negative list of games that I hated that subtracts points from the total Seriously. There are so many catastrophic missteps and I think only 1 or 2 actual good games this year. Also gently caress you Rampage was fuckin' awesome.
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Dec 1, 2018 00:07
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Easy Diff posted:Also gently caress you Rampage was fuckin' awesome. How about making a list, then, with Rampage as number one?
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Dec 1, 2018 02:40
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Rampage was an excellent modern B-movie. Will figure out a vote when I'm either sober or a lot more drunk.
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Dec 1, 2018 11:57
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#1 - Path of Exile. This game just keeps me coming back league after league as it is continuously adding new content and improving gameplay. I am amazed at what the developers manage to churn out and add to this game every 3 months. Scratches the Diablo itch far better than anything from Blizzard currently and it's possible to actually play it free (although I've dropped money on things because I enjoy it and feel like I should reward the developer for this product I use so much). #2 - Assassin's Creed - Odyssey Not the best at anything, but overall just a whole lot of fun and an amazing ride with a wonderful protagonist in Kassaundra. Not a super deep game, but just lots of fun, and lots of times it made me laugh. I'm probably not even half-way through the storyline on this one yet. #3 - The Witcher 3 - Wild Hunt I was late to the party on this one, but spent a lot of time playing it and a very well done and enjoyable game. Combat can feel a bit clunky, but that could just as well be because I'm old and terrible at video games. #4 - World of Warships I played this in beta, managed maybe 45 battles post-release and then walked away. For some reason installed it back in August and I've been casually playing ever since. Game is quite good now with excellent models and it's slow pace is very enjoyable for me, although as with any game of this genre, you can sometimes get stuck on teams that are amazingly bad. Part of the charm I suppose. #5 - Cities Skylines A fun diversion that seems to be very well done if you like the good old 'Sim City' type games. Have found no major issues with it and only have the base game, but it goes on sale on Steam for pretty cheap, and I"ve absolutely gotten my moneys worth out of it. #6 - Conan Exiles I really enjoyed this survival game until I hit max level, at which point I just sort of lost interest. The basic game was solid, and other than a few minor issues, it was a good and fun challenge to make your way into this world and survive and create a home base from which to make your mark on the world. I did not play multi-player, only solo, and got probably 80-100 hours of good solid fun from the game before losing interest and uninstalling it prior to any content patches. #7 - Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor Obviously I'm not much of an early adopter of games, and this is another example of one that I picked up long after it was released. Solid gameplay and the mechanics of generating the bad guys you have to deal with (nemesis system? Maybe wrong game, it was early in the year) was lots of fun. Combat was enjoyable in general, and while I never finished (I rarely finish games), I did spend a lot of time playing, enough to feel like it was well worth the purchase. #8 - Stellaris I've always been a huge fan of space empire builder games, and Stellaris is a very well done example that fans of this genre can probably enjoy for dozens or hundreds of hours. This one was also very early in the year so I don't remember a lot of details, but I remember having fun and wasting way too many hours playing this. #9 - Tom Clancy's The Division More of an honorable mention for this year, as I winded down my playtime in this game near the beginning of the year, but I did still play it some in Jan/Feb, so thought I would include it. This game has really matured since release, and I have over 300 hours in it (that's a lot for me). I play pretty much single-player and I really enjoy that a multi-player game like this allows me to enjoy most of the content while being a hermit. Mechanics are solid and enjoyable. Really looking forward to the sequel which is supposed to be released sometime next year and is looking really good in the gameplay trailers. No number 10.. There were a number of other games that I probably tried briefly, but nothing else really stuck for any significant amount of gameplay hours.
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Dec 1, 2018 19:01
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Loving that people are repping Path of Exile. It's been consistently my most played game year after year, but I wouldn't really consider it a "goty" since it's just like constantly there waiting to suck me in again. More like a game of all time for me.
