by nuttacon
I played some games this year! Unlike in previous lists, many of them were from the current year, even! I'm also going to do a proper GOTY countdown! I don't see a way to make the ordered lists reverse order, so number 1 on the list is the last place entry, all the way to my GOTY at the bottom.
Showing 1-10 of 13 items
I managed to clear another game from the backlog. Danganronpa is always a fun time. It's got a unique zaniness to its story, characters, and soundtrack that make it quite an experience. V3 has a few plot twists that made a lot of people unhappy, but in the end, I wonder if it really matters that much as long as the journey was fun. I'm not married to the Dangonronpa lore enough to care about it being torn down - as long as there are crazy bears murdering people, that's enough for me.
This is another backlog entry, and I sure was missing out on some good musou fun. Of course I've played this game once or twice before, but now I started my own proper game and am looking forward to spending the requisite 700 hours to clear all of the content. The standout for me is the really cool adventure modes that allow you to explore the maps of Zelda 1 or other classic games. The best thing I get from this game, though, is simply the excuse to revisit old Legend of Zelda characters and lore because I never really tire of being in this world.
Speaking of classic Zelda games, I managed to finally clear this title from my backlog. I held off for a long time because the art style and bizarre choice of blurring half the screen was unappealing to me, but I mostly got used to those things along the way. I can't really say that this game did much of anything for me than just letting me re-experience the old Game Boy classic. There's a couple new pieces of content, but overall I think this was just an uneventful revisit to an okay Zelda game.
I really want to like this game more than I do. At a glance, it seems like a great achievement in re-creating the old SNES-era JRPG experience. Ultimately, I can't shake the feeling of it being just a bit too shallow. The characters and motivations are just not there, and the story and setting don't grab me the way I feel they should. It's a game that does better on paper than in reality. It's hard to say what's wrong with it specifically, but it just doesn't have that feeling of being something really great either.
This was a successful exercise in proving that it's hard to make a Legend of Zelda game without link. I think the developers came to the conclusion and just said "Fuck it, you can be Link sometimes" and added the hero mode. That said, I appreciate the effort and the ideas, and I think there's still some fun to be had here. It's held back by poor enemy and echo behavior - battles tend to drag a bit as the monsters struggle to do anything effectively. Overall, still worth a play-through at least once.
We've come to the end of the Ascian saga with Endwalker, and now Dawntrail promises to begin some new adventures for our Warriors of Light. Dawntrail is a fairly straightforward competition for the throne story, with some interesting new characters and an engaging 2nd act that introduces a new threat. There's a bit of a lack of utilization of key characters in the 2nd act which feels like a missed opportunity that lands this expansion into a B grade for me. I think it's to be expected for the beginning of a new saga to be slow, though, and I am more just excited to see what is in store for the next expansions.
This is a great idea. We need more clever, unique games like this that just come out of left field. I had a great time with a handful of standout games. The point-and-click adventure Night Manor had a great narrative and fun puzzles. Party House is a surprising deck-builder game. Pilot Quest scratches the idle game part of your brain. There's even a whole-ass RPG in here called Grimstone with a Western flavor. It's a great idea, and a delightful experience to try out each of the games.
This addition is mainly for the Ode to Castlevania DLC which was released this year. Finally, we come full circle and just throw in all the Belmonts and Castlevania bosses. Cool as that is, the greatest thrill comes from reaching the end of this DLC - yes, there's an end with a proper event, credits, and unlockables. I don't want to give it away, and will just say it was a delightful surprise that kind of blew me away. This DLC had no business being this good, but they went all out in a way I was not expecting.
Tekken punches on for the 8th time (or 10th because of Tag Tournament?) and it continues to look better each time. I don't have much to say about this because there's not necessarily anything new or surprising - it's simply another iteration of Tekken, but refined yet again to look even more incredible. The one big thing to call attention to, though, is the story mode which is so much better than the bore of Tekken 7. It sort of goes full-on anime for a bit, which is cool - I think Tekken shines when it gets a bit crazy. Jin also gets some much-needed spotlight. Tekken is in a really great place now.
Number go up is fun. I think I only managed to get ridiculous scientific notation numbers once or twice, but it sure is satisfying to break the game to that degree. I will also never have a problem with collecting things. I love putting checks in boxes, and checking off new decks and Joker cards is a lot of fun. I look forward to seeing more of this game in the future!