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This year I had less time than I wanted to play games, and played less games than I'd have liked. What I did play I largely loved though, the only real sour note this year was NIOH, almost everything else I played was a winner, which made making this year's list relatively straightforward. The only issue was rankings, with some games I knew would be higher ranked had I had a chance to play more of them... but I didn't, so here's where they ended up! 10. Resident Evil 7 Biohazard: Coming to this game with my last experience of Resident Evil being #5 made this a pretty crazy change of pace. Gone is 3rd person view, hordes of zombies and B-Grade action set-pieces.... replaced by 1st person view, few-and-far between fights and B-Grade horror set-pieces! Insanely good graphics, lighting and a creepy atmosphere makes sneaking through the massively detailed if decrepit homes of the bizarre family a good old fashioned exercise in paranoia and anxiety. Replacing mowing down multiple hordes of zombies with recurring Boss Fights means more time is spent on exploration and puzzle solving, which is a welcome change of pace and allows you to really drink in the atmosphere and experience the exquisitely realized and lovingly rendered decay.  9. Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap: I devoured this game as a child, and it stayed with me for years afterwards for it's neat concept: you open the game defeating the big bad guy right from the start... at which point you are cursed into an animal form and need to work your way through various animal forms (each with special abilities) in your quest to become human once more. This remaster manages to retain the charm from the original game admirably, making it look and sound like my mind THINKS it looked and sounded when I was a kid (you can switch to original graphics for a hell of a wake-up call of what it REALLY looked like). Charming, crisp, clean graphics and a fun soundtrack, the gameplay is simplistic but it is 30+ year old gameplay so you're getting EXACTLY what the game promises: a really pretty overhauled graphical version of a classic game.  8. State of Decay 2: The original game was janky fun, never quite living up to the promise it had to let you try and survive in an open world zombie apocalypse, scrounging for resources, exploring abandoned towns and farmhouses, hunting down working vehicles, working out how to fortify your base etc. This sequel gets closer, but is largely just a slightly upgraded version of what the first game already did... but the minor upgrades are welcome, and where the game shines is in the giant size of the randomly generated maps (within certain specific geographic frameworks). There is a paper-thin narrative, hampered by the laudable effort to make EVERY character not just playable but also a potential protagonist. But despite these negatives, when the game shines it really does shine in the way encounters/events and chain reactions let you build your own little screwed up survival stories. Running out of gas, accidentally alerting a horde, fighting your way free only to attract a special zombie, climbing a building and running through your rapidly diminishing resources trying to figure out how you are going to get through this one are the funnest times. There are plenty of these moments in the game, and thanks to that same ability to switch characters not every story has to end in a triumph - if a character dies, it's sad... but life goes on, at least until it doesn't.  7. Hades: This would be ranked higher if I'd played it more this year, in fact I haven't actually had a chance to play it since it came out of Early Access. But it is such a good, well-made, incredibly polished experience even during Early Access, that even months after I last played it I still consider it among the best games I've played all year. It's just such a pretty game, the combat plays so smoothly, the variety of weapons and the randomized nature of each new attempt to escape means every single time you play you're getting something different, and it's always a great time... even when it inevitably ends in a gruesome death and getting gently mocked as you go back to the start and try all over again.  6. XCOM Chimera Squad: It's kind of a surprise that a game that foregoes most of the standard elements of XCOM still turns out to be a ton of fun. Unlike other XCOMs, this time you have a fixed number of potential soldiers to use, and perma-death leads to instant failure. While there are still a number of variations of mission settings and different enemy make-ups, there is a firmer and more straightforward narrative to play through. Shorter, more straightforward and focused than the usual XCOM fare, this more concentrated experience is still a blast and in some ways is a bit of a relief, given that standard XCOM - as great as it is - can be a bit daunting in scope at times. Not this game, which I happily played through several times just to experience every potential variation of the story, the characters and the differing investigations. Having fixed soldiers allows some personality to shine through, getting to have aliens in your squad changes things up a bit and gives you a chance to try out new abilities and technologies, and it is really fun to mix-and-match different soldiers/abilities and