Congrats on finding satisfaction in writing, and also on losing weight! Seriously, being healthy (both mentally and physically) is always something worth working on and being proud of. Good luck going forward into 2017!
I also took a few more "breaks" than normal from games this year (which were really just a few weeks at different times of not playing much) to focus on some more general life-improvement issues. I'll also be continuing that into 2017. That said... I still got tons of gaming time in, for better or worse ;) There were plenty of good ones this year, sounds like you got to a handful of them as well!
@slag: I liked it a lot, if not quite as much as part 1. It is very much an extension of that game... more than even most sequels it picked up immediately where the first game left off (including your characters, levels, gear, and everything), and just kept on rolling. I really like that world and setting, and the combat system remains fun to me. But some of the novelty is lost of course, and it didn't feel quite as "desperate" as part 1 did for some reason. Still, if you liked part 1 (which you would absolutely want/need to play first), and want to continue the story (which remains interesting to me), I think part 2 is absolutely worth it.
@mento: Ha, I've also been listening to Persona 5's soundtrack quite a bit... it's great, and if I counted that it would be a shoe-in. But I chose to only count games officially released in the US this year, and that I've played, so that rules out P5. It will get it props whenever it does come out (fingers crossed for no more delays). The "and I've played" qualifier also rules out FFXV, which I won't get to until, at best, early next year at this point. I have listened to some of its music though, and so far I like it.
As for games I did actually play, I think it's between Doom and Owlboy for top billing (with Hyper Light Drifter close behind). Of course, I really like all the soundtracks on this list. It's funny, because like you I initially didn't think there were any real standout soundtracks from 2016. But once I went back and looked over the list of games I played, I realized there were a lot of games with music I really liked.
@darth_navster: Thank you!! It's interesting, I played and liked Persona 3, but also wouldn't say I loved it. I found it to be more interesting for its design elements than truly endearing; it was a little too, well, "JRPG" in its narrative if that makes sense ;) But Persona 4, despite being very much the same structure, was able to find that sweet spot between its characters, setting, and mechanics that just worked. I'm certainly curious what kind of angle Persona 5 will take, here's hoping for the best!
@y2ken: Thanks so much! :D Persona 4 is definitely a special game, and I spent a good while trying to find the words for exactly why. Glad I was able to get some of it across!
@mezza: Thanks! Ironically, I just finished SMT4 Apocalypse myself a few days ago. It was my first non-Persona SMT game I've ever played, and while I enjoyed it, I was struck at how... dry it felt compared to the Persona games (especially P4). There's a personality, style, and humanism to Persona that I find pretty special.
Congrats Dan, you are now the very best! Like no one ever was ;)
For what it's worth, I think a blind Nuzlocke of Sun would be a really neat thing to try. I've always thought that if I ever try a Nuzlocke, I'd want it to be on a game I've never played before. I feel like not knowing what's coming would give it that extra edge. Whatever you decide on though, good luck!
Entertaining reads Mento! It's always interesting to see what bosses do or don't trouble different people. For the first time in the series, I tried making a pure magic build in Dark Souls III, and I feel like I had a harder time with some bosses than a lot of people did, and an easier time with others. My main measure of difficulty was how fast the boss closed the distance; if it regularly gave me enough time to pull off a slow-charging spell (seriously, spells are super slow in this game), I wouldn't have many problems. The Old Demon King was the biggest pushover at range, but the starkest example of this was The Nameless King. I think he was supposed to be one of the hardest bosses, but for me wasn't too bad, purely because of the generous spell openings he gave me. (Some other bosses were also weak to fire, like the Greatwood and Aldrich, which made my fireballs devastating, and the fights themselves not too bad.)
On the other hand, plenty of bosses felt way more taxing than they likely would have with a more standard melee build. Fights like the Abyss Watchers and Dragonslayer Armor caused all sorts of headaches for me, and while Champion Gundyr and Lothric are probably tough fights for any build, they made it especially hard to get any spells off. Hell, even seemingly "easy" fights like Vordt and Oceiros were tough for me, because they way they moved just made it hard to consistently land spell hits. Interestingly, Pontiff was one of my favorite fights in the game, even though the dude moves fast as crap. That seemed like a balanced fight that's probably similarly challenging for almost any build.
I liked the spread of mostly diverse bosses in Dark Souls III on the whole, though I'd say the rest of the game was a curious one for me. At times while playing it, it felt kind of lazy with its throwbacks to previous games and its liberal reuse of many enemies and ideas. That is, it felt like the "safest" Souls game as you mention, and even somewhat pandering. But I also think in its moment-to-moment execution, it's extremely solid, and compares favorably to the rest of the series. Even as I would sigh at another blatant callback, I ultimately enjoyed exploring these large areas and fighting the enemies and bosses within them. That was the double-edged sword of my playthrough of this game.
@eddiephlash: There is at least one person in our group (the one who adamantly pushed for Spirit Tracks as #15) who would vehemently disagree that it's better than Phantom Hourglass ;)
But that's what makes these things fun (and difficult), is that nobody agrees on almost anything. This debate was way more contentious than the Mario one, as people liked and disliked different Zelda games for wildly different reasons. Splitting it out into console vs handheld is interesting though (even if, like with Mario, there was some noticeable bias towards 3D games in our group as well). We mentioned a few times during the debate how a lot of the handheld ones kind of run together, which is probably why most of them ended up close to each other and near the bottom- nobody felt strongly enough about them.
@eddiephlash: That's actually not a bad way to split it, and I also personally probably agree with those separated more than I do the combined one. It's always easier to compare things that are more similar, but the tough comparisons are what makes it fun ;) Also, as we had this debate I realized some people in our group just don't care about the 2D ones in general, preferring mostly the 3D ones. That shows up in the Zelda discussion too.
Also also, I think one could make a case that 3D Land and 3D World, despite having "3D" in the title and technically being 3D games, are closer in design to the 2D games than the 3D ones. That muddies the waters even more, but ultimately doesn't matter too much.
@danryckert: Thanks Dan! And I agree with you this time! ;)
Skyward Sword proved to be the most divisive game on this list by far, with strong proponents and opponents (I was the biggest opponent). Though every single game from 5-10 proved somewhat divisive, which is probably why they ended up forming that middle chunk.
@slag: Ha, I have some issues with our final ordering too :P But I'm pretty sure everyone in the discussion does. The thing we realized as we went was that our tastes were all over the map, and finding a consensus, or even a compromise in some spots was incredibly difficult (and sometimes impossible). It turns out people have passionate, and wildly varying, feelings about Zelda games!
I'll be curious what you think if you find time to listen, or even what your ordering would be!
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