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Dec 1, 2018 19:27
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I was considering adding d3 to my list but all I really do is boot it up for a weekend or two when there’s a new season What makes poe better than diablo3 for those who played both? Gameplay videos of poe make it seem much less polished in terms of visuals, and there’s aparently crap like having to plan builds in advance with limited respec?
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Dec 2, 2018 08:04
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Avalerion posted:I was considering adding d3 to my list but all I really do is boot it up for a weekend or two when there’s a new season Well a lot of people consider the bottom part a good thing so there you go.
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Dec 2, 2018 10:46
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Okay here's my effort post! 1. Assassin's Creed Odyssey     Assassin's Creed feels like a series that has always just missed piquing my interest. Up until this year the only AC that I had really played for any appreciable length was Black Flag, and while I enjoyed my time with it, I never felt enough forward momentum to finish. Even in late 2017 when people were singing the praises of Origins for mixing up the formula, to me it looked like the same open-world murder sim that had come to define the series and I gave it a pass. But when Odyssey was announced at E3 last summer and promised an even greater emphasis on RPG mechanics such as branching narratives, dialogue choices, a selectable protagonist and yes, even romances, I finally took up what Ubisoft was putting down. Like many Bioware expatriates, I felt disappointed and abandoned by the direction that developer had taken over the past five years, and Assassin's Creed seemed conveniently poised to subsume the mantle of providing big open-world RPG experiences. I wasn't expecting Odyssey to be my favorite game of 2018, but after 140+ hours and still revisiting Ancient Greece week after week, I'd be totally lying if I said it wasn't. Odyssey is a game that feels like it wants to do absolutely everything and gets about 75% of the way there in the execution of each element. The combat is competent but not spectacular, the narrative is engaging but not always cohesive, the environments are breathtaking but often just reduced to simple zone objectives like looting a chest or assassinating a target. For every new mechanic Odyssey introduces you can point to at least one release this year that did it better, and all the criticisms about it being overstuffed with content are entirely true. But very few games succeed at implementing all those mechanics at once with such a high degree of satisfaction, and for that I think Odyssey really becomes greater than the sum of its parts. Whether it's clearing a fort, beating down some mercs, recruiting crew members to work on your ship, grabbing some loot for a new character build, or solving the many twisted and often ridiculous problems of Ancient Greeks, there was always something to hold my attention. I'm used to most Assassin's Creed plots being vengeful, grimdark affairs, and the willingness of Odyssey to embrace a more lighthearted tone with a gleefully immoral mercenary as the main character made the entire experience worthwhile. There's a little pathos, a little tragedy here and there, but it's mostly just a fun whirlwind tour of antiquity. This brings me to the last point I wanted to make, because no review of Assassin's Creed Odyssey would be complete without discussing its phenomenal protagonist, Kassandra of Sparta. Kassandra is the best thing that has ever happened the Assassin's Creed franchise, women in video games, and my personal life. While I've spent the last 10 years developing muscle atrophy playing video games, Kassandra spent them getting swole on goat's milk and roughing up low-rent criminals on the mean streets of Kephallonia. I now strive to live by her code of Drachma Rules Everything Around Me. The sheer size and vascularity of her biceps make me feel really inadequate as a person. If she kicked me off a conspicuously placed cliff I would be totally okay with it, and in fact sympathize with her point of view. Kassandra remains the primary reason why I enjoyed every waking moment of Odyssey while inevitably losing steam with every prior AC game I've tried. Her voice actress is up for a bunch of year-end awards and totally deserves all of them, hands down. I also heard that you can play the dude at some point but I haven't heard much else about that, maybe that was just a rumor. Anyway, 10/10. 