mgalchemist

Persona 3 and 4 had me more invested in and attached to the world/setting and characters more than any game, but Resident Evil 7 and Prey the top contenders for being fully engaged with the game and feeling "like I'm there"; both have killer atmosphere and design, and Prey in particular had the immersive-sim game elements that felt more engaging than many other games.

@frostyryan: That's actually exactly why I'm bummed out about how the soundtrack for this remake seems so far; not only did they bring back obvious things like the save theme, but even other great tracks like that puzzle room theme and the theme for the shark tank got great remixes, alongside the newer stuff. REmake's soundtrack was fantastic!

@snakeeater321: Oh wait seriously? I’d still like to see remixes of old tracks but that’s actually pretty cool.

I really like how this seems to be turning out, but I'm a little worried that they've thrown out the original game's score in favor of kinda-generic horror game ambience. Then again, we've only really seen combat sequences and more scary moments for the trailers, so maybe it'll be there in the final game. The PS1 game's soundtrack (much like the other two PS1 RE titles) did a wonderful job setting an unsettling mood for the police station while not trying to be overtly "scary". At the very least though, I don't think they'd be dumb enough to throw out the save room theme. If they did, that'd be a tragedy.

I like The Backloggery a fair amount, it’s pretty customizable with how you wanna organize stuff. Admittedly though, I’d really love something with a mobile app (however, Backloggery’s mobile site is totally serviceable).

I came here to post Silent Hill 2; could you imagine Bluepoint doing to that game what they did for Shadow of the Colossus? It also could use it because I'm pretty sure that game isn't actually officially available anymore (other than buying second hand), and because of the way that game's visual and audio effects were designed specifically for the PS2, it really would need to be almost from scratch like SotC was (as we've learned from the numerous ports of SH2 that never worked quite as well). That game's visual design still holds up really well, but man, the idea of seeing it given a proper current gen makeover would be something special.

Shout out to all the people saying Persona 3, but if no gameplay changes are allowed for the sake of this discussion, than I'd have to disagree; that game needs Golden-style fixes to the mechanics, and maybe then some to make Tartarus a little more palatable. This is why I can't really say Persona 2 either as much as I firmly believe those games to be some of the most deserving of remakes--there needs to be serious overall to the mechanics, or at the bare minimum, random encounters need to go. SMT Nocturne would also be really nice, since I've never tried it, and would love it on switch, but again, could do without the random encounters.

I've played Drawful exactly one time, and yet I've had the little theme that plays when you're guessing pop in my head periodically for the past 11 months.

I also get the Roost theme from Animal Crossing stuck in my head fairly often despite never playing the games, but I can chalk it up to MK8's AC level. Granted, I know this one's probably supposed to be catchy, so it's maybe not quite what you meant, but man, what a jam.

I really enjoyed Furi when I finally got around to it this past summer. I love the concept of boss-only games, so this totally hit that sweet spot for me, along with a great presentation (seriously, I can't get enough of that soundtrack). I really enjoyed the bosses themselves for the most part, but I'll admit that there were a few "Okay, let's reel it in" moments. It's not the worst thing I've dealt with, but that final boss kinda sucked. All in all, a really cool action game.

What probably takes the cake though is Silent Hill 2. Even though I'd had the majority of the plot spoiled for me, it's been one of those games I felt I like I needed to play someday. And man, there is a reason that game is so well regarded. I have issues with the gameplay, it's far too easy overall, which makes the combat rarely feel threatening. Most of the scares come from the plot and the raw atmosphere. Thankfully, those two more than make up for the mediocre gameplay. The sound and visual design of SH2 are absolutely incredible to this day, especially with the PS2 original where the unique effects work best. If you're a fan of the horror genre and somehow have missed this one, I can't recommend it enough.

Of course, if it were to be a game I replayed, it'd easily be Persona 4 Golden. I enjoyed it a fair amount when I first played it two years ago, but since I had so much spoiled for me, it didn't have quite the same impact P3 did. However, I did an entire playthrough over the summer with two friends who knew nothing about it, and seeing them discover the world and mystery of Inaba was really something magical. Don't get me wrong, I liked P4G a real lot when I first played it, but this playthrough really cemented that I love that game.

This is a really minor thing, but as a heads up, fighting the boss of a dungeon takes up a day of its own, separate from exploring the dungeon. I say this because it's entirely possible that depending on your play-style (if you like spacing out dungeon time more, or doing things at the last minute), you could run into finishing the first dungeon too late and learning the hard way.

Other things I'd say from my experience:

-If you really like the combat in these games, I'd say give hard mode a shot; I found that it was overall pretty comfortable for someone with experience in the series. However, what makes this so much better is that they finally let you change the difficulty once you've started the game, so you can always change the current difficulty if you don't like it. It was a real bummer that even in P4G, they locked the difficulty slider to NG+ (however, I believe this game lacks the customization that one did).

-I definitely second making sure to do the Moon Confidant. The bonuses from it will make party management so much simpler and actually allow you to switch party members (without going out of your way to grind) unlike past games.

-As far as minor skill stuff goes: pretty much never let your party members keep revival skills (recarm, etc.) or "break" moves, as the former is easily replaced by an item and the latter is far too situational. Other than than that you can probably feel out what moves you want your party members to have.

-General point of advice for any of these games in case you didn't bother much in P4G (which isn't that hard overall): buffs and debuffs are more useful than in a lot of other RPGs, so always having some available, ESPECIALLY for boss fights, can help out immensely. Early on (by first or second dungeon) it shouldn't be too hard to fuse a persona with all three single-target debuffs, which can go a long way for boss fights, and you'll need it if you play on higher difficulties. Late game you can just fuse Trumpeter who gets debilitate, which applies all three debuffs in one go.

Hope you enjoy!

Probably Melia from Xenoblade Chronicles. I think most people who've played the game would agree she's one of the best characters in a game full of great ones. I really love that no matter how many awful things happen to her, and boy is there a lot, she never gives up on moving forward. I mean by the end the of the game, she never gets to confess to the guy she clearly had a crush on because his former crush turned out to not be dead, and yet she doesn't seem to hold a grudge against either of them! In general, watching the ending of that game, she seems no less happy and content than the other characters despite having lost her brother, almost the entirety of her race being extinct, and in general not having much left.

Also, story aside, she has a cool design and is pretty fun to play as in combat. You can rack up quite a lot of damage if you know how to use her spells.

Edit: added some clarification.