Seinenfeld

This might take a while.

Halo: Combat Evolved - when it first opens up my young self was amazed by the freedom and scale compared to the fps games I'd played prior. Not to mention the enemy AI (it's still good), sticking an enemy for the first time, bouncing warthogs off each other... God I love halo.

Ocarina of Time - maybe the best video game of all time, the sense of wonder and excitement when I first played hasn't really been matched. That might be because I was a child or it might be because it's just that good.

Final Fantasy IX - the best final fantasy game (tactics is very good and I won't argue if you tell me it's better), it made me care about characters in a way no video game had yet, and so the pivotal moments in the story felt so impactful and dramatic to me. Add extremely impressive cgi cutscenes and the best graphics the PSX could muster and you've got a video game that blew me away.

The Last of Us - I didn't play this Until I got a PS4, and I was afraid the hype might have sunk it before I even played it, but man was I wrong. The way it builds its characters and narrative is really impressive, as is the quality of the world-building and detail. The story you uncover in the sewer area is better than most main video game plots. There are also some real moments of tension in the gameplay, and while it isn't my favourite playing game, it's still quite good in that department as well. I don't feel like replaying it because I know it won't be the same.

Gone Home - changed the way I thought about games and made me want to explore every nook and cranny so I understood everything I could.

Dark Souls - my first time through dark souls I had a friend explain some of the obtuse shit to me without holding my hand too much. It was a game I had avoided because I wasn't sure if it was for me, but I found that he game wasn't brutally hard like some people like to make out, but it tells you as little as possible and forces you to learn from death. Once you figure out your first souls game, the subsequent ones you play won't really be the same. Dark Souls is still the only one I've finished.

The thing about game experiences you wish you could have for the first time again is that they're often very time-dependent. I think these games are still "good", but the older ones are not necessarily going to be the mind-blowing experiences they were the first time if someone were today them for the first time today.

@dochaus: you picked some good ones! Was pleasantly surprised by all of those.

The Type Moon community in general is kind of a nightmare. I really don't like the FSN VN and I found the first couple of episodes of UBW to be kinda awful so I'm with the "Fate Zero is the best" side (and even that I just think is "good", not necesarrily anything spectacular other than production values).

Also hi folks, I kinda dipped out during last season as I was only really interested in Rakugo and thought I'd just wait for the season to wrap up to watch it all (I still haven't, but I will). I've been slowly watching the first ep of most shows from this season and it seems like there's a lot of potential? I'm gonna scrub through the topic to read what people have been saying but this seems like it could be one of the better seasons of anime in a while.

Sadly, the bombcast is one of my least favourite things they put out nowadays and I'm often weeks behind. It just doesn't keep me very engaged and hasn't for a while, though it can still be very entertaining. The beastcast, by comparison, is a must-listen as soon as I soon as I can, and similarly any QL with all three of Alex, Austin and Vinny on it is usually incredible.

Thanks for the games folks, I left after I lost because as expected the rollback was real, especially the match with Jesna. No excuse for always getting hit by tick revenger though, I'm just free as fuck to that (and the mirror in general).

Snake relegated Gief to sidechick status, RIP Gief

So as somebody who played the FUCK out of Gears 1 despite how much of a laggy mess it was and got really good at it, I still think 3 is the best one by far. Best single player, horde remained good, beast was a fun side mode, and the multiplayer was actually team-based and rifles didn't completely suck! Even as somebody who loved wall-bouncing gnasher shenanigans I felt like it was the best mp experience.

Playing the campaign co-op is still one of the most memorable gaming experiences I've ever had, so I'd highly recommend playing it that way if you're at all able to.

Oh, and it has one of the most diverse casts of a game I've played, especially when it comes to AAA stuff. What a pleasantly surprising game on so many fronts.

I'm away at the moment so I've been outta the fgc loop but good shit to jesna on winning the gb tourney. Birdie coming for that big ol' pot o' thread bragging rights.

I had no idea this thread existed, which makes sense as I read the last page and see how old the posts are. I tried to give k-pop a real shot last year after becoming slightly familiar with it a few years back due to a university assignment I did about use of English in k-pop. I'd paid a little attention to the pretty ladies and caught some of the music by osmosis, but I wanted to try and go in real deep. I didn't quite get there, but I listened to some stuff that people seem to like a fair bit.

Results were mixed. f(x) are easily my favourite and the pink tape is an incredible album marred only by the fairly abysmal "goodbye summer". 9muses are decent, I really like their one ep I'm forgetting the name of right now. I don't care for girls generation at all. 2ne1 are alright, same goes for t-ara (who just seem like the most identity-less group that managed to eke out some bangers). IU is obviously very talented and I love her, but that first album? Nigh-unlistenable. Last fantasy is great though and modern times is pretty good (sometimes it kinda misses but the hits are on-point). I also really like Lim Kim and awoo was one of the best songs last year, k-pop or not. And in terms of less "poppy" stuff, neon bunny is amazing.

I tried some of the male k-pop stuff too and it wasn't really doing it for me, but the albums seemed more consistent on the whole. I gave bigbang and their solo stuff a big go and it didn't leave much of an impression on me. Shinee were better, but even then I was left kinda cold.

Now let me take a moment to have a small aside about rapping here. I listen to a lot of music, rap and hip-hop especially so. A lot of the rapping in k-pop really turns me off. 4 walls was not as enjoyable an album for me as it should have been just because I found amber's rapping on it especially grating. Jay Park do got him some flow though.

Expectation is the best k-pop single and I cannot be convinced otherwise.

Free cop chun outfit, I'm hype. I wonder if Alex's story mode will be more or less shitty than the others...

Also, the salt when somebody doesn't accept your rematch request is going to be extremely real.