LogFAQs > #977618825

Very busy, so will post half the writeups today and half tomorrow.

40. Tales of Symphonia
Symphonia hit every RPG-starved-Nintendo-kid like a nuclear warhead. I fully recognize that its high position on this list is largely due to the massive nostalgia I have for it. Back then, especially in circles on B8, this game felt like an event.

Has it held up now that I've gone on to play a ton of other RPGs?...Honestly, more than one might assume. Tales of Symphonia does a lot right. The story, while containing many cliches, mixes them together in a way that feels interesting. It gets some criticism for being very similar to FFX in certain ways, but past the halfway point I think the plot diverges into something wholly unique. This is helped by the charming cast of characters, who have strong personalities that play off each other in fun ways.

Everything else is done well too. The battle system has been iterated upon and eclipsed by later Tales entries, but it's still more fun than the majority of RPGs coming out today. The music is Sakuraba's best. The pacing is strong throughout. While Symphonia is somewhat lacking in big standout moments, at its core, I think almost everything about the game is at least above-average.

Its biggest issue by far is age. This is definitely an early 2000s game in terms of presentation and cutscene direction. It desperately needs a remake. Like, a good remake; not a shoddy port that's worse than the original.

39. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
I've played a lot of open-world games. I've played a lot of Zelda games. Despite that, Breath of the Wild still felt special. I loved exploring every corner of the world, playing with the physics, and uncovering the nonlinear story. I even liked weapon durability, as it forced me to continuously try out new things inside of forever sticking with whatever sword had the best stats. There was an indefinable joy to messing around in BotW that few other games have managed to capture. I have fond memories of sitting near a fireplace in winter, jacket on, gliding through the air as I searched for new oddities to discover. To me, that represents the essence of this game.

Short writeup, but I don't have much else to say. Some things you just vibe with.

38. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
The game that introduced B8 to its mascot. As a Day 1 adopter, I knew Phoenix Wright was going to be special the moment they started playing awful puns completely straight in Case 1-1. The rest, as we say, is history.

Future games in the series have exceeded the original in complexity, but honestly, I'm not sure that's a good thing. Pacing in Ace Attorney has gotten pretty rough as of late. AA1 delivers almost as many jaw-dropping moments as its successors while also respecting your time (Case 5 aside). 1-4 isn't my favorite case ever, but it's what I would choose if I had to pick an objective best case that is the ultimate total package of what AA is meant to achieve. Edgeworth is at his best in AA1, and so is Phoenix, in some respects.

There are some flaws. Case 1-2's ending is limp and unsatisfying. Case 1-5 has bad pacing - rather telling that it was written well after AA1 originally released. Overall, though, this is maybe the most consistent game in the series.

37. Dishonored 1 & 2
Mostly Dishonored 2. Dishonored 1 has a slightly better atmosphere and felt more fresh, but Dishonored 2 has probably my favorite stealth gameplay of all time. For context: I played D2 on PC shortly after it came out. The port was poorly optimized on launch. My PC was also underpowered. I had to fiddle with the settings for a while to consistently get an FPS of 25, and it would gradually get worse as I played, resulting in me needing to hard reset the game every hour or so because loading times became ridiculous.

I still absolutely loved playing Dishonored 2. No series does stealth better (at least stealth with fantasy powers). Emily's Spiderman-esque powers were super fun to use. I actually thought the plot was kind of dumb, but who cares when D2 has two of the best levels in any game I've ever played? The clockwork fortress and the time travel mansion were incredible. I'd play Dishonored 3 in a heartbeat, especially since the stealth genre is mostly dead and starved for blood.

36. Deadly Premonition
I can't explain what makes Deadly Premonition so good without sounding kinda like a lunatic.

'It's like Twin Peaks' is part of it. That vibe is lovingly recreated while still putting its own spin on things. But in terms of combat, and frame rate, and quest design, and car controls, and lots of design choices that are important to games as a medium? Deadly Premonition fails. It legitimately does not do a lot of things correctly. People that try to extol this game usually to default to the tagline: So Bad It's Good, because the kind of shorthand language necessary to explain what made Deadly Premonition resonate with people sounds obtuse and pretentious.

But I'll try. To start with, Deadly Premonition does have some genuinely strong aspects to it. The music and sound design are extremely proficient at setting the mood, with some songs like Life is Beautiful being very memorable. Additionally, the voice acting and character performances are fantastic. Anyone that's supposed to sound normal sounds normal, and anyone that's supposed to sound offputting sounds weird as hell. York is a standout his VA perfectly encapsulates the off-kilter charisma a character like him needs. Finally, the plot is entertaining throughout, building to an extremely memorable conclusion that I think about to this day.

As for all the bad stuff? Honestly, Deadly Premonition might be a worse game if it was slick and polished. Nothing is detrimental enough that it ruins the experience, and all the little gripes you have while playing just turn into memorable quirks. Sure the combat sucks, and the driving has the literal worst car controls I've ever played, and sometimes the faces look like they were animated by one dude in Gmod. But remembering those parts just makes me smile. The game's atmosphere is intentionally bizarre and invites you to blur your preconceptions of reality, so sure, it makes total sense that York needs to shower or else flies will start swarming you in cutscenes. That's just how his world operates.

In the simplest possible terms, Deadly Premonition is far more than the sum of its parts. We don't talk about the sequel though.