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MezZa

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MezZa's Carefully Crafted Top 10 of 2017

2017 was a very hectic year for me. I completed my senior year of College and successfully graduated, I moved to a new town closer to the job which marks the beginning of my career, and I'm all around just adjusting to no longer being a student in the world. This has changed my gaming habits some. For one, I have become much more picky on which games I actually play. I feel less inclined to just buy a game on a hunch at full price to see if I like it or not. I also enjoy games that I can take in smaller chunks rather than long AAA games that require hours of playtime at a time. Although don't tell that to Persona 5.

I think this tends to reflect itself in my list more this year because my list is comprised mainly of choices that are fairly safe for me as a person. I did not really go out of my comfort zone with games this year and try any genre that I don't care for. I usually prefer rpgs and strategy games, so those are what you'll see take up this list more often than not.

But first! Let's get the short awards out of the way. I felt like making a few small categories to acknowledge games that don't have the chance of being on my main list for one reason or another. They are...

Game(s) I’m Looking Forward to in 2018:

Monster Hunter World and Fire Emblem (Switch)

Most Disappointing Game of 2017:

Mass Effect Andromeda

Best Unreleased Game of 2017:

Gwent: The Witcher Card Game

Best Old Game of 2017:

Diablo 3

The 2017 Game I Wish I Had Finished:

Nier: Automata

Alright, now that those are out of the way lets get to the meat and potatoes of this post. Typically I make longer write ups and like to talk more about each game individually while listing them off, but I just wasn't really feeling like writing more than a few paragraphs for each game this year. Hopefully that makes for a quicker and more enjoyable read so that I can excuse my laziness.

10. Fire Emblem: Echoes

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Fire Emblem Echoes just barely makes its way onto my list, and I feel like there was quite a bit of lost potential here. In terms of creating a faithful rendition of the original, they do it quite well. I would argue a little too well. While the story telling and overall presentation of the game is the best out of all three of the 3DS Fire Emblem titles, I feel the game falls short in terms of its actual gameplay. A lot of what is familiar in a modern Fire Emblem title is stripped out. There is no weapon triangle, classes and skills are reigned back, and the maps in general range from boringly plain to frustratingly pointless. I understand the need to keep things as they were in the original title, but the decision to leave almost every map as an open field with maybe one defensive position if you’re lucky is baffling. And when you do get something more interesting they push it to the point of being frustrating rather than fun.

I am only grateful that the story and characters were engaging enough to make me want to see it through. I really enjoy playing Fire Emblem games (Fates made my Game of the Year last year) However, this game was not without some glaring flaws. I can’t see myself going back to it over Awakening or even Fates. It makes me yearn for what could have been if the maps were redesigned to make them more palatable and interesting. I wish the characters here were in an overall better package.

9. Divinity: Original Sin 2

Divinity really does come down to planned and well executed chaos.
Divinity really does come down to planned and well executed chaos.

I will admit the original Divinity Original Sin did not do much to impress me. I think I played it too early on in its life cycle. I remember playing it very early on and feeling how woefully incomplete the game was at the time. I heard that it got better later on with updates, but I just did not have the motivation to go back to it. When I heard Divinity Original Sin 2 was in the works, I steeled my resolve and told myself I would wait until the full release to play it. Thankfully, it turns out this game is quite good!

The tactical turn based combat and the freedom to be as flexible and creative as you want to be is a treat to behold. It is what really kept me coming back to this game. There were not a ton of CRPG styled games released this year (personally I’m waiting on Pillars of Eternity 2), so this game was really the best option I found to scratch that itch. Oddly enough I felt that the story and characters were just kind of serviceable. I wasn’t terribly interested in them, but they were well crafted. This game also has the benefit of allowing you to make the main character be any of the story important party members if you wish, but you can opt to create your own personal character if you prefer.

8. Pyre

I will go ahead get this out of the way immediately. Pyre is my favorite Supergiant Games game. I really liked Bastion and Transistor was a fun game. However, Pyre just takes it to another level for me. I really enjoy the story telling aspect of the game, and the way the game gives you options to interact with the tale as it progresses.

Came to this game for the character design, and stayed for everything else.
Came to this game for the character design, and stayed for everything else.

Now, if this game was just a good story, I wouldn’t be as hot on it. It definitely helps that the gameplay between the story sequences helps bring it together. Their choice of making changes to your game based on which matches you win or lose is a great one. Although it was tough to kick the habit of resetting every time I lost to try and get that big win. It also helps that the gameplay is fairly simple to understand even though there are tactical decisions happening constantly. The premise is understandable to anyone who has ever seen or played a sport before. You are trying to get the ball into a determined location while the other team stops you. Simple. The tools you are given you reach this goal, and the tools you are given to defend your own is what makes it interesting.

I think what Pyre does best is its characters. I enjoyed the vast majority of the characters I gathered through the game, and I felt like each had some use during the matches. I began to feel bad when I could not field all of my favorites all of the time, but hard decisions had to be made. I also just want to take a quick moment to say that these characters are beautifully designed, but that’s no surprise given the wonderful Supergiant Games’ artwork.

7. Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp

My life has taken an interesting turn lately where I tend to favor casually paced games with short play sessions. I happen to be on the move a lot, so having an Animal Crossing game in my pocket at all times is extremely handy. While it isn’t a full-fledged Animal Crossing title, there is still plenty to do here. It also solves an interesting problem I’ve had with previous Animal Crossing titles where there becomes fewer and fewer things to discover each time you play a new title. These games have just been so similar that once you’ve played one, you have a pretty solid idea of what every other title in the series is like.