2. Divinity: Original Sin II    I bought this game in Early Access in September of 2017 but was not able to commit the time to finishing it until 2018, so it goes here! After the huge letdown that was Pillars of Eternity in 2015, I felt like maybe I just didn't like CRPGs anymore, or that they were in fact, never good. But then Larian had to came along with this gem, and after spending the entire month of May totally absorbed within Rivellon, completely changed my perspective. Despite finishing two 100+ hour monstrosities in 2018 I don't usually find myself in the position of enjoying long games purely for the sake of length, but I enjoyed every minute of D:OS2 and will gladly stan for it at any given opportunity because it's just so drat good. The most positive thing I can say about it is that it's the closest a video game has ever come to recreating the feel of old-school pen & paper campaigns you used to run with your friends back in high school, with near-limitless opportunities to express your character through carefully designed, often hilarious encounters. The sheer wackiness and inventiveness of the combat makes you feel like a genius for overcoming incredible odds with the brilliant plan of, as one example, dropping heavy boxes onto your opponent's heads. Captivating visuals, amusing dialogue, engaging and well-acted companions, a deep combat system, and a not-too horrible story. What's not to like? In every little detail you can feel the love Larian poured into this game. Also, you can do your part to convince household animals that all life is fundamentally meaningless, which elevates the game into legendary status for me. If you love the idea of CRPGs but have felt disappointed by the kind of change-allergic decisions that have led to outdated systems and interfaces persisting 20 years past their expiration date, then D:OS2 is the remedy. It's an unashamedly old-school RPG in terms of difficulty and complexity that still isn't afraid to add a modern polished sheen to its visuals and systems. 3. God of War (2018)   I had never played any previous God of War installment, and during the mid-2000s was rather put off by the kind of hypermasculine, mean-spirited ultraviolence the series became known for. But reading and watching interviews with the game director Cory Barlog gradually won me over, and I'm glad that my judgment and intuition were rewarded with a really superb and entertaining experience. God of War delivers on the promise of what an AAA production can and should be: A well-polished and rewarding single-player narrative that combines gameplay, visuals and story into a cohesive whole without the stink of microtransactions, monetization or some tacked-on multiplayer component. It completely succeded at reversing my opinion of the franchise from something that simply wasn't for me into not being able to wait until the next installment. While I enjoyed Odyssey a little more overall this year, I recognize the insane level of refinement and production values that went into God of War as a finished product. The weight and heft of Kratos' axe, the little environmental puzzles and treasures hidden in the world, and all the tiny foreshadowing details that you might not recognize until a second or third playthrough show a high level of care for how the player would react. 4. GRIS    GRIS is a hauntingly beautiful and deeply affecting journey that continues to amaze throughout its 3 hour runtime. Ostensibly it's a puzzle platformer with a very gentle difficulty curve and minimalist story, but as an experience it's moving and powerful to the extreme. I'll be thinking about its stunning visuals, lush soundtrack, and rich symbolism for a very long time. Amazing piece of work from Nomada Studio. 5. Soul Calibur VI   I don't have much to say about this other than I never thought I'd be playing a Soul Calibur game again, let alone a good one, and SC6 is hands-down the best in the series since SC2. It's beautiful, it's fun, it's horny, it's a tale of souls and swords eternally retold. Soul Calibur is back, baby! 6. Shadow of the Colossus (2018)   This entry is probably a little unfair because Shadow of the Colossus would make any year-end list in any year of its release, but I wanted to recognize Bluepoint's work in bringing one of the best video games ever made to a modern audience with all the care and craft that only a true superfan could create. It's almost harder to remake a classic than it is a bad game, because everyone will look at it with their own memories and sentiments attached. Nothing can ever fully replace the sound of my PS2 exploding in pure awesomeness as it was trying to read the disc in 2006, but I feel comfortable saying that this is now the definitive version of the game that all newcomers should experience at least once. It's a beautiful and thoughtful remaster that perfectly captures the powerful story of the original. I'm not one to make blanket recommendations, but I think every human being should play Shadow of the Colossus. Other games I played this year (but didn't want to rate) Tales of Berseria (okay) Monster Hunter World (okay) Iconoclasts (eh) Far Cry 5 (eh) Death's Gambit (eh) Shadow of the Tomb Raider (good) Life is Strange 2 (good) Assassin's Creed Origins (good) Well that's my story! Thanks for listening. exquisite tea fucked around with this message at 10:06 on Dec 17, 2018 |
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Dec 2, 2018 14:27
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Seconding Spy Party and A Link to the Past Randomizer as top 10 worthy for their innovation. They Are Billions came out right before the New Year so imo it should count because it was a thing throughout January iirc and it also was pretty innovative and refreshing. So I nominate that if you guys are cool with it. Also if there were an Art category then Sea of Thieves should be near the Top 10 imo.
