Board 8 > Board 8 #sports Discord Ranks Their Top 100 Video Games Finale: THE TOP 10

Topic List	Page List: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 ... 9
WiggumFan267 03/04/21 4:58:50 PM #53:	Whiskey_Nick posted... everything not everything --- ~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion 2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS <cite>WiggumFan267 posted [p:951343981] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>Whiskey_Nick posted... </cite> <quote>everything</quote> not everything </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Naye745 03/04/21 6:05:23 PM #54:	you know what stage was always pretty bad? pokefloats --- it's an underwater adventure ride <cite>Naye745 posted [p:951346469] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>you know what stage was always pretty bad? pokefloats </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Arti 03/04/21 6:35:00 PM #55:	Naye745 posted... you know what stage was always pretty bad? pokefloats --- http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif azuarc may not know the strength of songs in VGMC, but he conquered the guru in Game of the Decade 2! Congrats! <cite>Arti posted [p:951347565] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>Naye745 posted... </cite> <quote>you know what stage was always pretty bad? pokefloats</quote> </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Arti 03/04/21 8:07:12 PM #56:	Anyway, for my list, 7 and 6 are pretty intertwined so I'm going to post both of them in a combined writeup tomorrow instead of one today. --- http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif azuarc may not know the strength of songs in VGMC, but he conquered the guru in Game of the Decade 2! Congrats! <cite>Arti posted [p:951350733] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>Anyway, for my list, 7 and 6 are pretty intertwined so I'm going to post both of them in a combined writeup tomorrow instead of one today. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
CherryCokes 03/04/21 8:28:27 PM #57:	Naye745 posted... you know what stage was always pretty bad? pokefloats there are other worse stages that didn't get inexplicably excluded for being bad! --- The Thighmaster <cite>CherryCokes posted [p:951351532] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>Naye745 posted... </cite> <quote>you know what stage was always pretty bad? pokefloats</quote> there are other worse stages that didn't get inexplicably excluded for being bad! </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Naye745 03/04/21 8:37:36 PM #58:	oh yeah for sure, there are tons of awful stages in ultimate mostly just that pokefloats gets weirdly canonized as something magical when nobody i ever played melee with was ever particularly interested in it --- it's an underwater adventure ride <cite>Naye745 posted [p:951351867] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>oh yeah for sure, there are tons of awful stages in ultimate mostly just that pokefloats gets weirdly canonized as something magical when nobody i ever played melee with was ever particularly interested in it </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
WiggumFan267 03/04/21 8:55:57 PM #59:	#9. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS, 2013) A Link Between Worlds is the spiritual successor to A Link to the Past, and in a lot of ways, its really similar. Its a similar overworld, laid out in a similar way, with the same gameplay style, a lot of the same standard Zelda weapons (though it does have 2 neat new ones that make for good puzzle solving- the Tornado Rod which briefly lifts you in the air, and the Sand Rod which rises temporary pillars out of sand), and a lot of the same game feel- and of course this is all a good thing, as these things are all very good in LttP. I would probably have this game ranked just around the same as Link to the Past, which I have at 47, if it werent for two additional mechanics in this game that really elevate it for me. The main mechanic in this game then being the ability for Link to turn into a drawing and move around on the wall, as the camera swings down to show this perspective. Its a fantastic gameplay element, that allows for a new dimension of getting around a game like LttP, and is used extensively, creatively, and a variety of different ways in both the overworld and within dungeons. In addition, this is the main way you travel between Hyrule and the Dark Wo-. Lorule.., okay and this is such an incredibly stupid pun, that I cant help but love it. But anyway, there are cracks in the walls which allow for this transition between worlds. I think this is the best mechanic in any Zelda game, its a little hard to explain why. It just feels very good, the transitions of how it works looks good, and its just fun! The other great thing here is the item rental system. This is another fantastic mechanic that keeps all the general mechanics of Zelda games- that is, using different tools to solve puzzles, complete dungeons, and deal with enemies/bosses, and supplants an open-world idea to it. Shortly after leaving Links house, a man in a rabbit costume named Ravio, takes over and turns it into an item shop of sorts. All of the usual items (plus two) that you would get in LttP you get here. You can items for a smallish amount, and it is yours until you die, at which point you lose it. You can also buy the item for a very large price, and then it is yours permanently and you can obviously carry multiple items (all items you own plus the one you are renting). This system allows you to not only explore the world and do its puzzles in any order you want, but also the dungeons (each dungeon