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In this way, Pocket Camp is nice because it is fairly different in a way. Your goal is still to gather useful items like bells, fish, fruits, etc. You also still get to have a personal area for furniture. However, this game seems much more focused on interacting with campers (Basically an assortment of villagers from previous titles) in order to receive rewards, complete timed goals, and to gather more campers to hang out at your personal camp site. The main activity you do in the game is completing villager requests which consists of providing them with specific items that they are looking for that day. As you complete requests for them you’ll build up a friendship meter. As you reach certain levels of friendship and acquire furniture that the camper likes, you’ll unlock the ability to invite them over to visit your campsite. This allows you to gather a group of your favorite animals, and also free up space on the map so that new animals can come into play.

A regular Animal Crossing title has plenty of villager interaction, but this leans entirely on interacting with the Animals. There are much clearer and structured goals here, and for an Animal Crossing game that is a nice change of pace. It has also been a fun game for me to play with my significant other. While interactions between friends are fairly limited, it’s fun to just pop open the game and show off what new things we discovered that day.

6. Pokemon Ultra Moon (And Ultra Sun)

A returning title from my Game of the Year list last year, but I can’t say I was expecting to have another version of it so soon. While the original version of this game took my second place in 2016 (Losing to Fire Emblem Fates), this year’s version had to fall down the rankings a bit. That is not to say that this game is worse by any means. In fact it’s the opposite. This game is a definitive improvement over Sun and Moon in every way as far as I am concerned, and it is the best Pokemon game released in recent years. I don’t want to talk about it too much, but this game goes to some interesting places in the post-story part of the game. The trailers have shown what I am talking about, so if you’re interested you should go check those out. Basically, it feels like a bit of a love letter to the handheld series, and one last big hoorah for a lifetime of Pokemon on handheld consoles.

If you're a long time fan looking for a sendoff of the 3DS Pokemon games, Ultra Sun/Moon is a great farewell.
If you're a long time fan looking for a sendoff of the 3DS Pokemon games, Ultra Sun/Moon is a great farewell.

Since Pokemon is moving to the Switch for its next release, it is no surprise that they give long time players a bit of a nod with some enjoyable nostalgia. It is unclear what the series will be like going forward, but if they start drastically changing the formula now this at least feels like a satisfying send off to an era. If Switch Pokemon is just more handheld Pokemon like always, well, I’ll still enjoy it if it is good.

You will notice I’m purposefully not saying too much about the game itself, and that’s because I already said a lot about the main story of the game last year. For the most part it is largely the same, but they make some good additions to mix things up here and there. There is more to do in this game, so if you want to play generation 7 it should probably be on Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon to get the full experience.

5. Nioh

I always have one game on my list that I did not think I would like before I played it, and this year its Nioh. Technically Nioh has everything I would like in a game. I love Souls games and I love loot games. Making a Souls game that is more loot heavy and more action heavy sounds like a good recipe for me. For some reason early 2017 me just did not want to believe that though. Maybe it was because I needed to be strict with my purchases due to the sheer volume of stuff coming out all at once. Regardless, I eventually tried Nioh after watching some coverage here on GiantBomb, and I love it.

The aesthetic of this game just hits me in a soft spot.
The aesthetic of this game just hits me in a soft spot.

I initially was skeptical of Nioh because it seemed like another game in the coming tide of Souls-like games that just wanted to get in on the action that From started. I’m glad to say that Nioh earns its place among this style of games, and I like it more than the Souls games. (Although maybe not more than Dark Souls 1)

I really enjoy the character building flexibility that this game gives you. Having the options to unlock new moves and abilities for the two weapon types I carried was a great way to feel like my character was improving even if I wasn’t always improving my own personal skill with the game. I chose to go with the Katana and Spear option and felt fairly well equipped to fight just about anything in the game with those options. This game’s stance options created interesting options within every weapon type as well. Being able to switch between high, middle, and low stances with every weapon for different benefits and moves really expands upon the games combat in a way that Dark Souls never really did.

Finally, I’ll just say that the aesthetic of this game is great. I am a sucker for the older Japanese style of this game. Also it is pretty fun to play as Samurai Geralt even if he isn’t the most original character design ever.

4. Fire Emblem: Heroes

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This game defied my expectations in multiple ways. One: I never expected Nintendo to make good games on the mobile. Rather, I never expected it to happen after only a couple attempts at the platform. Two: I never expected Fire Emblem Heroes to be the highest Fire Emblem game on my list this year with two other titles also released.

It turns out that Fire Emblem is a great game for a quick mobile title. The game is vastly simplified to allow for snappy gameplay and short play sessions, but it does not detract from the fun as much as I thought it would. There are less strategic decisions to make, and the best builds for heroes are determined fairly quickly. Most of the engagement with the game for me comes from getting my favorite heroes built up, and from taking on limited time events like the Tempest Trials, Voting Gauntlets, Grand Hero Battles, etc. That’s not to say that the Competitive aspect of the game isn’t fun, but in a game like this I just don’t care to worry about being the best when every else is paying money or spending every day putting time into it.

The story section itself is also surprisingly lengthy. With a recently released “Chapter 2” they look to be expanding on this even further into 2018. I can see this being the mobile game that I’ll be playing off and on for quite some time. Fire Emblem is one of my favorite Nintendo franchises at this point, and it doesn’t look like Nintendo and Intelligent Systems will be slowing down with it anytime soon.

3. Mario Odyssey

The level design is truly astounding.
The level design is truly astounding.

This is a surprisingly difficult game to write about. I suspect the next two titles will be as well. Nintendo has taken their skill at creating games that are purely fun to a whole other level. It is hard to write about Mario Odyssey because my brain just keeps coming back around to “It is fun!” I’m not a huge fan of platformers usually. Mario is one of the few exceptions, so I can’t put into words exactly what makes this platforming marvel so much fun. The gameplay feels good. There are things to do everywhere in every map, and playing around with different things in the environment almost always feels rewarded. The game has great presentation on top of this. I love the character and level designs, I love looking at Bowser in his silly white suit, I love the way Cappy is just a top hat with eyes and a ghost tail. It’s all just pure enjoyment.