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Dec 2, 2018 16:16
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What's up OP, thanks for the rallying cry. I may update my list in the next few weeks if I finish anything good. updated list 12/24 10. God of War (2018)  Incredibly polished, cinematic experience that had me quite interested in the narrative but slightly bored of the open world backtracking. I'm glad I played it and will probably play the sequel. A technical marvel. 9. Trials: Fusion (2014)  Got this on PS+ and obsessed over it for the summer. Never really imagined it would be my jam but now I'm officially hyped for Trials: Rising! 8. Shadow of the Colossus (2018)  The experience that pretty much inaugurated the now rather inane "are games art" conversation 13 years ago is now also the best remaster ever produced. 7. Dark Souls Remastered (2018)  The only Bloodsouls game I hadn't gotten around to playing yet. Loving it. Still need to finish up 1 or 2 areas. 6. Into The Breach (2018)  Huge fan of FTL but I found out about this one a bit late and by word of mouth. Awesome little turn based strategy game that's like a combo of Live.Die.Repeat. and Pacific Rim thematically. Had me playing morning, noon, and night until I unlocked everything. Another great Ben Prunty OST, too. 5. Soul Calibur 6 (2018)  After a big lull in the middle of the year I finally got something to ride out on. Soul Cal 6 is solid as a rock. Creating characters all the drat day. 4. Celeste (2018)  Easily in the top 5 best 2D platformers I've ever played. Simple yet brutal, beautiful sprites, incredible music, emotional journey. 3. Nier: Automata (2017)  My GOTY for 2017 also gets on my 2018 list because when I looked at my trophies technically I watched the E ending credits on January 1st.  But also because 2B is about to be released as playable in Soul Calibur 6, so it kind of feels like I'm still playing NieR.  2. Monster Hunter World (2018)  MHW dominated most of the year for me, 6 months of daily play, nearly 350 hours. All my friends got it and loved it. I can't wait to play the next one. 1. GRAVITY RUSH 2! (2017)  copying my effortpost from another thread because it pretty much sums up my feelings quote:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzY6hiRR0CY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0INIMjvtCL4  BeanpolePeckerwood fucked around with this message at 02:46 on Dec 25, 2018 |
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Dec 3, 2018 10:47
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), and Kat just spewing her cute psuedo-japanese fake language platitudes like the best, bubbliest, most charming Gravity Queen of all time. These days I'm really into just walking around on the underside of large floating buildings. I love the novelty of forgetting that I'm upside down at times, running around on the bottom of these huge floating city structures and looking down at the clouds below the city, or would that be looking up if I'm upside down? ANYWAYS...
