@dinosaurcanada: Thanks! I had a few moments in Pyre that hit me pretty good, that Sandalwood moment was one of them. What I like about it all is that it never felt forced or contrived. They did a good job at making these characters and their plights feel "real," despite the fantastical setting. That makes it easy to relate. Choosing who to send back and who to keep in the Downside was also tough, and got tougher as I went. Learning more about these characters and their wants only furthered my feeling that nothing's that cut and dried.
I'm sorry to hear you feel like you're in a slump. I've been in and out of some slumps lately myself. This life thing's not always so easy, we try to live it the best we can. Best of luck :)
@cyrusraven: Not at all. Both are great games, and I think there's definitely a lot of time and place to how we enjoy these games, maybe even more than most series. Pretty natural for the ones you play first to have a bigger impact, liking it better for that (or any other reason) is legit :)
@jimmyoct87: I can respect that stance! FFVIII is a great game :)
@slag: Thanks Slag! I appreciate it. We have talked about this series before, I know we have both some similarities and differences :) It is interesting that for all 4 series I made lists for, the second game (Metroid 2, SMB2, AoL, FFII) is kind of the oddball, and a little more experimental with mixed results. Some I enjoyed more than others, usually based on how agreeable basic things like combat were. But it's a weird thing nonetheless!
@slag: Haha, thanks Slag! If I'm being completely honest, I have a really hard time ordering my top 3 here. I think they're all masterpieces, and I could make my argument for any one of them. But I think BotW hit me similarly to the way the original hit you, where everything was mysterious and friends and I would trade rumors back and forth. Granted, BotW isn't THAT opaque (I might say that bombing every wall is just tedious ;) ), and is modernized in a lot of convenient ways. But those are really the only 2 games in the series that reached that level of mystery and solitude in its adventure. If I had played the original when it first came out, I may be there right alongside you placing it at (or at least closer to) the top.
Speaking of... AoL might be there if I found it fun to play. I've started that game multiple times, and every time I got turned off by the combat, and hard. I didn't find it fun, and there's a lot of it. If that game wasn't so combat focused I'd probably like it a lot better. Save system didn't help it either... So my problems with it are mostly execution.
And you're not wrong about Spirit Tracks! That game is a piece. That's a funny clip about its Zelda though. And, um, Ganon is a train. Props for that I guess?
@slag: Thanks! I'm not a big fan of the Wiimote either, but it worked just fine for Galaxy to me. And the motion controlled attack was very simple and felt fine. Totally agree that a button for it would have been better though...
The 2 Land games were weird ones for me to place. (If I'm being honest, a big chunk of the middle of this list is splitting hairs.) Anyway, I think those 2 games in particular are a very time and place thing. I know people who love one of them, both of them, or none of them, and it seems pretty tied to how much they played them when they came out. I don't think either hold up that well honestly...
@slag: I probably won't get around to playing Samus Returns for at least a month (or two), and I already had this list made, so I figured it's worth putting up. Likewise with Mario and the upcoming Odyssey. The idea of these lists is that I will add new games to them as I play them, so don't worry, Samus Returns will appear on here in due time :)
@gannon16: I always had a feeling multiplayer was the thing for Hunters, but I never got too into it. Mainly because I wasn't a big multiplayer guy at the time, and I also didn't have a good, consistent way to connect my DS to the internet.
@generic_username: Thanks! With the exception of a little bit of NSMBU, I played all of these games solo, and for the ones you mentioned I got the sense that a good portion of the design had co-op in mind. I could totally see them being more enjoyable that way.
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