tactics to accomplish your goals. Hopefully they take some of the neat ideas experimented with in this game and incorporate them into the next big XCOM game too.  5. Assassin's Creed Odyssey: This was on my list last year, based purely on having gotten through roughly the first 3rd of the game only. Now I've played the whole thing, and it's well worth including in a high spot on my list yet again. It's the best Assassin's Creed I've played so far (I haven't tried Valhalla yet), improving on Origins own improvements on the standard AC fare. Kassandra is the best protagonist of the series without any qualification, surpassing all others thanks to superb voice acting and some truly impressive facial animations that add plenty of character to everything she does. The game is huge, and while there is inevitably some repetition given the massive scope, the world is so astonishingly pretty that it is no great burden to have to explore it all. The Fate of Atlantis DLC has its issues though wisely largely follows the same mindset as the DLC from Origins in paying the barest lipservice to explaining things and just lets Kassandra gently caress about in the afterlife encountering Gods, ghosts and other supernatural beings. Sure there is still some of the boring modern day storyline periodically getting in the way of the actual fun, but unlike in previous games you can usually get through those sections in a couple of minutes and then promptly forget they exist again. Really, the only real downside to this game is the appallingly awful and disgusting creative decisions forced on the player in the Legacy of the First Blade DLC, which I highly recommend you never purchase, touch or even look at because it really is that bad. Everything else about this game is just fantastic though, and it seems like it'll be a long time before any AC character surpasses Kassandra.  4. Pillars of Eternity 2: This came out over two years ago, and apart from a couple of aborted early attempts to play, for some reason I kept putting off or not having time to really push through a sequel to a game I absolutely adored. When I finally did, it was exactly as I thought: I was a fool for not having done so sooner. POE2 takes everything the first game did well and improves upon it. It takes everything POE did badly and either abandons it or improves on that too. A bigger game, a bigger world to explore, a story that can easily standalone but also plays off events and reveals of the first game: POE2 is basically everything and more for those who enjoyed the first game in the series. The game looks fantastic, the art direction and sound design are top notch, the writing goes interesting places and manages to have enough variety that it is rare you feel like you are repeating yourself or getting sick of too much of the same thing. The ship combat is basically the only part of the game that feels like a misstep, or being too samey, and that is easily avoided or worked around. I felt like POE was a modern game that played like I remembered Baldur's Gate 1 playing. POE2 feels like I remember Baldur's Gate 2 being: a vast improvement in every aspect over the original. The game even manages to finish with a fairly definitive ending that still leaves room for another game in the series, while also being definitive enough that should this be the last POE game it would still be satisfying even if there are still some hanging threads out there. Hopefully this isn't the last Pillars of Eternity game though, and also hopefully I won't take so long to play it like I stupidly did with this game.  3. Horizon Zero Dawn: This game was raved about when it first came out on console, and I had assumed it would end up being one of those games that I just never got to play because it was doomed to never be released on PC. Happily I was wrong, and also happily I never suffered any of the bugs or issues that others experienced with the PC release. The game lived up to its hype, managing to walk the fine line between open world and cohesive plot that games like AC Odyssey - as much as I enjoyed it - did not. The themes and backstory are fascinating (and sometimes maddening, gently caress you Ted Faro) and uncovering the backstory and reasoning for how the world ended up this way is masterfully done in the course of your exploration. Aloy is also wonderfully realized, you can see why everybody she meets ends up being impressed by her, the writing and performance managing to shine through not just cutscenes but even the way you play her in the game. Also, despite the post-apocalyptic setting, the rampant ego of the antagonists, the monstrousness of so much of what you see and hear... the game is actually surprisingly and welcomingly optimistic. It's a game about how humans keep trying no matter how bad things get, and how for the most part the majority of people are actually good people who just want things to be okay for everybody. The ending is incredibly sweet and inspiring, bringing everything full circle and promising more to come... hopefully the wait between console and PC release for the now-announced sequel won't take as long as this one did!  2. Control: What a game! People raved about it when it first came out, but it was some kind of exclusive and I essentially forgot about it until finally it was released on Steam and I thought I'd give it a try and holllllyyyyy