lets you know on its exterior the item you will need in order to solve it). But, besides just needing that particular item to merely beat a dungeon, each one usually offers some use for the other items to find secrets, like heart pieces, rupees, or maiamais (little shell creatures that you can trade in 10 of to upgrade a weapon) in them. So, you can rent as many as you can afford, or would like to risk, since dying means you lose all of them, and take on a dungeon with a full arsenal- as the additional items prove helpful but are not necessary, or you can come back later, once youve bought additional items. Its really a great system that promotes the open world nature of the game, giving Link to the Past that feel of what if you could play this game in any order youd like to explore it in. Also, no longer do you run into that issue in Zelda games where you do a neat puzzle that you enjoyed solving and the reward is a 100 Rupee and youre like ah fuck, Im already maxed out. Rupees are more meaningful than ever before in this game, and youll never be maxed out- rupees are actually a meaningful reward because of this system. Usually, Zelda puzzles are fun enough on their own to solve, without the reward being lame being a big deal, but obviously a good reward is nice too. Oh, and also I really enjoy the enemy gauntlet bonus room at the end of this game too. Its pretty tough, but not too hard, and its fun to use your large combination of weapons youll have in it. Simply adding 2 great mechanics to an already great game, adds a whole new dimension (ha ha) to it and a ton of depth and makes it to me, the most fun Zelda game. Simple as that. Next up: clank clank clank clank clank clank clank clank clank clank clank clank clank clank clank clank clank --- ~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion 2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS <cite>WiggumFan267 posted [p:951352488] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>#9. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS, 2013) A Link Between Worlds is the spiritual successor to A Link to the Past, and in a lot of ways, its really similar. Its a similar overworld, laid out in a similar way, with the same gameplay style, a lot of the same standard Zelda weapons (though it does have 2 neat new ones that make for good puzzle solving- the Tornado Rod which briefly lifts you in the air, and the Sand Rod which rises temporary pillars out of sand), and a lot of the same game feel- and of course this is all a good thing, as these things are all very good in LttP. I would probably have this game ranked just around the same as Link to the Past, which I have at 47, if it werent for two additional mechanics in this game that really elevate it for me. The main mechanic in this game then being the ability for Link to turn into a drawing and move around on the wall, as the camera swings down to show this perspective. Its a fantastic gameplay element, that allows for a new dimension of getting around a game like LttP, and is used extensively, creatively, and a variety of different ways in both the overworld and within dungeons. In addition, this is the main way you travel between Hyrule and the Dark Wo-. Lorule.., okay and this is such an incredibly stupid pun, that I cant help but love it. But anyway, there are cracks in the walls which allow for this transition between worlds. I think this is the best mechanic in any Zelda game, its a little hard to explain why. It just feels very good, the transitions of how it works looks good, and its just fun! The other great thing here is the item rental system. This is another fantastic mechanic that keeps all the general mechanics of Zelda games- that is, using different tools to solve puzzles, complete dungeons, and deal with enemies/bosses, and supplants an open-world idea to it. Shortly after leaving Links house, a man in a rabbit costume named Ravio, takes over and turns it into an item shop of sorts. All of the usual items (plus two) that you would get in LttP you get here. You can items for a smallish amount, and it is yours until you die, at which point you lose it. You can also buy the item for a very large price, and then it is yours permanently and you can obviously carry multiple items (all items you own plus the one you are renting). This system allows you to not only explore the world and do its puzzles in any order you want, but also the dungeons (each dungeon lets you know on its exterior the item you will need in order to solve it). But, besides just needing that particular item to merely beat a dungeon, each one usually offers some use for the other items to find secrets, like heart pieces, rupees, or maiamais (little shell creatures that you can trade in 10 of to upgrade a weapon) in them. So, you can rent as many as you can afford, or would like to risk, since dying means you lose all of them, and take on a dungeon with a full arsenal- as the additional items prove helpful but are not necessary, or you can come back later, once youve bought additional items. Its really a great system that promotes the open world nature of the game, giving Link to the Past that feel of what if you could play this game in any order youd like to explore it in. Also, no longer do you run into that issue in Zelda games where you do a neat puzzle that you enjoyed solving and the reward is a 100 Rupee and youre like ah fuck, Im already maxed out. Rupees are more meaningful than ever before in this game, and youll never be maxed out- rupees are actually a meaningful reward because of this system. Usually, Zelda puzzles are fun enough on their own to solve, without the reward being lame being a big deal, but obviously a good reward is nice too. Oh, and also I really enjoy the enemy gauntlet bonus room at the end of this game too. Its pretty tough, but not too hard, and its fun to use your large combination of weapons youll have in it. Simply adding 2 great mechanics to an already great game, adds a whole new dimension (ha ha) to it and a ton of depth and makes it to me, the most fun Zelda game. Simple as that. Next up: clank clank clank clank clank clank clank clank clank clank clank clank clank clank clank clank clank </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
