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ValorianEndymion

User review which I have written for Undernauts - https://t.co/MZgBTfZnj1 #review #gamereview

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2023 GOTY

This year, I managed to write two, but kind large, blog pieces: SD Gundam G Generations Cross Rays and Master of Orion 3

With Master of Orion, begin the hardest to write and the one which toke most time. There was other stuff I managed to do, like improve my art (Pixiv), use a third cosplay (Instagram), take some amazing photos and meet new people in local cons.

With all that said, let's move to the list. But first some honorary mentions and other stuff.

Honorary Mentions:

Moonring (Steam)

Wish to play a modern take on classic Ultima games? And for free? Please check this on.

Demon Lord Reincarnation (Steam)

Another huge surprise this year, a classic dungeon crawler in every sense of the word, with an amazing dither based sprite art.

Tales of Maj´Eyal and Caves of Qud (Steam)

In this category, I have to very different types of roguelike games, really like them both a lot, but I admit enjoying Caves of Qud a bit more, due to it visuals and the mechanics.

Best Mods:

Anbennar (Mod for Europa Universalis IV).

This is an amazing total conversion fantasy mod, which features a deep and rich story, tons of new mechanics, mission trees, disasters, events, sprites and so much more.

Old World (Mod for Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord)

Another amazing total conversion mod, this time for the Warhammer fantasy. It is a bit trick to get installed, not by it own fault, it just you need to check some stuff before and then do shader compilation stuff, but nothing too complicated.

But once it is done, it is smooth sail, the mod is a bit hard to start due to overwhelming number of enemy parties around, but pass that is very fun.

Best DLCs:

Europa Universalis IV : Dominions and King of Kings

Crusader Kings III: Chapter II (Tour and Tournaments, Legacy of Persia, Ward and Wardens, Elegance of the Empire).

PDX latest DLC for both games have been excellent, I still have to try out the new patch and dlcs for Victoria III and maybe catch up on Stellaris dlcs.

And now, the GOTY list:

List items

  • This feel like a much more focused, polished and story driven game in comparison, to other, often chaotic Aquria games, where ambition often goes unchecked.

    The result is a bit trick, in one hand, at least for me the chaotic ambition was a charm which is quite missing, but also, like I said, this feel a much more polished game, with an original story, tons and tons of characters, while battle are fun and the map exploration and its mechanics are much better.

  • This is like one of the best fantasy 4X games, the idea of being able to not only customize your faction leader, but the faction itself, is something which a lot of games tried, but here, Triumph Studious produced something brilliant, by means of playing around with the archetypes, it feels very expressive and there is a lot of room for experiments. The expansions (Dragon Dawn and Empire and Ashes) were also excellent.

  • I plan to write something about it soon… In the meantime, what I can say, it is an amazing game, Larian, despite all odds, made a good sequel to not only Baldur's Gate, but even a spiritual successor to the tactical battles of the Pools of Radiance series.

    All of his while and also managed to challenge misconception of this type crpg would be "obsolete" by breaching out of it boundaries of the normal audience. Because crpg of this type didn't disappear or die, people keep making them, often small or medium developers, with Larian itself among the crowd.

  • I know, this might sound weird, because a long ago, I already put this in a GOTY list. But, after playing Hollow Fragment, I did move to Hollow Realization. However, with Last Recollection begin around the corner, and nothing wish to rush Hollow Realization, I decided to finish Lycoris, since Recollection would be a direct sequel.

    Anyway, Lycoris is a curious game among them, it not so over ambitious as previous titles (despite being closer to more traditional view of open world game), had a rough launch (with performance issues), but as most Aquria games it good some good support and free content overtime, its DLCs where most good, with highlight begin Blooming of Forget me Not, while Blooming of Matriarca, was not so good (the story was good, the concept of the dungeon, not so much).

    As most games based on anime, I would only recommend if you enjoy them and are aware of their often limited nature, it is a sort of slow burn game, as its story first move close to the light novel or the show, until a certain point.

  • Ever wondered if someone made a game that combined a light version of Total War battle and Crusader Kings in the same game? Wander no more, because it is real, and it is very good. However, like I said, both elements were fairly light in nature, but the game still getting patches and improvements.

  • This is a hard game to describe, it is sort of a dungeon crawler, whose story is told like it was a TV show, with opening and endings, with themes of exploring archeological ruins inside a school, while goofy anime antics happen and the art is a mix of different styles. It is all over the place. 

    Some puzzles can be a bit too hard or vague, I had to check a Japanese YouTube video about to solve one, since guides for this game almost don't exist (outside of Japan).

  • The first game in the Science Adventure series, made by Mages/Nitroplus, of which Steins; Gate belong. It feels a little rough around it edges and kind of period piece, but this give it story a certain flavor, unique to it.

  • So, I finally start to play this on, so far, so good, the usage of the turn based system works very well in a game which you might never imagine using it.

  • I still hold, that this feel like Arena (TES 1) but in space, in sense, that the huge space (no pun intendant) it feels like exist as an experiment or accident or maybe by design or all of them, but maybe not very well-used, still, I enjoyed my time on it.

    It feels like an attempt at a throw back to the subgenre of space exploration crpgs, which often delve in large scale, game like Starflight I and II (86/89) and even obscure titles, such as Sundog Frozen Legacy (84).

  • This one isn't higher, only because I picked up at the tail end of year, so for obvious reasons, I had not so much time to delve on it, but the little I did, was enough to convince me, that this a GOTY, but, and I know this might sound strange, to try the other Owlcat´s games (I confess that I haven't checked them due maybe, until now, not begin in infinity engine style of crpg vibe, despite loving this kind of game).
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