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OK! I have been thinking about this since you first mentioned it and I think I have my top ten ready. Some of these I have not completed, but have gotten quite a ways in so I feel as though they have given a great representation of themselves. Here they are in reverse order: 10) Two Point Hospital (PC) I have played a lot of Theme Hospital in my younger days. It was easily my favourite of the Theme games and having a more up to date and fuller version of the game is tremendous. This is the kind of spiritual remake that I love. All the quirky humour and style of the original is here but with more! It is a delightful to spend a few hours trying to build an efficient ghost free hospital and I applaud the creators for not deviating drastically from the formula. 09) Doki Doki Literature Club (PC) This was a wonderful revelation. I had only played two or three visual novels before this one and I was badgered into it by Lady VG as she had been watching videos on scary games. I want to keep this little blurb as spoiler free as possible so all I will say is this was a fantastic little experience and the pair of us had a great time. 08) Spider-man (PS4) - not completed An open world game with the greatest travel method of all time, a story that befits the lead and some pretty amazing graphics to boot. Plus, I mean it when I say the greatest travel method of all time! Swinging around a very well-made New York city as Spider-man is an utter joy and because of this going to grab collectibles does not feel like a chore. Crazy to believe that those responsible for Sunset Overdrive when on to make this right after! It is Spectacular! 07) God of War (PS4) - not completed This is my first God of War game and from the very first moments I could tell I was in for something amazing. The opening cut scene being the in game engine blew me away. I love the ‘one take’ style (ruined by my dying quite a bit!) and feel like it enhances the story and game rather than taking from it. Everything feels heavy and powerful. The interaction between both Atreus and Kratos is played wonderfully and is deserving of the praise it receives. 06) Celeste (PS4) - not completed I love platformers. I love them. They are my favourite gaming genre and Super Mario Brothers 3 was the first game I ever completed on my own. Celeste has the same level of care, control, music and look as SMB3 in my opinion. It has multiple levels of engagement, with both a nice simple mode so you can get through the level and see how it fits together, and c-sides which are even harder versions of already more difficult b-sides. The platforming is tight and never unfair, pushing you to get better at the controls. The punishment for failure is simply to reappear at the entrance to the screen you are on. This is a sublime game and out of all those on the list for the real game awards, I hope it wins. 05) Everybody's Golf (PS4) The best golfing arcade sim I have played. This is my ‘unwind for fun’ game where I will turn on Spotify, boot up a mini tournament and try for those eagles! There is a whole range of options for play style so you can make your own fun whenever you want, and playing against real people is also a joy. Just a great version of a great golf game! 04) Destiny 2 (PC) This was kind of a revelation. I am not a big halo fan and got Destiny 1 on PS4 for about £5 in the latter half of 2017. I liked Destiny 1 but was hamstrung with the controller. I much prefer my FPS games with mouse and keyboard. Destiny 2 came with one of my PC humble monthly bundles and the season pass was £12 so I thought, why not? I had always wanted Destiny on PC, perhaps this will be as good. Needless to say, I love it. I love everything about it. It is such a tight shooter with great mechanics and feel. It looks amazing, absolutely beautiful levels and terrain while sticking at 60fps with my terrible little broken PC. I have spent nearly 100 hours on this just messing around with bounties and adventures and the campaign. I look forward to where this game goes! AND FINALLY, TOP THREE OF 2018: 03) Wolfenstein 2 (PS4) Wolfenstein: The New Order's story hooked into me like very few FPS games ever have. I fell for BJ and Anya and I wanted to see the Nazis crushed by Terror Billy! It also helped that it was very generous in its control scheme and I was able to play despite using a DS4. When those credits rolled, I wanted more. Wolfenstein: The New Colossus gave me that more I desired. The story is even greater than before! There are more outlandish locations, but the very real personality of BJ is still as grounded as ever. His and Anya's tale is one I enjoyed every minute spent with. Going to space was incredible as was shooting the propaganda film. It is darkly humorous too and those who deserve comeuppance get it in spades. I eagerly await the third to put an end to it all! 02) Yakuza 0 (PS4) - not completed but going to be finished by Jan 1st! This was a lovely surprise. I had seen the PS4 thread talk about it a lot, but did not quite know what I was in for until I started it three weeks ago. This is a game with more heart, more humour, more drama and more underwear dancing men than often seen. I am currently on the fifth chapter, but the near 30 hours I have already spent in game is enough to put it into the number 2 spot with ease. The translation on this game is amazing and so wonderfully brilliant that I seem to screenshot everything I see because it is just so funny or intelligent or touching! The side quests are an utter joy and range from the normal sort of thing you would get in an open world game to the downright bizarre but all of them have been entertaining. Yakuza 0 is brilliant. Just amazing and I heartily recommend it for the poignant wackiness that it will bestow upon you. 01) Nier Automata (PS4) This game is number 2 on my own personal Game of All-Time list. I love this game. I love every last little thing about it. I have never experienced a game like Nier:Automata and I am not sure if I will again. This game stoked emotions up in me that I never would have expected. It is a game about hope, about routines and about yourself. The soundtrack is one of, if not the, greatest video game soundtracks ever made. It has wonderfully dynamic layered music that seamlessly builds and ebbs depending on where you are in the world and what you are doing. It has a wonderfully unique mix of all kinds of gameplay: shoot em ups, third person brawler, top down twin stick and side on platforming like NSMB. It has a story that delved right into my soul and engaged me at such a base level that I still well up at the thought of what happened and what I did. This game gets so much praise from me, so very much love and adoration that I worry I heap too much hyperbole onto it. I cannot quite put into spoiler free words the way I feel about having experienced all of it. I am so, so, so glad it is part of my life and gaming memories and I thank Yoko Taro from the bottom of my heart.