TheKnightOfNee 03/04/21 11:39:30 PM #60:	#9. Hollow Knight (2017, PC) I'm not really sure which direction I want to go with this writeup, so I'm just going to start talking about Hollow Knight and see where that takes me. When I first heard of Hollow Knight, the idea seemed cool, as I am all about the Metroidvania games, but I wasn't sure about the aesthetic. I had seen a couple images, and it looked kind of dark and full of bugs, and I pushed the game aside for a bit. I heard some friends say they enjoyed it though, so I finally gave it a shot. Seeing the style of the game in motion, it works a lot better. A lot of the backgrounds were subtly beautiful, there are areas with a fairly wide variety in color and feel, and there are a lot of interesting bug characters to see. I was glad that I was able to improve my opinion on the game there. Hollow Knight starts off with a very old school feel, as you just venture underground with no idea where you're going or how deep you're going or what true dangers lie ahead. The first real challenge is finding the map, so you have some means of getting your bearings. I could see people finding this part frustrating, but it had a nice old school feel. It reminded me a bit of say, the original Metroid, but not in a massive world full of same-y screens. It was still navigable and even helped tell me that the game wants me to keep track of where I'm moving and searching. The lack of guidance in the first area was actually very important, because as you set off on the larger journey, you'll enter a new area, but with no map for this new area. You have to kind of poke around and explore until you can get a map for here. And the same thing with each area after. It's often a scary feeling, carefully wandering about in an unknown setting with no map to guide you back to safety. Sometimes I felt like I was in a pool, dipping my toes in the shallow end of the water, knowing that I would find what I needed closer to the deep end. But that early design decision is there to tell you, Hey, you're gonna have to do some exploring, taking a path you may not be entirely sure about, but that's how you'll find things you need. As you get more comfortable with this idea of just setting in a direction and exploring a little, the game will throw some more branching paths at you. It won't be clear which to take, so you'll just have to pick. Maybe you want to go as deep as you can, maybe one is a cool looking cave with crystals, maybe one just seems less intimidating. Whichever the case, you'll start going... and then hit another branch. You'll try to go towards your original goal by taking one of these paths. Then another branch. You'll make a note to come back to what you don't take, and keep going. And another branch. And another. Then you find a new area, a save bench, a shop, an item, more branching paths, new areas, new items, something mysterious you'll have to come back for, more branches, and maybe a new map. Then you pull up the map, and whoa, you have gone all over the place. Hollow Knight is not too ordered in where you need to go, so you can just set off in a direction and explore. Everyone's experience will be different. And I really like this. The game encourages moving along and finding what's out there. There are lots of choices, but every path can feel like the right path. And the world is pretty massive too. At one point, I decided to just go as far down into the world as I did. And I finally went as far down as I could go. It was pretty far. Then I went back to the last path branch, and realized, that way goes farther to a new area. Then I hit the bottom of the world. It was a dark area and very deep. I looped back up to the top for a while, then later returned to the bottom to fill out my map. But then, I realized there was another new area, deeper still. And that's how Hollow Knight is, just always more places to go, farther to travel, new sights always ahead. Fun exploration is just one reason why this game is so fun. Movement and combat are both top notch. Early on, neither might seem that special, but later on, you get a lot of abilities to make it fun to travel anywhere. There's dashes and long flying dashes and wall jumps and slash jumps and whatever more. It all feels very fluid and makes bouncing around through both large areas and small crowded areas feel fun. And then you can equip a limited number of charms that enhance abilities some for movement, some for battle, some just for quality of life upgrades. You can really set up a character that feels good to maneuver. And then for battle, there are some real challenging battles, both among regular enemies and bosses. Nothing feels unfair or impossible though, it's all within reach to learn. It just takes hard work and focus and practice. There's also a colosseum that's stupidly hard, but so much fun to try. Hollow Knight just ended up a pleasant surprise from top to bottom, and in more ways than I'm covering here. It's a game where you set out to see where it will take you, and enjoy yourself along the way. And as I mentioned at the start of the writeup, I wasn't sure which way to go with the writeup, so