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I barely played ten games this year but I'll rate em anyway! Below is a list of all the significant games I played this year in order of goodness imo! 10) Fire Emblem: Thracia 776  (pictured: a false timeline where my thief killed an infamously tough boss) So, this year I thought to myself, there's a fairly large gap in my knowledge of fired emblems. I had anxiety thinking about getting through them on my own though, I wanted some friends to help me out. So I decided to stream this game on Discord among a Fire Emblem community made up of fellow goons. This journey started with Genealogy of the Holy War, but I'm talking about this game first because I like it less! For every neat feature that Thracia 776 has, like the whole Capturing mechanic or Thieves' ability to steal anything, not just items, there's something super dumb like inability to dodge status magic that reaches the entire screen or completely imbalanced weapon level correspondence to differing tiers of weapon. Not to mention, it was just legit hard. I used so many save states I don't even know if I can consider this game truly "beaten", but in an ideal situation I suppose my level of skill would have been enough to get through it eventually. Anyway, I don't hate this game but it's, like, a solid D. 9) Mega Man Star Force 2: Zerker x Saurian (i played Saurian)  I don't like deck builder games, which this one is unabashedly. But I played this anyway, for a few reasons. Many folks around me were fans of this series and of Battle Network preceding it, and being an observer from the outside made me feel like I didn't truly understand what was the appeal fully. So I decided to play the next game in the series, so to speak, completely skipping 1 and leaving 3 for another time. Overall, I liked the game, mostly because of its nonsensical story, taking it in stride. The neat character moments are few and far between and I appreciated them when they came up. The gameplay was also better than what I saw of 1, having an easier way to stay powered up and even easier ways to break the game over your knee if you wanted to. I tried not to abuse this too much but I did do a little bit for endgame stuff. 100% completing any game in this series and its predecessor is an exercise in frustration, and I highly recommend anyone playing along to, uh, not do that, and just enjoy the main story and leave the rest behind. 8) Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War  (pictured: without fast-forward this game sure takes a while!) The other half of my stream journey this year, and the one I played before Thracia. I enjoyed it a lot more. There are still things I dislike about it, namely the whole Pursuit skill as a whole and the inability to easily transfer items between characters unless you're rich, which does get easier as the game goes. But inheritance and children are fun and feel like more of a puzzle than the 3DS games. The big maps are offputting at first but not completely awful once you get used to them. Getting strong feels satisfying, and throwing around holy weapons lategame like candy is icing. I wish the plot wasn't so uncomfortable but overall I feel this game did more right than Thracia 776 did. 7) Timespinner  While filling in my time near the end of the year I picked up this title on a recommendation for a metroidvania. It's a blissfully short experience, but what is there is very tight. There's a fully imagined world with meaningful characters, the gameplay uses an interesting blend of classic metroidvania mechanics with the orb system. The time travel mechanic also leads to a few interesting touches here and there, like when I first noticed the change of the main statue in the library to the Eternal Mother, but as others have said it's not as robust as it could have been. Really, though, I think it's good that a game uses a time travel story as more of a setpiece for the story overall rather than defining the game's mechanics behind it. Overall it's a solid game with a bittersweet tale behind it, but not on the legendary level at all like GOAT Hollow Knight, just a nice little time 6) Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age https://twitter.com/Alxprit/status/1229573899966271488 (pictured: rapidly screening zones to see if I could get the infamous Zodiac Spear) Another title I kind of wanted to play because opinions on it are quite divisive and I wanted to forge my own path. Immediately I liked the way the game handled its combat. Gambits make fighting against normal mobs brainless, but when you get to big boss fights you have to somewhat forego the gambits and start making your own strategies on the fly, especially when you wander into high-level areas early and start fighting Espers before you ought to - it was quite fun! Completing the game eluded me unfortunately, as I wasn't willing to put in the time to grind myself up and adequately prepare for Yiazmat. Kinda dumb that during the last 10% of its HP it just decides to be twice as strong and if you're not ready for that you die, but oh well. As for the plot, eh, it's there. Not incredible but it services enough of an excuse to go from area to area. I didn't find Vaan as useless as most people do. Penelo is a much worse tagalong that didn't really need to be there, imo. Genuinely enjoyable at its core though. 5) Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition https://twitter.com/Alxprit/status/1267528291923025920 Xenoblade is a masterpiece, but I can't rate it too highly since it is a re-release. The new features and QoL they added to this version are fantastic though. Especially in terms of sidequest tracking stuff. I especially appreciated the marking of the endless blue balls of collectables based on their importance, though I wish they had put that tracking in for Reconstruction as well, and also maybe indicated if an NPC had it available to trade. Expert Mode was also very nice as a way to make sure everyone's levels stayed the same because I'm anal like that. I don't really care if the game is too easy because I pushed my levels too high or whatever, but I'm glad the hardcore people can get more enjoyment out of that at least. As for the new scenario, Future Connected, it was good! I had some very strong emotional reactions to the scenes involving Melia and Tyrea, Kino is a cute little baby, and the new map was fun to explore. I missed some of the features from the original not making it in like Chain Attacks, and I did struggle a bit with the final boss and superboss, but overall it's a much more attainable completion than the main game. The time trials suck though, won't gussy those up at all. 4) Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond the Myth  (pictured: a cool enemy) I feel bad that I missed out on this game for so long just because I was apprehensive about picking my 3DS back up after the Switch, well... existed. This series is known very well for its high difficulty and robust customizability with its character class systems. However, despite all that, Etrian Odyssey as a whole feels to me like comfort food. I got some friends to play as classes of their choice in order for me to avoid analysis paralysis, and while it seemed like it would be a pretty drat weak party (Pugilist, Masarao, Warlock, Shaman, Botanist) I ended up getting more attached to it as I went, finding weird synergies and ways to deal good damage - and having a dedicated binder was very nice all things considered. I didn't beat the final superboss at the end of the sixth stratum, but I got close enough that I can feel satisfied with what I was able to do with my time here. I can't wait to play Etrian Odyssey Nexus sometime next year. 3) Monster Hunter World: Iceborne  (pictured: my Fatalis killshot, lame as it is) Can't believe this game came out in January! That's wild to me! I had been waiting on playing this game for quite some time. First, it came out exclusively on consoles for a period of time, but I knew it was coming to PC so I waited. Then, when it did come out on PC, they also announced whoops we're also putting out Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate on Switch! So I figured why play the latest and greatest game in the series if it would only cheapen how I feel about a game that essentially came out before it? So I played that for hundreds of hours and then I had to take my year-ish break from Monster Hunter as a whole in order to recuperate my desire to play it. With the pandemic rearing its ugly head, I finally decided I needed a game I could play for hundreds of hours, again, so I bought World and Iceborne jointly when they were on sale around late March or so and it's been an incredible experience. The QoL is extreme, too many things to list here but it makes the older games really feel old (glad I did what I did!). My primary weapon, the Lance, got some really wicked tools to make it more mobile and more fun to use. Its clutch counter is INCREDIBLE, gives me goosebumps still every time I pull it off! The new monster designs could have been better, I wished there was a greater variety than simply Wyverns and Dragons but I understand they were using an entirely new system. I didn't play much with other people starting out, but once I got a friend group together things got even more fun. This game isn't perfect by any means, but it was a drat good first attempt at their 5th generation, and I legitimately cannot wait for Monster Hunter Rise. 2) Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling https://twitter.com/Alxprit/status/1272301838751027201 (pictured: the Gamer achievement for playing arcade minigames) Though this game came out last year, I thought to myself, I can wait. I want to play it on Switch, the superior console, so I won't bother buying it on Steam for now. Fast forward a grueling half-year of wait and it finally releases. Ironically, near Xenoblade Chronicles' release date, which caused me great peril. But I did eventually sit down and play it a bit. Now, this game has mechanics that serve as a spiritual successor to the battle system of Paper Marios of yore. It's a very enjoyable system, which is why many people have yearned to see it return. Not only does this game bring back what makes that general system good, it expands upon it to create legitimate challenges that a company like Nintendo would probably be too afraid to stick into their official game. The game isn't too hard, but there are