Cappy is easily my new favorite Mario character.
Cappy is easily my new favorite Mario character.

I want to be more critical of this game, but it is really hard. I may need some more time away from it before I can really take a critical eye and talk about pros and cons, but at this point in time I’m just not in the place to successfully do that. From a writing standpoint, I wish I was so that I am not just gushing in this write-up, but hey, this is about my opinion and my opinion of the game is pretty one sided right now.

2. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

How could I write about Breath of the Wild without showing a standard landscape shot of the world.
How could I write about Breath of the Wild without showing a standard landscape shot of the world.

So I would consider this to be Nintendo’s other great work of the Switch so far. I’m in a similar position as Odyssey where I just generally don’t have many bad things to say, but this game has been out long enough for me to at least understand the complaints of others even if I don’t agree with them. I’ll make my stance on this game clear from the beginning, I genuinely feel like this is Nintendo’s best Zelda game to date. They’ve taken a genre that I’m typically luke-warm on, the open-world genre, and turn it into one of the most mystifying experiences I have felt in a game. I truly felt like I was exploring this world. I wasn’t being told where to go to get everything I wanted with a map. I was finding vantage points, looking for points of interest, using a radar to hunt specific things I wanted, and I was genuinely interested in what was inside every nook and cranny of the map.

That’s not to say this game is perfect. A lot of what you can actually find when you’re exploring is a little repetitive. They will generally fall into a few categories, but to me they always felt valuable. Even if the little puzzle I solved just resulted in finding another Korok that was great! Koroks always felt like a reward because I always needed more inventory space. Likewise with Shrines, I never complained about finding a shrine because it meant I was one step closer to more Health or Stamina. I’m one that prefers quality of interactions over quantity. I don’t need a wide variety of rewards and things to do. As long as I feel purpose in the actions I’m taking and the puzzles I’m solving then that is generally enough for me. I don’t want to be overwhelmed like I’m in an Assassin’s Creed game with 10 different collectibles and 20 side quest categories.

The amount of tools you're given to deal with situations in creative ways is a strong point of the game.
The amount of tools you're given to deal with situations in creative ways is a strong point of the game.

I think where Breath of the Wild really shines is in the way it disconnects itself from the rails. Recent Zelda games in the past had a pretty clearly defined trajectory for you to be on throughout the entire game. You went to the only dungeon you could get into and then moved onto the next after you finished it. That isn’t bad, but Breath of the Wild gives you the luxury of choice. I spent an entire day following rumors that NPCs passed onto me, and it led to me finding important landmarks like a Great Fairy. I was making my way toward a Shrine I had seen in the distance when all of a sudden I saw a shooting star fly through the sky and land off in the distance. I followed it out of curiosity and I stumbled into a giant flying dragon gracefully making its way through the night sky as I ran along the hills toward the landing spot of the star. That was only one of many experiences that made this game feel magical. Whether it was exploring the forests, the mountains, or the fields, I always felt motivated to do something without the game directly requiring me to do anything.

1. Persona 5

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I am so glad this game finally came out. This was basically the reason I bought a PS4, so it is no surprise that it ended up on my list this year. I’m just glad it was worth the wait. The style of this game had me hooked from the start. From the character design, the music, the environments, and the snappiness of the menus and battles, it all just clicks together into one of the most stylish experiences I have felt in a game. This game is a huge time commitment, so I’m happy to say that I was able to experience it earlier in the year rather than later.

Did I mention Yusuke is the best?
Did I mention Yusuke is the best?

Persona games are typically very strong with their characters, so it is no surprise that this game hosts yet another enjoyable gang to follow. I would say that the clear standout is Yusuke. He typically serves as the comic relief and the deadpan friend who doesn’t quite understand the flow of the conversation due to how he can be a bit of an airhead at times. He is very much the character that’s in his own little world more often than not due to his artistic genius, and his mind being a one way track for that art. Morgana is another standout character who we get to watch question his own existence and what it means in a way that’s not entirely unlike Teddy.

It’s difficult for me to rank this in terms of Persona 3 and 4. I have always had a tough time saying I definitively like one more than the other because they tend to win me over in their own unique way each time. It’s a case of each game satisfying its own purpose in my opinion. Because of that, I couldn’t say that Persona 5 is better than Persona 4, but I will say that it stands on the same ground as the previous two titles. All three are worth playing, and Persona 5 happens to stand out to me this year as one of the best JRPG’s I’ve played. I would go so far as to say it is easily the best JRPG of the current generation.

Happy Holidays!

And that's a wrap for my 2017 list! I'm glad I was able to get it out a bit earlier this year because the coming two weeks are going to be crazy. I'll be lucky if I have time to keep up on the crew's podcasts. I'll end this off by wishing everyone a great holiday, and a happy new year! I'm looking forward to seeing what games we have waiting for us in 2018.

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Here We Go Again, Time to Try and Summarize 2016 in a List of Games

2016 is an interesting year for me to look back on. It has been one of the busiest and stressful years I have experienced in my life, and I would dare to say that my list of games reflects that a bit. I started and completed my senior design project over the course of this year, continued working in tech support, and tried to make time for developing a social life and being more outgoing than usual. Overall this led to me drifting away from larger games that I have to sit down and commit a lot of time to at once, and moving toward experiences that I could take in short bursts or carry along with me. I really found myself enjoying slower paced games, and games that had a relaxing quality to them.

To start things off, I'll just get a few additional honors out of the way. These are games I either didn't have time to finish or they didn't quite make the cut for one reason or another. I'm hoping I can come back to them in 2017, but if not, oh well.

Honorable Mentions:

  1. Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE
  2. Deus Ex Mankind Divided
  3. DOOM

Fair Warning: While I won't be going out of my way to spoil games, #1 and #2 on my list do touch on story beats that a potential player might not want to know.