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Dec 3, 2018 15:11
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My opinions are usually garbage because I don't play a ton of indie games, but I'll do my best. 1. Assassin's Creed: Odyssey Given Ubisoft's recent history it seems strange to stick one of their games at the top of the list, but the latest Assassin's Creed installment, in my opinion, has more than earned it. Sure, it took the "Assassin" part largely out of the equation--the hidden blade, for example, which is a staple of literally ever other game in the series, is not present--but that hardly matters when they managed to cram in more customization options than any other game in the series before it, with the exception possibly of Assassin's Creed: Unity (and this is built on a better engine). I wasn't too sure about the sailing aspect--the feel of arrows and javelins, for example, didn't quite manage to impart the oomph that a full broadside of cannon shot in Black Flag and Rogue did--but boarding and taking over ships on the high seas is still endless fun. As for the story, well...Assassin's Creed games have been noticeably lackluster in the story department ever since the Ezio Auditore story arc ended, something a lot of players have complained about--but I found the story in this game satisfactory if not super-compelling. Ancient Greece is too awesome a setting for it not to be--much in the same way that Ancient Egypt being an amazing setting overrode Origins' rather weak story. Perhaps the most progressive aspect of this game, however, was the ability to play--for the first time--the entire game as a female character. You are given the choice between two siblings at the start of the game, Kassandra and Alexios--and it's speculated that Ubi meant Kassandra to be the canonical choice. Much like Bayek in Origins, Kassandra and Alexios are themselves such charismatic and compelling characters that they manage to obscure some of the game's weaknesses. It's just so much goddamn fun--I found myself wandering the map endlessly even after completing the story, clearing out shipwrecks and searching for treasure. Easily my GOTY. 2. Spider-Man Sony gave Spider-Man his "Arkham treatment" with the latest PS4 exclusive, and it makes you forget everything you have ever known about every Spider-Man game ever released. I've played all the Beenox games and the movie licenses, and I have forgiven Spidey for all his sins based on this game alone. I'm not a devotee of Marvel Comics; I should probably say that at the outset--so there were a couple of villains I wasn't familiar with in this game, such as Tombstone and Mr. Negative--but the others were easily recognizable from any amount of time spent watching Spider-Man cartoons  . The amazing thing about this game is the sheer number of things it does well--web-slinging around New York, for example, is now geographically correct. If you're in the middle of Central Park you are unable to web-sling because there are no buildings--a small detail that literally every developer before them has ignored. It's little things like that--plus the ability to take snapshots of both real and fictitious landmarks around the Marvel version of New York City--that really bring this game to life. Plus, even the story's compelling--in this game, Peter Parker isn't a newbie superhero. He's been Spider-Man for almost a decade, so there's very little brooding or drama.Plus, if you are a Spidey geek, it's JAMMED with content. There are, to my best recollection, something like 20+ different suits--and a lot of them are not obvious inclusions, either. Each suit (with the exception of a couple specific ones) unlock different Suit Powers as they are crafted--but here's the rub: you don't have to wear the suit associated with the power to use the power. It's just such a simple thing, yet it adds a LOT to the QoL when swinging around New York City. The DLCs have, so far, introduced six more suits on top of that--but unlike the originals, they do not introduce any new suit powers. Again, this game, much like AC:O, is just so much fun--I've come back for two more playthroughs since they added New Game+. The one thing I would criticize is the preponderance of stealth sections with non-Spidey characters. You know who you are.  3. God of War It's ironic that I, as a primarily