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The decision to not kill off Yotsuyu and Gosetsu was really one of the most disappointing thing about Stormblood. One of the things that bothered me at the beginning of Heavensward was their refusal to allow the old Scions to die and instead bring them back for another round. While yes, some of those characters did work a second time (and two of them, as far as I know, are dead for realsies now), those roles could have been fulfilled by new characters still. This just makes the story feel emotionally exhausting because in all likelihood I'm being emotionally manipulated into caring about something that in the long run doesn't matter. They're removing consequences from events so often that it makes it difficult to really invest in anything that happens for me.

I'm really looking forward to this. It has a really nice look to it. The combat looks great, too. I really like the idea of a game that is trying to explore the historical importance of rice agriculture to Japanese daily life. That it is doing it with this sidescrolling beat'em up playstyle mixed with mini-harvest moon farming is interesting.

If they put Persona 5 on the Switch I'd have literally no reason to buy a ps4.

PC, though I'm really enjoying my Switch as well.

@onemanarmyy: But none of those are actually merits as much as things he likes about the game. It is an argument that had anybody (other than Vinny) played the game they could poke a thousand holes through. Similarly, what Vinny and Abby argued is what they liked about the game. What you're asking for is Vinny and Abby to be more articulate than Austin. It could still be boiled down to, "I like the game systems, I like the art, and I like the ending." Like yeah, its cool that Austin is well-reasoned, articulate, and didn't take for granted that he'd have to defend Invisible Inc, but it also doesn't make Abby and Vinny's approach to Dream Daddy wrong when they're arguing their passion for the game differently.

@rurounigeo: Oh, I wasn't addressing Dream Daddy at all. I don't care about it and haven't played it. So I can't really argue about it. My main point is addressing sexism and objectification in Nier:Automata since those were Abby's main points against it (along side it having repetitive gameplay). I don't think using Dream Daddy as an argument for or against Nier, or Nier as an argument against Dream Daddy is fair. They're two different games that touched different members of the staff in different ways. That is kind of all it comes down to for it being on the list. I understand that people are upset that Persona 5, Horizon, or Yakuza didn't get the 10th spot because of it, but I feel like depriving the 10th spot of being that passion spot just because there were more good games isn't fair either. Like, Invisible Inc. wasn't a top 10 game the year it came out either (t wasn't even the best cyberpunk game that year), and all Austin did in those deliberations is argue that he loved the game. He just happens to be more articulate about what he loved about it than Abby and Vinny with regard to Dream Daddy.

As far as character agency in Dating Sims go, you won't hear much argument about that from me. In general characters in Dating Sims have very little agency because they function as some form of wish fulfillment for the player (except in games where expectations or tropes are subverted). I don't know how Dream Daddy handles this (some of the characters can't enter a relationship with the player I guess?), but I don't expect its -too- different from that. The sims is kind of the same. While sims have some personal desires and wants/needs, these are more in service of creating gameplay problems on the way to player wish fulfillment. But, at the end of the day I can't address any specific sexism or objectification in Dream Daddy because I have no interest in playing that game (since it takes a lot for a visual novel to really interest me).

@rurounigeo: I agree that her attack against Nier is unfair, but I don't think you're selling it either. Using Japanese norms as an argument against it being objectifying doesn't change whether or not it is acceptable. Not that you're using it, but similarly using, "Well, it has sexy or hot men, so its not sexist," doesn't change that either. These are very base level arguments that do not refute a point. The first one is merely accusing a culture of being objectifying or sexist as a whole, the second is excusing the objectification of men so that they can objectify women. This is a much more complicated argument than either of these points give credit for.

I do not think the game is sexist. I can see the argument that it is objectifying, though playing it I never felt that way. A lot of it comes down to who you see as having agency in that world and how intentional things like the shortness of the dress are for seeing her panties or if it is a fashion choice. The first one there is zero question that 2B and A2 have absolute agency in that world. They are powerful characters. Even at the beginning of route C I did not feel like 2B was weak or disempowered, but in a sense at her most powerful. As far as the second thing, I felt like it was a fashion choice. I can see the argument that Yoko Taro is a pervert and did it because he enjoys looking at 2B's ass, but at a glance the dresses and uniforms are super cool looking. The designs definitely are not pervy in the way that Vinny brings up.