10. The Jackbox Party Pack 3

The Party Pack sneaks its way onto my list for a few reasons. I’ve got a lot of use out of their past releases for whatever random hangout/party with friends happens to be going on, and they’re usually a good hit and pretty enjoyable. The third release brings more of a similar kind of fun, but I would venture to say that it feels like the most complete package yet. If it housed some version of Drawful in it, I would say it’s damn near perfect.

I won’t take time to explain every game here because there are plenty of other sources to go for that, but I will say that the trivia game hosted by a saw-styled murderer is my favorite new addition, and Quiplash 2 is my favorite returning game here. The T-shirt game gets a special mention here as well, but I feel like it could use another iteration to get right. As it is right now, it’s hard to feel attached to your end product when you’re just piecing together another person’s work. Am I supposed to feel pride for winning with a combination I chose, or pride for someone else winning when they pick something I drew or wrote? How am I supposed to feel good when the two come head to head and I have to vote one out? The game leans more into the idea of winning by combining other people’s efforts together, but honestly I feel more successful when my original drawing or text creations do well instead. It creates a weird chaotic contradiction that holds the game back for me.

9. SUPERHOT

SUPERHOT is an interesting game for me because I didn’t know a single thing about it until I saw it on the Steam summer sale. I remembered hearing some people talk about it so I figured why not give it a shot. What I found was a game that didn’t necessarily hook me in the sense that I couldn’t stop playing, but I found myself wanting to come back for little bite size chunks of it. I’d complete a chunk of the levels to a point where something story based would happen and kick me out to the menu, and I’d be good. I’d be ready to move onto something else like some Overwatch or some other game. At least until I’d feel that itch again to drop back into that puzzle/fps experience that SUPERHOT brings to the table.

I’m actually kind of glad that I didn’t rush through the game, and it led to the game lasting a lot longer than it probably should have. I don’t have too much to say about SUPERHOT, it makes you feel cool and that’s just cool.

8. Darkest Dungeon

Here’s a game that I will never technically beat, and I can say that with great confidence. It gets hard to the point of losing me after a while. I may like my games beating the hell out of me and kicking dirt into my eyes as I scramble back onto my feet, but there comes a time when it feels like too much of a grind. Unfortunately, Darkest Dungeon hits the point of being too much. That’s okay, though, because what comes before that point is enough to leave me walking away satisfied. Sometimes you don’t have to complete every little checkbox the game has written down, you know?

Yes, yes you are, game.
Yes, yes you are, game.

I have to give Darkest Dungeon some credit for its style as well. The narrator makes me smile a big stupid smile more often than I probably even realize, and I just love the artwork. It’s dark and it just looks very unique.

The gameplay is also something that I don’t get a whole lot of nowadays. It’s a rouge-like kind of game, for whatever that’s worth, but at the same time it feels like a pencil and paper RPG more so than a lot of other games. I initially described it to a friend I was showing it to earlier in the year as being like playing a D&D session that’s entirely focused on the dungeon parts. Oh and the DM is a complete asshole.

7. Dark Souls 3

Woah, okay, my past self from earlier in the year just had to stop for a second, and think about why Dark Souls is so low on this list. I really liked this game, and still do. Dark Souls 1 will always hold special place in my heart because it was just such a unique experience for me, and Dark Souls 3 comes pretty close to challenging that spot. I don’t know if I’d say it’s the best Dark Souls game, but I definitely like it more than Dark Souls 2 if that means anything.

I want to try and think of something intelligent and witty to say here rather than just rank Dark Souls 3 against my past Dark Souls experiences, but it gets to a point where there’s not much left to say about Dark Souls. I've had previous entries including Bloodborne on past lists, and I usually talk about what parts of Dark Souls I like. That stuff is all here again. I think that might be why it is finding itself in the bottom half of my list. It’s a fun game and I like what the series brings to the table, but in the end it is just more Dark Souls.

I do think it’s the Dark Souls game I will return to the most often in the future. It just feels like a nice package, and there’s not much I dislike about it. The jail section in particular might be one of my favorite Dark Souls’ sections. Enemies that actually drain my max HP over time in combination with all of the little traps and the haunting atmosphere made for a tense and memorable experience. I really enjoyed a lot of the callbacks to Dark Souls 1 as well. It made my heart tingle with joyous nostalgia.

6. Overwatch

Support main, here!
Support main, here!

Overwatch is the first FPS game that I have really got into in years. It’s a genre that really used to resonate with me, but after a while I just found myself less and less interested in it. Overwatch created a fun place for me to have that FPS experience while messing around with friends in a way that is more engaging than the typical military shooter. I really enjoy Overwatch’s lore and overall style. The Pixar-looking graphics, the light-hearted humor, and the lack of anything overly serious to weigh the experience down mixes together in a way I really enjoy. I don’t play competitive, so I’m being quite serious in saying I just treat this game as light-hearted fun. I haven’t had the time to subject myself to the more serious mode yet, but I might look into that more now that my time has freed up a bit. Or maybe I’ll just continue to treat the game as dumb fun.

I do really enjoy watching the competitive scene though. Esports and all of that. Hopefully that Overwatch League ends up working out for those involved.

5. Civilization VI

I’m a huge Civilization fan and have been since as long as I can remember. I started playing hotseat on Civilization II with my brother when I was 6 in 1999, and it’s been a series that’s near and dear to my heart ever since. We’ve had some ups and downs, I didn’t much care for Civilization III, but it’s always come back to make up for any differences between us.

I won’t say that this game is as good as Civilization V with all of its expansions, because it just isn’t. It can’t be, and it would be unfair to make that comparison. It is, however, much better than Civilization V was at its release. This version of the game makes a lot of smart additions to the series to give it a fresh feel while improving the overall experience in general, but it does have some short comings that will hopefully be touched on in the coming years.