I just started writing to see where it took me. I only knew how it was starting and how it was ending. The path there was uncertain, but I knew I'd find my way. It just seemed a fitting way to talk about this game. --- ONLY FIVE CAN LADDER. Sushi, kamikaze, fujiyama, nippon-ichi... <cite>TheKnightOfNee posted [p:951357810] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>#9. Hollow Knight (2017, PC) I'm not really sure which direction I want to go with this writeup, so I'm just going to start talking about Hollow Knight and see where that takes me. When I first heard of Hollow Knight, the idea seemed cool, as I am all about the Metroidvania games, but I wasn't sure about the aesthetic. I had seen a couple images, and it looked kind of dark and full of bugs, and I pushed the game aside for a bit. I heard some friends say they enjoyed it though, so I finally gave it a shot. Seeing the style of the game in motion, it works a lot better. A lot of the backgrounds were subtly beautiful, there are areas with a fairly wide variety in color and feel, and there are a lot of interesting bug characters to see. I was glad that I was able to improve my opinion on the game there. Hollow Knight starts off with a very old school feel, as you just venture underground with no idea where you're going or how deep you're going or what true dangers lie ahead. The first real challenge is finding the map, so you have some means of getting your bearings. I could see people finding this part frustrating, but it had a nice old school feel. It reminded me a bit of say, the original Metroid, but not in a massive world full of same-y screens. It was still navigable and even helped tell me that the game wants me to keep track of where I'm moving and searching. The lack of guidance in the first area was actually very important, because as you set off on the larger journey, you'll enter a new area, but with no map for this new area. You have to kind of poke around and explore until you can get a map for here. And the same thing with each area after. It's often a scary feeling, carefully wandering about in an unknown setting with no map to guide you back to safety. Sometimes I felt like I was in a pool, dipping my toes in the shallow end of the water, knowing that I would find what I needed closer to the deep end. But that early design decision is there to tell you, Hey, you're gonna have to do some exploring, taking a path you may not be entirely sure about, but that's how you'll find things you need. As you get more comfortable with this idea of just setting in a direction and exploring a little, the game will throw some more branching paths at you. It won't be clear which to take, so you'll just have to pick. Maybe you want to go as deep as you can, maybe one is a cool looking cave with crystals, maybe one just seems less intimidating. Whichever the case, you'll start going... and then hit another branch. You'll try to go towards your original goal by taking one of these paths. Then another branch. You'll make a note to come back to what you don't take, and keep going. And another branch. And another. Then you find a new area, a save bench, a shop, an item, more branching paths, new areas, new items, something mysterious you'll have to come back for, more branches, and maybe a new map. Then you pull up the map, and whoa, you have gone all over the place. Hollow Knight is not too ordered in where you need to go, so you can just set off in a direction and explore. Everyone's experience will be different. And I really like this. The game encourages moving along and finding what's out there. There are lots of choices, but every path can feel like the right path. And the world is pretty massive too. At one point, I decided to just go as far down into the world as I did. And I finally went as far down as I could go. It was pretty far. Then I went back to the last path branch, and realized, that way goes farther to a new area. Then I hit the bottom of the world. It was a dark area and very deep. I looped back up to the top for a while, then later returned to the bottom to fill out my map. But then, I realized there was another new area, deeper still. And that's how Hollow Knight is, just always more places to go, farther to travel, new sights always ahead. Fun exploration is just one reason why this game is so fun. Movement and combat are both top notch. Early on, neither might seem that special, but later on, you get a lot of abilities to make it fun to travel anywhere. There's dashes and long flying dashes and wall jumps and slash jumps and whatever more. It all feels very fluid and makes bouncing around through both large areas and small crowded areas feel fun. And then you can equip a limited number of charms that enhance abilities some for movement, some for battle, some just for quality of life upgrades. You can really set up a character that feels good to maneuver. And then for battle, there are some real challenging battles, both among regular enemies and bosses. Nothing feels unfair or impossible though, it's all within reach to learn. It just takes hard work and focus and practice. There's also a colosseum that's stupidly hard, but so much fun to try. Hollow Knight just ended up a pleasant surprise from top to bottom, and in more ways than I'm covering here. It's a game where you set out to see where it will take you, and enjoy yourself along the way. And as I mentioned at the start of the writeup, I wasn't sure which way to go with the writeup, so I just started writing to see where it took me. I only knew how it was starting and how it was ending. The path there was uncertain, but I knew I'd find my way. It just seemed a fitting way to talk about this game. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Bartzyx 03/04/21 11:51:39 PM #61:	A new leader! Time is running out for something to surpass it... #1 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: 1621 (+10) #2 Super Mario Odyssey: 1582 (-1) #3 Pokemon RBY: 1303 (+2) #4 Final Fantasy X: 1186 (+9) #5 Super Smash Bros. Melee: 1168 (-3) #6 Borderlands 2: 1043 (-3) #7 Mother 3: 1032 (+200) #8 Jackbox Party Pack: 980 (+21) #9 Mario Kart 8: 913 (-5) #10 Uncharted 2: Among Thieves: 903 (-4) #11 Metroid: Zero Mission: 900 (+27) #12 Final Fantasy IV: 881 (+37) #13 Castlevania: Symphony of the Night: 877 (-6) #14 Super Mario RPG: 867 (+34) #15 Pokemon GSC: 858 (+45) #16 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: 845 (-8) #17 Super Mario 3D World: 839 (-8) #18 The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker: 834 (-8) #19 Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door: 832 (+32) #20 Mega Man 3: 828 (+53) #21 The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening: 815 (+35) #22 Uncharted 4: A Thief's End: 793 (-10) #23 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: 791 (+42) #24 Final Fantasy Tactics: 772 (-10) #25 Chrono Trigger: 769 (-10) #26 The Last of Us: 760 (-10) #27 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2: 741 (-10) #28 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past: 735 (-10) #29 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: 731 (+47) #29 Fallout 3: 731 (+40) #31 Kirby Super Star Ultra: 724 (-12) #32 Final Fantasy VI: 713 (-12) #33 Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony: 710 (+123) #34 Virtue's Last Reward: 698 (-13) #35 Pokemon Puzzle League: 697 (+81) #36 Yoshi's Island: 690 (-14) #37 Super Mario 64: 688 (-14) #38 Mega Man 2: 679 (+135) #39 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice: 674 (-15) #40 Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair: 666 (+127) #41 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations: 649 (-16) #42 Rock Band 2: 647 (-16) #43 Super Mario Galaxy: 618 (+85) #44 Seiken Densetsu 3: 610 (+221) #45 Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal: 600 (-18) #46 Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3: 594 (-18) #47 Elite Beat Agents: 577 (-17) #48 Bioshock: 575 (-17) #49 Disgaea: Hour of Darkness: 574 (+275) #50 Valkyria Chronicles: 567 (-18) #51 Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising: 550 (-18) #52 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: 547 (-18) #53 Grand Theft Auto: Vice City: 546 (-18) #54 Chrono Cross: 541 (-18) #55 Dance Dance Revolution: 540 (-18) #56 Undertale: 538 (+321) #57 Sonic the Hedgehog 2: 530 (+248) #57 The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds: 530 (+333) #59 Mario Party 2: 527 (-20) #60 Mega Man X: 519 (-20) #61 Persona 4: 518 (+480) #62 Return of the Obra Dinn: 513 (+300) #63 Metroid Prime: 512 (-22) #64 Portal 2: 510 (-22) #65 Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels: 505 (+79) #66 Earthbound: 497 (-23) #66 RollerCoaster Tycoon: 497 (-23) #68 Sonic Adventure 2: 483 (-23) #69 Mega Man 9: 480 (-23) #70 Banjo-Kazooie: 479 (-23) #71 Metroid Fusion: 466 (-21) #72 Horizon Zero Dawn: 458 (-20) #73 Super Monkey Ball 2: 457 (-20) #74 Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception: 456 (-20) #74 Diddy Kong Racing: 456 (-20) #76 SSX 3: 454 (-19) #77 Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy Curtain Call: 445 (NEW) #77 Odinsphere: 445 (NEW) #79 Super Mario World: 444 (-21) #80 Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest: 443 (-21) #81 Final Fantasy VII Remake: 442 (-20) #82 Mario Tennis: 441 (-20) #83 The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky FC: 438 (+406) #84 Advance Wars: Dual Strike: 435 (-21) #84 Castlevania III: 435 (-21) #86 Super Metroid: 430 (NEW) #86 WarioWare, Inc.: Mega MicroGame$!: 430 (NEW) #86 Hollow Knight: 430 (NEW) #89 Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland: 426 (-23) #90 Pop'n Music: 425 (-23) --- At least your mother tipped well <cite>Bartzyx posted [p:951358223] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>A new leader! Time is running out for something to surpass it... #1 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: 1621 (+10) #2 Super Mario Odyssey: 1582 (-1) #3 Pokemon RBY: 1303 (+2) #4 Final Fantasy X: 1186 (+9) #5 Super Smash Bros. Melee: 1168 (-3) #6 Borderlands 2: 1043 (-3) #7 Mother 3: 1032 (+200) #8 Jackbox Party Pack: 980 (+21) #9 Mario Kart 8: 913 (-5) #10 Uncharted 2: Among Thieves: 903 (-4) #11 Metroid: Zero Mission: 900 (+27) #12 Final Fantasy IV: 881 (+37) #13 Castlevania: Symphony of the Night: 877 (-6) #14 Super Mario RPG: 867 (+34) #15 Pokemon GSC: 858 (+45) #16 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: 845 (-8) #17 Super Mario 3D World: 839 (-8) #18 The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker: 834 (-8) #19 Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door: 832 (+32) #20 Mega Man 3: 828 (+53) #21 The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening: 815 (+35) #22 Uncharted 4: A Thief's End: 793 (-10) #23 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: 791 (+42) #24 Final Fantasy Tactics: 772 (-10) #25 Chrono Trigger: 769 (-10) #26 The Last of Us: 760 (-10) #27 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2: 741 (-10) #28 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past: 735 (-10) #29 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: 731 (+47) #29 Fallout 3: 731 (+40) #31 Kirby Super Star Ultra: 724 (-12) #32 Final Fantasy VI: 713 (-12) #33 Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony: 710 (+123) #34 Virtue's Last Reward: 698 (-13) #35 Pokemon Puzzle League: 