PC gamer, would have two console exclusives in my list--and yet I cannot talk about my favorite games this year without mentioning God of loving War. The latest installment in the life of our favorite pissed-off god-killing rage machine Kratos finds him living in isolation in the far North of the known world, with a son, Atreus. This game places him in the realm of the Norse gods, who, as we learn, are no less dickish and petty than the Greek ones. The dichotomy between hypermuscled murdering ragemonster Kratos from the original trilogy and old, bearded, dadbod Kratos in this game is both startling and compelling--I admired how they show Kratos' earnest attempts to be a good role model for his son, most of which involved him trying to tamp down his absolutely volcanic temper. This game turns you into an icy version of Thor--your axe, which you can throw, can also return to your hand with the press of a button. Combat is a bit clunky at first if you're remembering the camera from the first three games, but once you get used to the over-the-shoulder way of doing things I guarantee you you'll never wanna go back again. Plus, Atreus helps you--his arrows can blind, paralyze, and shock enemies, and if you upgrade him he can leap on larger enemies' backs and try and choke them out with his bow. Most games would give Atreus his own health bar--I love that this game didn't. He's an asset without being a liability that way. As for the story, I personally was a big fan--both Kratos and Atreus are great characters, and the NPCs you meet along the way are all straight out of Norse mythology. Plus, it leaves just enough loose ends and unanswered questions at the end to set up for a sequel. I won't spoil anything here in case you haven't played it, but if you have a PS4 and you haven't given this game a shot, I beg you to do so. 4. Far Cry 5 Wait, WHAT?! I'm glad this thread is supposed to be positive only because otherwise I'd probably get shelled, but I had a lot of fun with Far Cry 5--maybe because it was my first ever Far Cry game and I didn't have a lot to compare it to. As a local sheriff's deputy, you are taken captive by a cult of religious fanatics nestled deep in the mountains of Montana--and you spend the entire game trying to fight your way out. You can recruit both people and animals, including (not joking) a diabetic bear. Is the story great? No, but the antagonists are certainly hateable enough for you to forge ahead to the end to see what happens, and I love games where the objective is to cause as much chaos as possible by any means necessary--perhaps why I'm a fan of the Just Cause series. Plus, this game gave us the "Widowmaker" mission--those of you who have played it know what I'm talking about, and it actually made me appreciate the song "Barracuda". As long as you remember not to take this game too seriously, you'll have as much fun with it as I did. That said, the ending was a kick in the loving balls, and gently caress Ubisoft forever for that. 5. Shadow of the Tomb Raider I'd been waiting with bated breath to find out what happens in the Lara Croft/Trinity story, so when this game dropped I got really excited. I didn't find it a whole lot different functionally from the last game, to be honest, other than some slight changes to inventory (Lara can now equip individual pieces of a set rather than needing to put on the whole thing at once) it feels very similar, and to be honest, that's OK. Rise was a great game and it played really smooth, and although I haven't finished this one yet I'm more than willing to put it on this list. It runs a little janky on my PC, but that might be because I was underspecced for it. Not sure. Fritz Coldcockin fucked around with this message at 19:28 on Dec 3, 2018 |
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Dec 3, 2018 15:22
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Oh cool this started. Personally I'm going to use my own rules for qualifying titles which are a bit more strict - I only count games that were released this year, and if they're remakes I can't have played the original. So Radiant Historia and TWEWY are invalid for me, but Spyro could be included (it won't be). I do have 3 more potential games that I might get to that might make my list but I may still put up a preliminary list later today and edit it if necessary.