4. The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine

I really debated whether I should include this or not, and if I did include it should I dock its position because it’s technically DLC. In the end I decided to say who cares, and include it as if it’s a fresh game. The Witcher 3 was my game of the year last year, so it’s not a surprise that an add-on to it scores major points with me. It’s a nice self-contained story separate from the main game with more content and better quality than a lot of games that were released this year. I won’t sit here and dote on the game too much because I don’t want to waste your time, but I will say that the Witcher trilogy has given me a new series to love. I’m currently reading the books and loving those as well.

3. Stardew Valley

Abigail is the amethyst eating wife I never knew I wanted
Abigail is the amethyst eating wife I never knew I wanted

Stardew Valley is my surprise hit of the year. I remember watching the quicklook and thinking, oh that looks neat, but then dismissing it as something I wouldn't be that interested in. I’ve never really been into farming RPG’s before. I have never touched harvest moon or anything like it. I did like Animal Crossing a lot, but while it is similar, it’s not quite the same thing in my mind. I actually have the Steam Summer Sale to thank for me giving this game a chance. I don’t know what it is about the relaxing nature of the game, but it is exactly what I needed this year. The back half of this year was a really stressful one for me as I finished up my senior design project, and Stardew Valley provided an outlet for me to just escape and unwind. I found myself quickly racking up a good 80 hours without even realizing it.

I actually don’t have too much to say about it because it’s just a good game in general. There aren’t any strict goals that I had to follow which I liked. I was free to just focus on farming and building up interactions with the people of Stardew. From mining to fishing to picking up shells on the beach the game is just enjoyable. I don’t know that I’m going to go out and start trying every game that is in this style, but I think this year I found the one that works for me.

2. Pokemon Sun/Moon

Pokemon in the top 5 of my list, and not just top 5 but a shockingly close contender for my favorite game of the year? Is this 1998? Not quite, but Sun and Moon just so happens to be my favorite Pokemon game since Red and Blue. This is the first game where I feel like they are actually learning and trying to improve the broad strokes of what makes a Pokemon game.

Here is what all Bug Trainers aspire to be
Here is what all Bug Trainers aspire to be

First of all, the villains are so much more tolerable this time around. The whole evil team that wants to create a world that they think is ideal by either intentionally or unintentionally destroying it was okay for Ruby and Sapphire, but when it became the framework for every game after I rolled my eyes HARD. I’m so glad the story is much more contained and personal this time around. They focus more on a slower paced story and focus more on the characters which does a lot to help the game.

Instead of a team trying to destroy the world, we have a team of misfits who have failed to succeed at the Alola region’s trial challenge. Basically the replacement for the 8 gym leaders that other regions have hosted. Left as failures who feel like they aren’t really worth much, they gather under Guzma who is basically the king of misfits. He formed Team Skull because he wasn’t good enough to become a trial captain, and now wreaks havoc in a way that makes you think he just wants to be noticed by society. Oh and did I mention they all are designed as stereotypical white gangsters in a way that actually kind of works? When they were first revealed, I got really worried about how cheesy this could be, but they really leaned hard into their own joke. There are a lot of moments and dialogue that left me feeling like they understood just how stupid this stereotype is, and that really brought it to a place where I enjoyed it. I felt like I could laugh with them rather than have to awkwardly sit there trying to think of a way to tell them that it isn’t that funny.

I have a similar reaction every time Hau stumbles his way into a scene
I have a similar reaction every time Hau stumbles his way into a scene

While Guzma and his goons are presented as the main opposition for most of the story, the most interesting aspect of the plot comes from a family. A family torn apart by the mother’s obsession with opening portals to another dimension where creatures live that the game dubs Ultra Beasts. I won’t go into the fine details on her motivations and why she does what she does, but their explanations are surprisingly believable and well thought out. The player inevitably finds themselves in opposition to Lusamine because her plans threaten to release these dangerous creatures onto the islands, and Guzma aims to aid Lusamine with his team and resources. Why does he come in and help her you might ask? Well, it is as simple as she is the only character who values him as a person, or rather she does so as long as he is useful. It might be a little cheesy, but it’s kind of sweet in a way.

This story is greatly helped by her children being characters that we get quite a bit of time to interact with up until this point. As a player, you’re given a good amount of time to get to know the children which makes the tragedy of seeing their family in shreds much more effective than if it had just been some random villains with an evil plan. While it’s very simple and could use a bit more fleshing out to really hit a home run, I was really impressed since my expectations of a good Pokemon story are nonexistent.

As for the more mechanical sides of things, the game makes a lot of changes to the usual formula. I’ve already mentioned the Island Challenge earlier, and it replaces the gym leader system. Rather than fight gym leaders, now you fight Totem Pokemon which are basically super powered versions of specific Pokemon. They generally come packed with good strategies to use against your team, and will use the new SOS system to call in allies to make it a 1 vs 2 fight. They call in allies that will spam healing abilities or status effects while the Totem Pokemon tries to beat the hell out of you. I’d say it’s a definite improvement over the gyms in the older games. After a while, gyms simply became something that slowed you down slightly on your journey. They were never really challenging because you’d simply bring a Pokemon of a type effective against the gym, and win without any thought or effort. The trials do still have some issues with this, but the SOS system and the buffs that the Totem gets help to alleviate this a bit.

The AI is smarter this time around which is nice. They won’t spam useless moves constantly like the previous generation, and will typically choose the most effective attack against you rather than it seeming like a dice roll between their available moves. All of this makes for a more interesting experience. It didn’t feel overly hard, but I did find myself losing team members and running through items during important fights.

I’m about as surprised as I can be that this game felt as good as it did. Before it released, I was thinking it might make it low on the list like number 10 or 9, but it really surprised me. I really like this game.