shiiiiit. The game just drips atmosphere, The Oldest House/FBC is incredibly creepy and unsettling but somehow as the game progresses it actually does start to feel like home. The way main character Jesse arrives as a fully realized character without alienating the player who knows far less than her until well into the game is an achievement unto itself: she has a backstory, a history and goals/plans that the player only becomes privy to as they "control" Jesse's path through the plot. There's a lot of this meta stuff going on, but it is to the game's credit that it all feels completely appropriate and suited to the story being told. That story is the real star, the combat and abilities - fun as they are, especially with the beautiful art direction and stunning graphics - play second fiddle to the exploration aspects. Uncovering the history and current events within the FBC, and the slowly emerging picture of the crisis that has already happened when the game starts, is just an absolute treat I wish I could experience again for the first time. The game manages to move between the creepy and the unsettling to outright comedy with remarkable ease, and never feels schizophrenic in doing it. In fact, things that should be goofy and funny are often the most unsettling of all (The Threshold Kids), while the Agency itself - which SHOULD be monstrous and alienating - ends up feeling like family who you want to look out for and protect. This game is innovative, tries new things, mixes up standard tropes and plays around with established ideas in weird, unusual and exciting ways. It's almost the best game of the year as a result... almost.  1. Dragonquest XI: This game is NOT innovative. It is NOT trying new things. It DOESN'T mix up standard tropes or play around with established ideas in weird, unusual and exciting ways. Instead, what it does is... be a JRPG. That's what it does, it is exactly what it appears to be on the surface. It's just... it does it so loving well! This is game design polished to a mirror shine, it takes a very standard story, very standard characters, a very standard hero's journey and executes them near to perfection. The characters shine, the relationships blossom naturally, the party becomes a family, the people of the world need your help and are grateful for it, the antagonist/s bring everybody to the brink of despair only to be undone by love and caring.... and it rules. It rules so goddamn much. This game is like sinking into a hot bath. Playing it makes me feel like this. It doesn't break the mold, it doesn't remake the wheel, it just gives you what you want: an RPG where you take control of a hero who goes on a quest, suffers setbacks, find friends, learns some valuable life lessons and then beats the bad guy. It's also unapologetically, gloriously optimistic. There comes a point in the game where you have won, but there have been losses and sadness on the way before your triumph. A game could easily end there and it would be going out on a high note. Instead, DQXI says "gently caress that, we're saving EVERYBODY!" and you get to dive deep into a brand new quest to save everybody who died or was hurt in the process of winning in the first place. It's... it's great. I love it, and I love this game. Normally I would have picked a game like Control as my Game of the Year because of how much it moved things forward/changed things up. Not this year, this year I'm going with the classics. Dragon Quest XI is the hyper-refined perfection of a tried-and-true formula, and it carries that as a point of pride. So it should, because it might not have been the most innovative or the cleverest or the prettiest or had the best writing... but it was the best game I played all year. Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 15:48 on Dec 21, 2020 |
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Dec 21, 2020 15:46
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That's come up a few times in the DQXI thread too - some people really disliked that aspect of the game, I thought it was fantastic. I think a nice thing about the game is that, given there is a credits sequence after you defeat the first antagonist players can have it both ways if they like and let things stand as they were or try to make the change. For me, the thought that there was any chance I could spare the heartache and loss of good people who suffered through no fault of their own even after the ultimate victory of good over evil was one I was delighted to be given a chance to take.
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Dec 21, 2020 16:32
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anakha posted:Fully agree, J-Ru. This is another reason I had DQXI as my No. 2 game this year. Not just him but also the party itself. They willingly accept that the happy ending they achieved is going to be wiped out purely on the hope that the hero can achieve something better, and they do it happily because they believe in him and selflessly are willing to take the risk he can pull it off. One of the party members in particular is REALLY investing everything in their belief - Hendrik knows that the hero is going back to a time when Hendrik was utterly devoted to his destruction but he believes with all his heart that the hero will not only succeed but that he will bring them all back together again. I adore that game.