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Dec 3, 2018 15:58
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#1. A Way Out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ApSmPvxz1o This is such a wonderful gem. Take a narrative game like the Telltale games, Heavy Rain and make it a mandatory two-player coop game. I suppose the fact that forcing the player to play with a buddy at all times might have worked against it, but if you want to play online, only one player has to buy the game. The other can download a separate version and use an invitation to play. It's a fairly short game. I finished it with a buddy in about three evenings consisting of about two hours each, but it's definitely one of high points in gaming this year. The two characters work really well off each other, there are multiple solutions to various puzzles, and the story just works well and never really gets boring. The gameplay consists of various things, from exploration, investigating, to action scenes and some third-person shooting events. There are some wonderful sequences in there that I won't spoil, but the game just kept on surprising us from start till end. Seriously, it's good, it's short, and it's a fun experience to have with a buddy. Play it in either couch coop or multiplayer, it works the same either way. #2. Stellaris https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Unl15Vl0btI This game is too addictive for me. I had multiple times where I would "just play for a hour or so" at 10PM, and ended up going to bed at 5AM. I haven't had that in a long time. I basically stopped playing during a certain busy time at work, because I knew that it would just suck me into it. The main thing that I'm getting out of this game is its storytelling. One of the main things I love about 4X are the 'stories' that often come out of them(the relationships between Empires, that one war that lasted for too long, the small colony that has become the center-point in its area), and for me, Stellaris excels at that. Every game I've played felt as if I was building a new sci-fi franchise. There are so many events that can happen, including a few big ones that can completely change the power structure. Which I really like. Even when I'm far more powerful than the other Empires, things may happen that will give the other an opportunity to rise above me. There were also some updates this year that completely changed how battles works, and for me, for the better. The game feels more strategic now and I actually feel as if I understand what to do during a war. The upcoming update on Thursday will also have a remarkable impact for planet management that I'm looking forward to. #3. Beatsaber https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rIjcRK_BNU I love lightsabers. I love rhythm games. I love VR. And I've been wanting to try this game when I saw the first trailer which was nothing more than someone playing the game for thirty seconds. Mix it all together, and you have one of those rare games where I try my best to reach the highest score. It's also one of those easy-to-pick-up-hard-to-master games, one that everyone has enjoyed when I let them play it. Add a modding community that is adding their own songs and other additions, and you have a game that will hopefully lead to a franchise for years to come. #4. Skyrim VR https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gdrHfi5K_w I only briefly played Skyrim before, but never really got into it. And I'm really glad that I didn't up to now. While it does sometimes feel that the VR was basically wedged into it(in particular when fighting dragons), it also has enough moments that just wow more in VR. The fact that it's also running fairly well on a PSVR is mighty impressive. I'm about 40 hours into the game, having finished the first DLC and the Civil War quest, and I'm really looking forward to see if I can finish the other DLC and the main quest. One particular moment stood out for me: I was in a village at some point, and a dragon flew by. While the civilians were panicking and the guards were grabbing their weapons, I quickly took out my sword and prepared a spell while looking at the dragon. And it's difficult to explain, but that just felt so incredibly heroic in VR. I really felt as if I was the main hero in a story. I'll likely get it on the HTC Vive at some point just for the mods, I'm really interested in the speech-to-text mod, that feels really immersive). #5. Star Wars - Galaxy of Heroes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rN6IJazuxMc Not sure if mobile games are allowed, but I'm going to mention this one anyway. This game is just about the perfect mobile game for me. It's essentially all about collecting digital action figures and then letting them fight each other. For the past few months, I've booted it once a day, just for fun. It also helps that they've really managed to capture the characters in a way that makes sense. I'm not too bothered about getting the perfect meta or gathering a team that can destroy everything, I'm just enjoying my time collecting the action figures when I can and see how far I can get. In general, I also don't really mind the energy or its recharge time, there's more than enough things to do(like raids or the Galactic War) that there will always be something for me to do. Not caring much for the fleet battles tho'. Those are just boring.
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Dec 3, 2018 16:02
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Baron von der Loon posted:Not sure if mobile games are allowed, but I'm going to mention this one anyway. A video game is a video game, friend
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Dec 3, 2018 19:19
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