1. Fire Emblem Fates

It's worth mentioning that I am considering Conquest, Birthright, and Revelation to all be one package for this. One expensive, three part package.

I’m going to take a pause for a moment of silence for any old school Fire Emblem fans who dislike the direction the series has gone in.

I’m sorry. I really am. I hope one day a middle ground is reached between fans of the old games and the styles of the new ones. I feel slightly obligated to mention that I started the series with Awakening and haven’t played any other releases prior to it. I feel a little ashamed because I do really enjoy the series from what I have played, so maybe one day I’ll go back and see what the old games are all about.

Oboro turned out to be a beast of a unit for me in Birthright and Revelation
Oboro turned out to be a beast of a unit for me in Birthright and Revelation

With that out of the way, I really like Fates. It is by no means perfect, and I’m not even sure I would say it’s an improvement over Awakening. It does some things better, like some of the core gameplay mechanics, but at the same time falls short with things that Awakening handled much better.

The overall story is less interesting than Awakenings, and Awakenings wasn’t that great to begin with aside from its first act. The children also feel very forced by comparison. It is understandable that they can’t just write time travel into the story or skip ahead in time every game, but a short little scene that describes me leaving my child in another reality where they grow up faster? Uhhhh… yeah… no.

Looking at the story, the premise has great promise. The idea of being stuck in this impossible choice between your birth family and the family that raised you is an idea that is worth exploring in a game. The problem is they don’t explore it. They make it about as black and white as it can get, and it leaves the player either feeling justified in their choice if they choose Hoshido, or like a complete idiot if they choose Nohr. The worst thing I can say about Hoshido is they’re isolationist and generally seem to mistreat people from Nohr at times even if they are allies. Even that isn’t consistent, though, and more often than not Hoshido just end up being the nice guys you want to root for.

Meanwhile, Nohr is ruled by a Saturday morning cartoon villain and his henchmen, and the rest of your family just has the attitude of “Well if you don’t want to die, try to make it look like you’re playing along.” I really wish Nohr was better written because I really enjoy a lot of the characters you can use on that path, and that path’s maps are the best in the game. Even if we could have seen the King before he went completely batshit crazy that would have been something to make me care more about the kingdom. As it is, it leaves me feeling that my siblings are alright, but screw the rest of that kingdom. They do touch on the idea of creating some sympathy for the kingdom by describing them as having a general lack of resources to care for their people while the kingdom of Hoshido enjoys their bountiful lands nearby without helping the presumably suffering Nohrians. Thus leading them to a path of warfare in order to take what they need to survive from Hoshido. But again, it’s never consistent enough to stick. The second I start feeling bad for Nohr, the King starts ranting to his ceiling dragon and laughing maniacally while everyone just kind of puts up with it. Oh and the main character is stuck in a rut of "Well maybe I can change Dad's mind." for the first half of the story. It's not like the guy tried to blow me up or anything in the prologue. He surely must be alright deep down, right?

And I’m not even going to go into how Revelations and the DLC story stuff twisted this even more because this is already going on too long.

Phew, okay, I just had to rant that out. I might have just trashed the story, but if I’m being honest I don’t really come to these games for the story. I come for the characters’ interactions and the overall strategic turn based gameplay. I really like a lot of the changes they made here on the gameplay side of things. The pair up system feels much more satisfying and controllable, and the weapon system feels better as well. The weapon triangle got an overhaul, so spells aren’t quite as broken this time around. That is also due to the stronger spells just not being quite as good this time, and the mages in general having some pretty bad bases and growths. My favorite new addition is definitely the Hidden Weapons. The Ninja class that uses them is easily my favorite class in the game, and weapons that debuff enemies at the cost of dealing less initial damage makes for fun choices in combat.

The idea of the conflict between two families would be better if they had been willing to take it further than childish bickering
The idea of the conflict between two families would be better if they had been willing to take it further than childish bickering

Despite my story complaints, this will probably be the Fire Emblem game I return to the most out of the two I have played. I really like it a lot, and I’ve already played each path about 5 or 6 times this year alone. Oh and shout out to the art style. There are some subtle differences in the styles between Awakening and Fates, and Fates has a really nice look by adding in some extra shading to the characters on their 2D art during conversations. It gives it a much more old school sketched look that I really like.

I might not have the most positive things to say about some aspects of Fates, but I’d say that’s because I do really care about this game. I’m not going to pretend it doesn’t have its faults, but I accept it, warts and all. I really want to see what kind of game they can put out if they can just pick up the slack of the map design and the story. Until then I’ll just go on enjoying it for what it is. A fun strategic game with characters I enjoy despite the fact that they're all trapped in a bad story line.

And that's a wrap for 2016!

I thought long and hard about how I want to finish this off and tie a neat little bow on it, but whatever. That's my list. Feel free to comment, share your experiences and thoughts on these games, or hell even just bring up completely different games that I didn't mention. If you want to recommend stuff you'd think I might like that's cool too. If you haven't noticed I generally tend to prefer RPG's or strategy games. Who knows, maybe I'll play it and try to write about it in the future. I'm hoping to start playing Final Fantasy XV in a week or two, so that is probably next up on my list of games to tackle. Oh and also...

I hope you all have a happy holiday and a great new years!

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Alone Against the World (of Bloodborne) [Spoilers]

Technically, I'm supposed to be writing a term paper on internet privacy and information security right now. So I have decided to take some time to reflect back on my journey in Bloodborne instead. This may be a bit of a chaotic write-up since I have no particular structure or goal in mind. This is more or less me doing a thought stream while I am bored.