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Dec 22, 2020 01:36
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StrixNebulosa posted:Shout out to this list being so good that despite this game not being on sale, I picked it up anyways and just spent the last forty minutes being utterly delighted at a classic yet modern jrpg. Thank you so much for writing it up, I would have avoided it otherwise and no, it's perfect for my mood. Hell yeah, enjoy the next 100+ hours of pure refined JRPG 
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Dec 23, 2020 06:39
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Release 
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Dec 24, 2020 03:56
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DemoneeHo posted:The official DemoneeHo 2020 games of the year list Just wanna say outside of anything else, I loved the pictures you put together with your list 
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Dec 29, 2020 03:04
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VideoGames posted:
Tales from the Borderlands was so good I haven't been able to play any "regular" Borderlands games since. I just can't see any of them topping how incredible Tales was, and everything I've heard indicates I was right to think so. It's so good, it's so funny, it's so well-designed, it's genuine and emotional and stupid and hilarious and I loved it so much. It's hard to pick out a favorite moment among so many, but it's perhaps this scene that I most often think of when I think of the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMhuQ4GRzZc The first 30 seconds of this video are so, so loving good. And the intro of every episode is a masterpiece, basically.
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Dec 30, 2020 03:01
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I already put it on my list, but in doing so it reminded me to play some more Hades, and goddamn if Hades doesn't rule and I should have been playing it more than I did this year.
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Dec 30, 2020 13:09
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nachos posted:2. Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone Have you played Blood & Wine yet? I loved Heart of Stone but I think B&W is about as close to perfection as DLC (but really an expansion) as you're gonna get, with an absolutely incredible ending both to the DLC and the game as a whole.
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Dec 31, 2020 00:05
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Oh my God I cannot wait to play through Yakuza 3-6 just so I can get to Yakuza 7, it looks batshit in the best possible way.
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Dec 31, 2020 07:14
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punk rebel ecks posted:As someone who "jumped" straight from Kiwami 2 to Yakuza 7, just do yourself a favor and jump into it right now. I still have other games to play and when I'm done with them, the older Yakuzas are gonna be out on Steam at last and I can FINALLY play them, so I'm gonna enjoy them first and play everything "in order" even knowing 7 is largely standalone. Just means I have something incredible(r) to look forward to
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Dec 31, 2020 07:38
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Hammer Bro. posted:I feel like I'm missing something here -- Heart of Stone was a small but tight story; B&W was a fun big extra area but the ending seemed to only have to do with the characters you met in the expansion. I can only speak for myself, but what you have under the spoiler felt like the icing on the cake for me, on top of the fun of seeing Geralt of Rivia being pulled into what is essentially a straight up fantasy fairytale land (and in true Witcher style, of course, finding the darker poo poo going on under the surface). There's a sense of beautiful closure there to the game trilogy, and wrapping things up with Geralt essentially realizing,"Hey... I can be happy here....", regardless of who that is with (Yennefer ) is a really sweet moment that feels truly earned.
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Jan 1, 2021 07:49
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BeanpolePeckerwood posted:Inclusion of Titanfall 2 is a pro move. Picked that game up on sale not long after it came to Steam, I really need to play it.... and Kentucky Route Zero... and Nier Automata.... and the Outer Wilds.... and convince the cowards at Sony to let the cowards at FROM release Bloodborne on PC.....
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Jan 6, 2021 07:35
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I'm gonna miss the liveposting of the winners 
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Jan 8, 2021 01:31
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ShallNoiseUpon posted:Let me tell you about this cool year we've got now it's 2021 and you can put them on your list this year! My list for 2021 is legit gonna be half Yakuza games and I'm so loving happy about it 
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Jan 8, 2021 03:54
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In 1958, scientists marveled at the first recorded instance of a "good year", but struggled to figure out what caused it. Now we know.
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Jan 8, 2021 07:42
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"Also available on PC." You glorious bastards.... but also I really should get around to playing that copy of FF15 sitting in my Steam library 
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Jan 8, 2021 10:48
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I am so happy to see love for DQ11. It was the first Dragon Quest I ever played (oddly enough, the second one I ever play will be Yakuza 7!) and I just fell in love. It's so great. Also the Sylvando personal questline with his dad accepting and embracing his son's dreams and supporting him is legit just a beautiful thing.