697 (+81) #36 Yoshi's Island: 690 (-14) #37 Super Mario 64: 688 (-14) #38 Mega Man 2: 679 (+135) #39 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice: 674 (-15) #40 Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair: 666 (+127) #41 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations: 649 (-16) #42 Rock Band 2: 647 (-16) #43 Super Mario Galaxy: 618 (+85) #44 Seiken Densetsu 3: 610 (+221) #45 Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal: 600 (-18) #46 Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3: 594 (-18) #47 Elite Beat Agents: 577 (-17) #48 Bioshock: 575 (-17) #49 Disgaea: Hour of Darkness: 574 (+275) #50 Valkyria Chronicles: 567 (-18) #51 Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising: 550 (-18) #52 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: 547 (-18) #53 Grand Theft Auto: Vice City: 546 (-18) #54 Chrono Cross: 541 (-18) #55 Dance Dance Revolution: 540 (-18) #56 Undertale: 538 (+321) #57 Sonic the Hedgehog 2: 530 (+248) #57 The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds: 530 (+333) #59 Mario Party 2: 527 (-20) #60 Mega Man X: 519 (-20) #61 Persona 4: 518 (+480) #62 Return of the Obra Dinn: 513 (+300) #63 Metroid Prime: 512 (-22) #64 Portal 2: 510 (-22) #65 Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels: 505 (+79) #66 Earthbound: 497 (-23) #66 RollerCoaster Tycoon: 497 (-23) #68 Sonic Adventure 2: 483 (-23) #69 Mega Man 9: 480 (-23) #70 Banjo-Kazooie: 479 (-23) #71 Metroid Fusion: 466 (-21) #72 Horizon Zero Dawn: 458 (-20) #73 Super Monkey Ball 2: 457 (-20) #74 Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception: 456 (-20) #74 Diddy Kong Racing: 456 (-20) #76 SSX 3: 454 (-19) #77 Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy Curtain Call: 445 (NEW) #77 Odinsphere: 445 (NEW) #79 Super Mario World: 444 (-21) #80 Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest: 443 (-21) #81 Final Fantasy VII Remake: 442 (-20) #82 Mario Tennis: 441 (-20) #83 The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky FC: 438 (+406) #84 Advance Wars: Dual Strike: 435 (-21) #84 Castlevania III: 435 (-21) #86 Super Metroid: 430 (NEW) #86 WarioWare, Inc.: Mega MicroGame$!: 430 (NEW) #86 Hollow Knight: 430 (NEW) #89 Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland: 426 (-23) #90 Pop'n Music: 425 (-23) </quote> ... 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Eddv 03/05/21 12:41:39 AM #62:	7.) Shining Force 2 (1994) Shining Force is probably not the best strategy game ever made. In fact, its pretty darn simplistic. And therein lies the charm - it's got this dragon quest style charm to it in its simplicity. The conceit of the game is that the world has sealed away a great evil - a thief steals the jewels that are the one thing holding the great evil back and the world is sent into chaos slowly. The game has some twists and turns - bird people and blind mystics, along with seamlessly integrated fantasy tropes. You have elves and dwarves and centaurs and...deer people? living together seamlessly forming an adventuring party with basically no attention drawn to that fact. Its sort of uplifting and has to some extent shaped my preference for a cosmopolitan fantasy world versus a "realistic" one where racial tension is a major subject of the fantasy races comingling. The game is basically dragon quest as a strategy game and I love it, but its hard to talk about BECAUSE its so simple. --- Board 8's Voice of Reason https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy <cite>Eddv posted [p:951359540] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>7.) Shining Force 2 (1994) Shining Force is probably not the best strategy game ever made. In fact, its pretty darn simplistic. And therein lies the charm - it's got this dragon quest style charm to it in its simplicity. The conceit of the game is that the world has sealed away a great evil - a thief steals the jewels that are the one thing holding the great evil back and the world is sent into chaos slowly. The game has some twists and turns - bird people and blind mystics, along with seamlessly integrated fantasy tropes. You have elves and dwarves and centaurs and...deer people? living together seamlessly forming an adventuring party with basically no attention drawn to that fact. Its sort of uplifting and has to some extent shaped my preference for a cosmopolitan fantasy world versus a "realistic" one where racial tension is a major subject of the fantasy races comingling. The game is basically dragon quest as a strategy game and I love it, but its hard to talk about BECAUSE its so simple. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Bartzyx 03/05/21 10:53:11 AM #63:	#7 Final Fantasy V (Super Famicom, 1992) This is probably news to nobody, but I took my online name from the main character of a Japanese RPG called Final Fantasy V. In English translations, that character is called "Bartz." I'm not sure why exactly I decided to do that, but I guess around 2000 I had the game on my mind. That's probably around when I first played it. Luckily for me, I still think it's an outstanding game and worthy of my name. Other than my connection to it, the game is best known for its job system. Final Fantasy V bucks the trend of almost every other game in the series by having just four playable characters (~~Galuf = Krile~~ as far as I'm concerned), all of which you get within the first couple hours of the game. The game gives you a choice of jobs to assign to them, and you can level up those jobs and unlock new spells, abilities, et cetera. You have the whole game with just these four people to train them as you see fit, and the combinations are practically endless. The story is fine. It's