I will play almost any JRPG put out there, it’s my favourite genre by far. I Am Setsuna I fell off halfway through for how lifeless it seemed.
This, if it is possible, seems worse. At least I Am Setsuna went for its aesthetic, with the snow and piano, even if it wore thin. This just seems like it was put together with generic RPG maker tools. I was hoping they’d really go all in on fixing everything that I Am Setsuna struggled with.
Pretty happy to see these because VNs are probably my favourite genre of game, I’d love them to tackle stuff like Danganronpa at some point. Especially as it has more gamey elements.
That said, I agree with other sentiments that it is really hard to get much from an hour coverage of a VN. It’d be like reading the first chapter of a bunch of different books. I’d rather they stick to one game for the whole series. This goes especially for the dating sims that subvert the genre in some fashion, like this or Doki Doki. They actually miss the main thrust of the game. I get that they can’t do a multi part series for every game, but I would be totally cool with them picking one that really interests them and just sticking to it.
Regardless, I am happy these games are getting any attention at all.
@declanus45: I like Brad, he is one of my favourite writers on staff and often one of the staff I tend to agree with the most.
His temper tantrum with Destiny 2 was just ridiculous though. I get they had been in that room a while, but saying "Destiny 2 has to be on this list or I am going to draw this out until everyone gives up" was childish at best. It is a fine looking game I guess, though I think the fact that half the models are re-used should disqualify it. His way of arguing it was...not good though.
@linkster7: A LOT of the staff seem enamored with that game, and I wouldn't be surprised if it made their overall top 10 list this year.
I have learned to just ignore their Destiny talk. I bought Destiny 1 cause some staff liked it and burned out before level cap. Destiny 2 I did the same, and while I hit level cap I didn't even finish the story.
Now this is a solid list, leave it to Rorie to have probably the list I agree with the most. Bonus points for giving Horizon it's rightful number one spot.
Now I just wish he was in on GOTY deliberations so he could be the Horizon champion we need.
The only jack box game I have never understood is the shirt one, and I especially don’t get why it’s their favourite. Maybe it’s an American thing but I don’t get why it is supposed to be funny, are the shirts some big reference I am missing? Is it only funny when you are participating? I finally get how the scoring works but that doesn’t seem to ultimately matter much either.
Easily my favourite game of the year (at least the base game), but Dan seems to be a weird person to showcase this QL given that he doesn't actually engage with the combat whatsoever. It is probably some of the most fun I have had in video game combat, setting up traps and figuring out weaknesses and behaviors of all the machines.
Still, it stands VERY strong from a story perspective, but I feel Dan is maybe doing himself a disservice with his approach.
Then again, I may just be a different type of gamer. I remember when people were leaving this game for Zelda, and I went in the opposite direction. Never really got back to Zelda either. May just be looking for different things.
Anyway, this QL looks like more of Horizon, which is basically all I wanted.
Currently a few hours into this, and it may be my favorite Assassin’s Creed to date, which is saying a lot as I love the series probably more than I really should.
The setting and characters seem fine, and Egypt is mostly a pretty underused historical setting. Those are things you would expect from an AC game though. The things it does new are where it really shines. The combat seems a lot better than the chain countering fest of previous games and loot is always a welcome addition as well. The traversal though, is SO good. Apparently Link was this guy’s climbing instructor because you can climb basically anything now. You aren’t confined to obvious handholds and it’s super impressive for a such a good looking game to manage that kind of freedom as well.
For me, this may be the first game to challenge Horizon for my GOTY if it keeps going at this pace. Some of the meta story stuff, which I usually love, is falling a bit flat but hopefully that shapes up more later.
I learned today that I apparently have like the polar opposite TV tastes to the entire cast of GB East, especially re: Doctor Who.
I am curious if it is a case of knowing the original or not though. I grew up watching the old series, so I kind of appreciate how campy the new stuff is to keep the original flavour. I wonder if people who dislike it have mostly only seen the new series? It balances those kind of camp tributes to the original with some of the best moments of TV.
@paulunga: Having played a lot of both, it's not far off. It's a very raid-centric theme park style MMO, which is basically what WoW popularized. I would say that they put significantly more effort into the crafting systems in FFXIV though.
Addfwyn's comments