options included to make it harder, and even when not playing on the Hard Mode I found myself struggling with some optional bosses like the dreaded Devourer. Learning how to synergize my team properly, bring the right items to the right battles, sussing out the best moves for each situation, and actively switching leader position based on who could either do the most damage or take the most punishment... there were a lot of layers that made fighting fun. Exploration was also fun, with many legitimate secrets leading to genuine surprises and treasures hiding for those that cared to look. This isn't even mentioning the character writing in the game which oozes passion, humor and genuine emotion and feelings. You watch the three main characters slowly become stronger friends with each other and influencing those around them as they become more notable and capable. The world is connected by your actions, growing and slowly becoming a better place. It's a true escapist fantasy to the highest degree. The only main flaw I have with the game is that the graphical style is kind of ugly, like it wanted to be a fake N64 game but didn't fully commit to a nostalgic look while also not looking as good as it maybe could have. Play this game, people. 1) Trials of Mana (2020) https://twitter.com/Alxprit/status/1240708557558829058 The original Seiken Densetsu 3 is my favorite game of all time. I've played it at least 20 times, maybe more, and I used to play it once per year. That's slowed down a bit. I played the original when it came out on the Seiken Densetsu Collection on Switch back near its launch. It was Japanese only but I had played the game so much I didn't really need to be able to read it to get through it. Plus the idea of finally legitimately owning the game I loved so much tickled me. Then the localized version of it got announced, which blew me away. Then the REMAKE was announced, which sent my spirit straight to heaven. After experiencing the new translation on the Collection, I picked up the remake the day it came out back in April on Switch. In terms of budget it might be no Final Fantasy VII remake, but the amount of love the developers had for the game was clearly visible, especially after the slapdash job that was the Secret of Mana remake a few years back. A completely overhauled battle system that had attacks, combos, dodging, and active magic really spruced up the gameplay quite a bit. Making areas larger and more explorable and putting actual real treasure chests on the field also helped make the world feel alive. All the enemies and characters look so smooth and cute and beautiful, and the aesthetics of the various updated areas filled me with joy, especially final dungeons like Mirage Palace. The new postgame scenario is not super extraordinary, but it did lead to a pretty cool new boss design and a little smattering of series-wide lore that I'm still not sure I understand. I loved this game. Then I got mad at No Future Mode, but that's not the game's fault, it's mine. I'll prepare adequately and do it better soon. Hope you liked my list even though it included games people would probably say are irredeemable! I look forward to reading everyone else's opinions. Alxprit fucked around with this message at 00:32 on Dec 29, 2020 |
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Dec 9, 2020 23:27
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 08:27 |
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DimiPZC posted:I was gonna make a list but then I realized I only played one new game this year. Thankfully, that one game was an absolute joy to play, and I wish I had played any other game that came out this year so I could put the one I played above whatever else I played. I didn't play Origami King but I have to recognize that it is actually very competently designed and if you can handle the puzzle battles you have a sharp funny and heartwarming story that goes places Paper Mario has truly never gone. Bug Fables is still better though 
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Dec 13, 2020 22:22
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it's a good op with fun jokes and I recommend reading it all
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Dec 14, 2020 02:57
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I barely finished another game before the end of this year so I added it to my list to make it a nice even ten! Here's the description for those that don't want to go back and find my post.Alxprit posted:7) Timespinner
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Dec 29, 2020 00:34
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Personally, I'd like to say great CELESTE writeup, VG
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Dec 29, 2020 17:07
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Geo Fixer posted:Okay so here is my list for 2020: You have great taste.
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Dec 30, 2020 06:53
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 08:27 |
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Hooray I got one quote in 
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Jan 10, 2021 00:33
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