Before we talk about the new, lets take a moment to mention the old. The aspects I love about Dark Souls 1 are the world and the bosses which call such a desolate land their personal playground. I love the feeling of the levels weaving in and out of each other in a way that feels completely natural. I love the feeling of walking into a room with wide open space, and then seeing a jaw-dropping creature reveal itself. I love contemplating the purpose of said creature even while it closes the gap between it and myself while I desperately try to chug down an estus. All the while knowing that the game will reveal said purpose to me if I put the effort in to discover it.

My biggest fear going into Bloodborne was that it would not deliver this kind of experience in a meaningful way. A lot of people may disagree, but I felt like Dark Souls 2 fell short of achieving this. Perhaps lightning can only strike once on the first Souls game you ever play. Maybe that magic just doesn't repeat itself in the same way?

Yharnam must be the worlds leading exporter of coffins
Yharnam must be the worlds leading exporter of coffins

When faced with this question, Bloodborne dons its hunter's hat, pulls out it's trick weapon, and stands tall in the face of it's predecessors. You do not get a second chance to make a first impression, and by opening with a mysterious speech and blood transfusion, Bloodborne wastes no time. I was immediately interested in the eerie world where coffins line the streets and werewolves burn at the stake.

Let's get a few details out in the open about how I'm playing before I get too deep into my thoughts. I started with the saw cleaver despite it being the generic choice. I am, in fact, not one of the cool kids who run around with the cane that turns into a whip. Oh and I play in the offline mode because who wants to run around in a world where notes and pvp players spoil the day. Because of this I don't summon help for anything either. One is the loneliest number...

With that out of the way, I think its time for me to start drooling over this game's bosses.

We'll start out simple first. Father Gascoigne. Technically the second boss, but I don't have a whole lot to say about Cleric Beast other than he's aesthetically impressive and instills a sense of dread when you first encounter him. So onto the fallen hunter we go!

The good ol' Father wasn't the cause of my first death, but he was the cause of my first boss related death. I was genuinely impressed with the games deception on this matter. I thought by exploring and talking to npc's I had been given some secret key to beating this boss. Here I was riding high on exploration finding new armor, a saw spear, and this special item, but meanwhile Bloodborne was just waiting to swat me down like the fly that I am.

Thinking myself quite the genius, I decided to spam the music box immediately because I connected the dots between the child and this guy. I recommend taking a moment of silence for my character right now. Anyone who's played this fight knows that while the music stuns his human form, playing it more than three times results in him skipping directly to his 3rd beast form. I'm going to reference jaw-dropping moments a lot in writing this, and this was one of them. It goes against everything games have ingrained in my head. Secrets make things better and not worse!

Meet Father Cascoigne. He's not a fan of music.
Meet Father Cascoigne. He's not a fan of music.

After discovering this deceit, I settled on fighting him without the box. Which actually wasn't all that bad. As it turns out, his bark is worse than his bite. I felt that this was a good fight to help me get used to the shield-less fighting style of Bloodborne. Whenever I fell into Dark Souls habits and tried to back out of the engagement, I was met with a charging strike or a bullet to the face and had nothing to deflect it with. If there was one moment where I learned how to dodge with the game's dashes, this was it. And let me just take a moment to say, this style of fighting feels so much better than Dark Souls. I used to love my shield, but now I'm left hoping that Dark Souls 3 has a viable shield-less strategy similar to this combat.

Upon vanquishing Gascoigne on my third attempt, (with a sliver of health left and a heart racing a mile a minute) I unknowingly began making my way ever so slowly toward the once beautiful Vicar Amelia. The Blood Starve Beast also happened next, but since I killed him on the first try without really being hit I don't have much to say about the fellow. He's poisonous, or so I hear.

Amelia, however, was a different story. She can take the credit for being the second boss to kill me, and when I almost had her dead! Amelia felt a lot like the Cleric Beast in terms of having an imposing design. The transformation and eerie screaming as if in pain the entire fight really helped set the mood for this world. What in the heck is going on here? She also gave me my second jaw drop of the game, and right when I vanquished her!

I'll paint you a little word picture of the situation. No blood vials left, molotov in hand, a few ticks of health left for myself, and a few ticks of health left for her. We both stand out of reach of each other. She leaps into the air to come crashing down on me and I wind my arm back preparing for the throw of a lifetime. The bottle sails through the air and catches her right before she descends upon me. Instead of falling in crushing defeat, I'm treated to a wave of bloodmarks falling down on me, and its at this moment that I can finally exhale once again. A friend of mine was sitting next to me watching the fight, and we both just looked at each other and started laughing at how close that was to failure. It's moments like this that I'm going to laugh about and reference with a spark of excitement in my eyes for years to come.

What was next you might ask? Well, dear reader, I next moved on to kill the Witch of Hemwick and Darkbeast Paarl. I also ditched that old saw spear and moved on to Ludwig's Holy Blade because it seems pretty ideal for the quality build I have going on right now.

Must resist making a
Must resist making a "shocking" pun...

I don't have much to say about either of these bosses because they were also one try kills, but let me just take a moment to dote on Paarls design. This an intimidating creature. My friend and I decide to explore the secret area we stumbled into for a bit, and we see what looks like a ball of fur off in the distance. I'm hesitant because of the difficulty of the monsters in the area, but I am encouraged to get closer. The second I take one step too close a skull looms out of the mass of fur and things become electric. I'm not sure if I just got lucky on this fight. I did immediately notice that things were pretty safe directly under his body as long as I rolled away when he decided to use Thunder. That strategy lead me to a safe and easy victory. I think knowing not to lock onto large creatures in this kind of game also helped make things easier since you could knock him down by attacking the legs. Still, take a moment to appreciate how great this thing looks and animates.

Next on my hit list just so happened to be Shadow of Yharnam. Before I talk about this trio, let me just say, I hate the Forbidden Woods. Those giant snakes were...ugh. And it just dragged on forever. By the time I got to what was obviously going to be the boss zone, I looked over at my friend and said “I kind of want to go back and save my 30,000 bloodmarks, but I really don't want to redo any of this level.” And with that I walked forward.

