MegamanX's Top 100 Games of All Time

I last made a top 100 games list a decade ago and I've beaten a lot of games since then. I could have just started with that list but I decided to work my way fresh to create something here. After finishing nearly 2000 games you'd think I'd well have an easy time with this but no my first crack at this came out to like 300. Even then there's so many 'considered classics' I likely haven't touched. Hey I'm happy with what I've played at least.

I tried to fill my list with games I truly enjoyed in my life without some obligation to a game being critical to the list as seen by the gaming populace.

I aim to roll this out a bit slow so I'll give hints to the next one, see who can guess the most

Hints for #100:
-A sequel maybe even a threequel depending how you see it
-PS1/N64 era
-Ported to ps4
-A beach to die for
-Fans of the first game were quite mad
-The original multiverse

Wanted to go over a few games that won't make it but were considered

First two games I'm really enjoying but haven't cleared either yet, maybe next edition
Xenoblade Chronicles
Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky

The Almost were but never was
Mortal Kombat X: I really liked what they did with this story but its side content doesn't feel like a complete package.

Sonic Frontiers: Sega threw everything at the wall and said lets see what sticks. And against all odds of that working I really like this game a lot. I was *this* close to having this be #100.

Viva Pinata Trouble in Paradise: I think this games brilliant but theres enough unexplained BS and questionable parts when it already forces a ton of handholding that made me ultimately say no. Still its an excellent game if you like farming pokemon

Eternal Sonata: At times this lost Tales of game feels perfect and then there are chapters you wonder if the game director forgot what was going on. The game starts to introduce too many characters then panics and kills one but then they monologue about their own death for 45 in real time minutes. Its wildly all over the place but when it hits, its good

Sleeping Dogs: It shouldn't work but there is just something magical about this game that flows together. Theres a few wow moments in the story, but its quite remarkable for a sandbox game in a genre that relies too heavily on GTA for its outline.

Half Minute Hero: The PSP versions brought down by awful campaigns after the first Hero 30 ends but the remake just cuts content and adds in the worst graphics I've ever seen. At its core its a really fun quirky RPG.

Robotrek: I don't think Robotrek is a really great game which is why I left it off. It has a special place in my heart for nailing a crazy world that feels a bit more alive than other rather generic snes rpgs. Unfortunately the battle system is a disaster that brings the game down.

tag for lists

that's a lot of hints but i still have no clue what #100 is

Don't know a great deal about the game and had no idea it got a remaster until 10 seconds ago but I'll guess Chrono Cross.

tag

Definitely Chrono Cross.

Points
NBIceman: 1
Pyresword: 1

#100 Chrono Cross
System: PS1/PS4
Originally Released: August 15, 2000
Genre: JRPG

Best Songs:
https://youtu.be/DhBY8BIJURo?si=L92MmnccCYb9U3u6 (Star Stealing Girl)
https://youtu.be/40BZyMdDG4s?si=d47KDJNGxsyd2FmN (Time's Scar)
https://youtu.be/HIprJ8eWiMY?si=UlKGtDwckOOdnF2M (Home World)
https://youtu.be/rVNkROZ0k2Y?si=AK1wV8uikLJzfMCf (Another World)
https://youtu.be/w3a_iTwQIi4?si=18V50zYxUOSjqqlI (Radical Dreamers)

There are still people today that are so butt hurt about this not being a direct enough sequel to Chrono Trigger that they outright dismiss this game. The game was always intended to be the newest "Chrono" game and built as a continuation of the visual novel and semi finished title Radical Dreamers (great name). The director of Chrono Cross wanted to continue Kid's story as she escapes that doomed reality and have her encounter Serge again but not the hippie musician she left behind. Hilariously because Square Enix did nothing to fill these gaps in this left Western audiences even more confused. I mean when this game released the emulation scene was still coming together we weren't in the translation boom of the the early 2000s. For 99.9% of western audiences this game isn't a sequel to Chrono Trigger and its seemingly starting part way thru the story.

This wasn't helped by the dream sequence at the start which confuses things even more by including a random third character. Then you wake as Serge and things go relatively normal until you end up going to the damn beach and slipping sideways to another universe (is this the original multiverse game?). It's here suddenly nobody recognizes Serge, and hints lead you to a cliff where you find your own grave that you died as a child drowning. Kid then appears knowing who you are but once again western audiences are in the dark while Japanese audiences are probably reacting to this reveal putting things together. Perspective is a wild thing.

So Chrono Cross does something a bit strange for the era in that its telling three stories at once: Serge, Kid's and Lynx. We only get the perspective of one of these stories at a time but they all are ongoing at the same time in their own way. Under utilized here is Guile who was in Radical Dreamers and is downgraded to irrelevant side character despite Chrono Trigger DS showing gamers we were all right, Magus is searching for Schala and has taken on a new identity as he travels the multiverse.

While CT focused on time travel between the eras of history and how small ripples can create waves, Cross explores what life is like when not only one person is removed from history but what small choices change the entire timeline. Cross explores primarily two worlds: Home and Another. Home is where Serge starts the game living in a small fishing village, while Another is a world where he died as a child and made no mark on life itself. It's a fun mechanic that does the multiverse concept at a pace thats easy to keep up with.

Where this concept really shines is instead of a small party the game adopts the Suikoden philosophy of recruit anything with a pulse. This means you have characters you will recruit from both worlds and while some are largely the same like Leena, some only exist in certain worlds, or are completely different people between the two worlds. When the writers go all in on this its amazingly fun to see the variants of Fargo or Nikki but then other times yea it just kinda feels like nothing.

Overall the plot is a wild ride and while it definitely is a polarizing plot and well harder to grasp onto with the disconnections. The same can't be said for the music which is a home run grand slam. My only gripe here is the weird violin battle music is not great. The problems come back with how Chrono Cross handles leveling and getting stronger. For most of the game the random battles don't matter, they will mostly just give materials. To get stronger you beat bosses and then for the next few random battles you get EXP. After that back to nothing. For not experienced players of the genre this could mean a road block or end state of your journey.

This is a game with beautiful cutscenes and graphics that push the PS1 to the edge, so bless the remake it got to help bring the blur and eye bleed to a minimum. Overall what prevents this from getting higher on my list is its just an odd duck with some cracks and wholes. An ambitious project for its time.

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Hints for #99
-PS2/GCB/XBX era
-Ported to ps4/switch
-"Stoners Favorite"
-Lonely but rolling
-Kissing cousins

Oh hey, I just played We Katamari this year.

Chrono Cross is great and I love it. I do think the tie-ins to CT aren't that good though. The Schala stuff is kinda nonsense.

We Katamari

Tag

will write next entry tomorrow

man holidays are crazy. tomorrow