The presence of the camera and the player as being able to look up her skirt, and there being an achievement for it is a weird point to me. The camera argument makes some sense, but its not as if the camera is intentionally going up her skirt. If you take it as a focal point argument, it is never that in moments where the skirt is more likely to flip. The eye is usually drawn stronger to the action and explosions of the robots, or the sparks and hit animations. These things have very strong visual draw both in terms of how clean they stand out on the screen, but how they clash against the kind of washed out color palette. In general, these artistic choices make me feel the camera argument is a lot weaker than the achievement argument. The achievement is kind of gross, but also kind of funny.

Basically, there are some objectifying elements, but the game definitely is not as objectifying as say, Senran Kagura, whose entire gameplay loop is about knocking the clothes off of women. Overall the game makes a lot of attempts to give its female leads power and agency. I can't argue against somebody who found some of those elements distracting or objectifying because I can see where they're coming from, but I feel like the ways the game gives power to its lead characters at the very least overrides that for me. It is not a perfect depiction of female characters in video games for sure, but it does way more than a lot of other games. The objectification is also kind of overblown, even if some of it is present. At the very least I can forgive some of it for how much it does to empower its female characters.

I was more interested in it before I learned that it was a horror game.

Most of the steam reviews are positive. Its sitting at 93% positive right now. There are issues, like it being 30 fps locked, a controller bug, and a tab issue, but other than that people are enjoying it. I'm hoping to play some tonight.

My list probably isn't as long as others here, but my top 3 is looking roughly like:

1. Nier Automata: This kind of makes it into one of my favourite games of all time list. I did not have the same problem with the combat that many others did, but even if I did I think it would still be a strong contender for how crazy some parts of the game are. The entire ending sequence is amazing enough to hold it for me.

2. Tokyo Dark: I got this on a whim shortly after release, on a day in which I did not have class or work, and finished it in that afternoon. While the ending I got wasn't satisfying, how it got there was. Every step of the way I could feel its hooks getting deeper into me.

3. Prey: For me, the exciting thing about Prey is its ability to escalate the danger posing TALOS I every time you feel like you might have made progress. It is not a new way of telling the story, but when I saw the pattern emerging, my first thought was, "Okay, so how does this get worse?" It never disappointed, even at the end. While I can see how a lot of people would find the ending to be bullshit, even seeing it coming a mile away, I thought it was the most amazing part of the whole thing (note: I feel like if I was anyone else, I would have also thought the ending was bullshit, so do not take this as an endorsement of the ending, but as appreciation of it).

I would have to go back to Tales of Berseria to rank it, if I do at all. I remember really liking that game, but being kind of bummed out by the ups and downs of the combat system, and thought Velvet was a super lame character. I liked the rest of the cast, though. There were also some aspects of how it wraps up that disappointed me as well, in terms of rushing to the end. Ultimately, there are some other games I want to play instead that will end up forcing this game off any list I make.

There are some games I played this year that I had fun with, but were not ultimately anything I was looking for. Destiny 2 falls into this category. I like the MMO stuff in that game, but between my time, anxiety, and none of my friends being into the game, I fell off super fucking quick after finishing the story. XCOM 2: War of the Chosen felt like it started strong, but I was not ultimately looking for a new XCOM game at the time. Basically, if I don't play more than 10 games that get released this year I don't want to order all of them just to have a full list. I would rather create a list of games that I actually appreciate.

There are some games I still want to play this year. Cuphead and Divinity Original Sin 2 mostly. There is also Yomawari: Midnight Shadows that seems somewhat interesting. And I'm currently playing Ultra Despair Girls right now, which I'm enjoying. Also still considering the idea of picking up a Switch to play Mario and Zelda. Those seem really neat and worth playing, but I fell off of consoles super hard.