I immediately regretted my decision when I saw three enemies instead of one. My history with multiple enemy bosses in the Souls games has been... unpleasant to put it nicely. They're never fun, and they hardly ever feel fair. Frankly, I had enough of them with Dark Souls 2, but that's an unimportant tangent. Having written off these bloodmarks to the void, I decided to get as much information on the Shadow as I could in this first attempt.

I immediately recognized one as a spellcaster and the other two seemed to be rushing me with weapons. I also notice a giant tombstone that seems perfect for playing ring-around with and for blocking ranged attacks. With that, I decide to focus on the guy shooting fireballs at me while I play keep-away with the other two. It's a long process of dodging through fireballs (is the dodging mechanic easier in this game or is my timing just better through experience?) and frantically running away when the katana and flamethrower guys catch up to me. Eventually, I take the mage down, and the other two have snakes burst out of their chest. Okay...I shrug that off and decide to go for the katana guy next because he seems the most combo happy and also runs after me faster than Mr. Flamethrower. It takes awhile and I have to learn to dodge their new ranged snake attacks, but katana goes down without too much difficulty.

It's at this point that I have a huge “oh shit” moment. I leave fire guy alone for a few seconds to go heal and suddenly giant snake heads are popping out of the ground and taking half of my health bar. We can't have that, so I switch to being completely aggressive against this guy to prevent whatever he did to summon them. It doesn't happen again, but just once to cause a feeling of helpless “here comes the bullshit thats going to make me restart this 3 boss fight all over again” was more than enough. I'm beyond happy that I beat this fight on the first try, because I could see killing all 3 of them over and over again getting really old real fast.

I was not a happy camper when I stumbled into this neighborhood
I was not a happy camper when I stumbled into this neighborhood

Even though it seems like I'm complaining, this fight was fun. It was the best designed multiple enemy boss fight I've played between Dark Souls 1 and 2. (I haven't played Demons) It forced me to switch away from my greatsword style play for a more agile approach with the one handed version of the blade. I was on my toes all fight, and I felt rewarded for playing skillfully and adapting rather than being cheated out of a win by being outnumbered. If this is any indication of how they will design future group fights in Dark Souls 3 then I say bring it on!

Speaking of being outnumbered, Rom! Oh Rom. Okay, so I'll admit that I heard a lot of complaining about this Rom the Spider guy back when the game released. I knew beforehand that he casts spells and summons monsters, but that's all I really knew going in. I did not realize that he creates an army every time he teleports, and I did not realize that you can't fight him like a traditional boss. This has been my toughest fight yet, and required the most change in my play style.

All together I think he killed me 4 or 5 times before I got a handle on the fight and vanquished him. Definitely the toughest boss yet, but not because he's mechanically difficult. I'd say its because he is different. I'm used to strafing around bosses, getting a couple hits in, dodging the attack, getting some more hits in, and repeat. You can't do that with Rom. If you stay anywhere near him you will get nuked with spells. I quickly found out that if I started my attack animation with my greatsword and he decided to start casting I could not get out of the area of effect before it went off. So what was I to do? I have to be close to attack, but can't stay close because of the spiders and the explosions.

After banging my head against him a couple times I realized that I can't just hope to get lucky on this one. I have to change strategy. I started to think about what was killing me. The answer was basically spiders hitting me once and stun locking me, or me attacking Rom and getting stuck in one of his attacks. Any time I was standing in one general area for too long was a time that I was dying. Because of this I decide to go complete guerrilla warfare on him. I switch to my 1 handed mode and decide that sprinting is the name of the game. If I don't stop moving none of his attacks can hit me. At that point the only threat is accidentally running into an attacking spider.

I give it a shot and tried to skirt the area around him without going far enough out to trigger his meteor attack, and it worked! The satisfaction in seeing him disintegrate was amazing! This might have been a long winded explanation for the boss, but what I'm getting at is that Bloodborne is forcing me to change on a per boss basis. I would never fight any other boss the way I fought Rom. Dark Souls never did that for me. I did the same thing against every boss in Dark Souls. I attacked, shielded, attacked, and shielded again and again. And if it didn't work I either raised my attacking abilities or raised my shielding abilities until it worked. Part of that may just be my fault for playing that way, but I don't feel like Bloodborne allows for this as much. I haven't grinded in Bloodborne either because I haven't felt the need yet.

I'm not sure what significance she holds for me yet, but I'm betting its not pleasant.
I'm not sure what significance she holds for me yet, but I'm betting its not pleasant.

And with that, you're effectively caught up on my Bloodborne experience! I just started the blood moon and met a man by the name of Martyr Logarius. We'll see how long it takes me to bring him down. He doesn't seem too terrible really, but I was running out of blood vials when I tried fighting him. Oh well.

I can't say for sure since I haven't completed the game, but I feel like Bloodborne is hitting that same magic as my first Souls game. If things continue on this way, I think I might like Bloodborne more than Dark Souls 1. Is this becoming a case of Miyazaki being the only man who can make these games feel this way for me? As I understand it, he had limited involvement with Dark Souls 2, and that might explain why that game fell flat for me. Its probably a bit of an oversimplification to say that since it takes an entire team to make a game and not just one man. Still, it makes me wonder if he has the creative spark that makes these games what they are to me.

I had hoped to write a bit more on my opinions of the mechanics of the game in comparison to the previous games and on the world itself, but I got so caught up with the bosses. Maybe another time! I don't usually do blogs here, but Bloodborne inspired me and I just had to get my thoughts out there. I know its been awhile since the release, but how did you all feel about the game. Do you have a favorite or least favorite boss? Just try not to spoil anything past Rom for me please! So keep anything past where I'm at marked out as a spoiler if you can and I'll come back to check it later. Trying to keep this as a blind play through.

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