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Jan 9, 2021 05:57
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 Rankings, gimme the rankings!
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Jan 9, 2021 21:38
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I got 2 questions. Number one, where are the rankings? Number two, gimme the rankings.
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Jan 9, 2021 22:00
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I mortgaged the house on Ring Fit Adventure winning the entire year, oh God they're gonna break my knees. 
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Jan 9, 2021 22:03
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Rarity posted:We don't want a few minutes, we want now Hey, you don't know how much work goes into thi.... 
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Jan 9, 2021 22:04
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I know literally nothing about Bugsnax except seeing the announcement trailer for it left me utterly bewildered. But apparently it is a very good game, the 60th best of the year!
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Jan 9, 2021 22:09
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VideoGames posted:Just so you are aware, I had everyone's lists attached to their name in my spreadsheet and accidentally erased the links. I'm doing a similar spreadsheet for a thread in Punchsport Pagoda and this post hurts my soul.
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Jan 9, 2021 22:17
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Dragon Quest XI  I only wish I'd played you sooner so I could have participated in getting you a higher ranking in an earlier year 
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Jan 9, 2021 22:18
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Regy Rusty posted:It was my number 1 in 2018. One of the best RPGs of all time. Just an absolutely wonderful delight of a game. I'm so happy at least a couple of people who hadn't played it before decided to pick it up in this thread, it's just so great.
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Jan 9, 2021 22:20
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Hell yes 
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Jan 9, 2021 22:23
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I'm surprised Desperados is so low, but then again I haven't bought it yet so maybe I'm part of the problem.
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Jan 9, 2021 22:27
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Yes! POE2 is so great, I had it sitting in my library for way too long before finally playing it and I have regrets!
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Jan 9, 2021 22:33
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FlowerRhythmREMIX posted:Is Pillars of Eternity II enough of a departure storywise from Pillars of Eternity that I can skip that one to play II? I would definitely recommend playing the first, but if you don't, the game fills you in on a ton and lets you set up a variety of game world situations that might have happened in the 1st game to set the stage for the second. 2 basically does everything that 1 did but better, so I highly recommend it.
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Jan 9, 2021 22:39
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You know who should play Prey? EVERYBODY! It's seriously an absolutely fantastic game, and the Mooncrash DLC was a surprisingly fun twist on the gameplay.
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Jan 9, 2021 22:48
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Man I really need to get a Switch just so I can play these Zelda games 
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Jan 9, 2021 22:57
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I believe I have put about 650 hours into the entire Hitman franchise. Nearly 600 of those hours come from Hitman 2016 and Hitman 2  Nearly 400 of those hours come from Hitman 2 
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Jan 9, 2021 23:00
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ShallNoiseUpon posted:was honestly expecting you to go for bret the shitman fart Ahem, that's Butt "The Shitman" Fart
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Jan 9, 2021 23:01
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Party Boat posted:I need to play more Hitman 2, I've only played Hitman 1 levels in it so far. Oh man, they're really good, particularly Miami.
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Jan 9, 2021 23:02
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Rarity posted:I just messaged him and he said "who? are they australian? i'm so high right now" Quick, everybody in BYOB has to work an Australian theme into their posting now!
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Jan 9, 2021 23:05
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ShoogaSlim posted:at the car dealership negotiating the purchase of my lease, and this thread is great entertainment in between the sales guy going back and forth to "his manager" when i keep telling him to make the offer better Make sure you get the extended warranty, you'd be a fool not to take advantage!
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Jan 9, 2021 23:20
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Hey I own Squadrons, I should... I should probably play it. Why are there so many videogames!?!
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Jan 9, 2021 23:23
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cheetah7071 posted:*clears throat* The Chicago Sun-Times FINALLY have a replacement for Ebert! Relax Or DIE posted:star bores squad yawns Two!
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Jan 9, 2021 23:24
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 Thank you CF I will watch it later
Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 23:28 on Jan 9, 2021 |
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Jan 9, 2021 23:26
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