minimal, really, but still good. It's not why you play this game, so if the job system is not for you, there is not much to like here. But I really really like the job system, and the characters, while mostly simple and straight-forward, are also charming and have a wonderful appeal. The soundtrack is solid and upbeat and fits the game perfectly. Graphically, the game is not improved at all from Final Fantasy IV. In fact, it probably looks a little worse, a little less polished. The whole game feels kind of rough, kind of experimental. But it works and I have grown used to the way it plays and looks. Plus it stars a character named "Bartz" so it must be awesome. --- At least your mother tipped well <cite>Bartzyx posted [p:951370584] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>#7 Final Fantasy V (Super Famicom, 1992) This is probably news to nobody, but I took my online name from the main character of a Japanese RPG called Final Fantasy V. In English translations, that character is called "Bartz." I'm not sure why exactly I decided to do that, but I guess around 2000 I had the game on my mind. That's probably around when I first played it. Luckily for me, I still think it's an outstanding game and worthy of my name. Other than my connection to it, the game is best known for its job system. Final Fantasy V bucks the trend of almost every other game in the series by having just four playable characters (Galuf = Krile as far as I'm concerned), all of which you get within the first couple hours of the game. The game gives you a choice of jobs to assign to them, and you can level up those jobs and unlock new spells, abilities, et cetera. You have the whole game with just these four people to train them as you see fit, and the combinations are practically endless. The story is fine. It's minimal, really, but still good. It's not why you play this game, so if the job system is not for you, there is not much to like here. But I really really like the job system, and the characters, while mostly simple and straight-forward, are also charming and have a wonderful appeal. The soundtrack is solid and upbeat and fits the game perfectly. Graphically, the game is not improved at all from Final Fantasy IV. In fact, it probably looks a little worse, a little less polished. The whole game feels kind of rough, kind of experimental. But it works and I have grown used to the way it plays and looks. Plus it stars a character named "Bartz" so it must be awesome. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
CherryCokes 03/05/21 3:43:50 PM #64:	An updated list from yours truly: 100. Battle of Polytopia 99. Jet Force Gemini 98. Mount Your Friends 3D 97. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 96. Final Fantasy IV 95. Rock Band Blitz 94. Top Skater 93. Castle Crashers 92. Simpsons Arcade 91. Snowboard Kids 2 90. Super Mario 3D World 89. Raiden II 88. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess 87. Blast Corps 86. Civilization IV 85. StarCraft II 84. Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes 83. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 82. Guitar Hero II 81. Mario Party 2 80. Perfect Dark 79. Mario Kart 64 78. Meteos 77. Thomas Was Alone 76. The Legend of Zelda 75. Portal 74. Sonic Adventure 2: Battle 73. Trauma Center: Under the Knife / Second Opinion 72. Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards 71. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 70. Donkey Kong 64 69. Wario Land 4 68. Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising 67. Advance Wars: Days of Ruin 66. Claw 65. Audiosurf 64. Pikmin 63. WarioWare: Smooth Moves! 62. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow 61. NBA Street Vol. 2 60. Mario Kart Double Dash! 59. Fallout: New Vegas 58. The Walking Dead: Season 1 57. Super Mario World 56. The Stanley Parable 55. Mario Tennis 54. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty 53. Super Monkey Ball 2 52. NBA Jam 51. Donkey Kong 94 50. Goldeneye 49. Need for Speed: Underground 48. Ken Griffey Jr's Slugfest 47. Bastion 46. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past 45. Banjo-Kazooie 44. Bioshock 43. Mario Golf 42. Left 4 Dead 2 41. Diddy Kong Racing 40. Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader 39. Total Annihilation 38. Dave Mirra's Freestyle BMX 2 37. Phantasy Star Online: Episodes I & II / Blue Burst 36. F-Zero GX 35. Pikmin 2 34. Command & Conquer: Red Alert II/Yuri's Revenge 33. Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker 32. Kirby Canvas Curse 31. Pokemon Red/Blue 30. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest 29. Borderlands 2 28. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 27. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe 26. REmake 25. Super Mario Odyssey 24. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island 23. Roller Coaster Tycoon 22. Eternal Darkness 21. Super Smash Bros. Melee 20. Super Mario Galaxy / Galaxy 2 19. Fallout 3 18. The Beatles: Rock Band 17. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 16. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate 15. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 14. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door 13. Banjo-Tooie 12. Resident Evil 2 11. The Jackbox Party Packs --- The Thighmaster <cite>CherryCokes posted [p:951380618] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>An updated list from yours truly: 100. Battle of Polytopia 99. Jet Force Gemini 98. Mount Your Friends 3D 97. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 96. Final Fantasy IV 95. Rock Band Blitz 94. Top Skater 93. Castle Crashers 92. Simpsons Arcade 91. Snowboard Kids 2 90. Super Mario 3D World 89. Raiden II 88. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess 87. Blast Corps 86. Civilization IV 85. StarCraft II 84. Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes 83. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 82. Guitar Hero II 81. Mario Party 2 80. Perfect Dark 79. Mario Kart 64 78. Meteos 77. Thomas Was Alone 76. The Legend of Zelda 75. Portal 74. Sonic Adventure 2: Battle 73. Trauma Center: Under the Knife / Second Opinion 72. Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards 71. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 70. Donkey Kong 64 69. Wario Land 4 68. Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising 67. Advance Wars: Days of Ruin 66. Claw 65. Audiosurf 64. Pikmin 63. WarioWare: Smooth Moves! 62. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow 61. NBA Street Vol. 2 60. Mario Kart Double Dash! 59. Fallout: New Vegas 58. The Walking Dead: Season 1 57. Super Mario World 56. The Stanley Parable 55. Mario Tennis 54. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty 53. Super Monkey Ball 2 52. NBA Jam 51. Donkey Kong 94 50. Goldeneye 49. Need for Speed: Underground 48. Ken Griffey Jr's Slugfest 47. Bastion 46. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past 45. Banjo-Kazooie 44. Bioshock 43. Mario Golf 42. Left 4 Dead 2 41. Diddy Kong Racing 40. Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader 39. Total Annihilation 38. Dave Mirra's Freestyle BMX 2 37. Phantasy Star Online: Episodes I & II / Blue Burst 36. F-Zero GX 35. Pikmin 2 34. Command & Conquer: Red Alert II/Yuri's Revenge 33. Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker 32. Kirby Canvas Curse 31. Pokemon Red/Blue 30. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest 29. Borderlands 2 28. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 27. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe 26. REmake 25. Super Mario Odyssey 24. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island 23. Roller Coaster Tycoon 22. Eternal Darkness 21. Super Smash Bros. Melee 20. Super Mario Galaxy / Galaxy 2 19. Fallout 3 18. The Beatles: Rock Band 17. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 16. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate 15. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 14. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door 13. Banjo-Tooie 12. Resident Evil 2 11. The Jackbox Party Packs </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Naye745 03/05/21 4:21:51 PM #65:	8. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES, 1992) May the way of the Hero lead to the Triforce. In the Link's Awakening writeup, I rambled a bit about how my favorite Zelda game can swing from time to time based on what kind of game I'm looking for at a given point. Wind Waker has my favorite atmosphere, Link's Awakening has my favorite story, and both A Link Between Worlds and Ocarina of Time are really strong. But A Link to the Past is the one that I can break out, at any point, and have a blast. It moves along at a great pace, it's got a great selection of items and variety of enemies, and a decent level of difficulty that isn't overwhelming or exhausting. It basically set the standards for every Zelda game to come after it until Breath of the Wild; for Zelda, Link to the Past is the series' Super Metroid - it builds off the concept of its predecessors but brings it to a modern design philosophy that not only shaped the rest of its series but its overall genre, for decades to come. Link to the Past establishes the structure that would come to be associated with Zelda, breaking from the more aggressively non-linear and open-ended "where the f*** do I go?" philosophy of Zeldas 1 and 2 for the NES. The very opening of the game is basically a tutorial sequence introducing you to the gameplay and dungeon structure while generating atmosphere by playing out the opening beats of the story in real time, set to the backdrop of a dark and stormy night. It showcases its flashy 16-bit graphics while redefining what exactly a Zelda game is. And like I've said, it seems so rote nowadays because this is the Zelda that made the standard - it hits all of those notes perfectly. And the game is just stuffed full of...stuff. I don't think it's a flaw of Zelda 1 or anything, but I always get the feeling that the overarching sense of mystery and uncertainty and lack of direction was to pad the fact that it's not a particularly huge game with tons of variety - there's lots of screens and 9 dungeons, but they're fairly samey most of the time - and is meant to pad the game's length with its cryptic nature. ALttP is just crammed full of stuff - there's 11 full dungeons (and 1/2 more if you're counting Hyrule Castle) each with their own unique themes, structure, and bosses. You have an overworld full of varied areas and caves with secrets and treasures - and a second one, as A Link to the Past's Dark World was a clever way to add game length and variety to the experience, while also hiding its own set of secrets within the parallel universes. And it's a testament to how good the concept was that its been borrowed by other game series (Hi, Symphony of the Night inverted castle and Metroid Prime 2 Dark Aether) to solid effect as well. There's also a great set of items here (one of the absolute best in the series), both classic (bow, boomerang, hookshot, hammer) and original (Ice and Fire rods, Cane of Somaria, Quake/Ether/Bombos medallions, and many others) that have a ton of useability - they don't feel like they exist solely to solve a couple of puzzles, but can be employed against all manner of enemies and scenarios. I want to make note of the recently-popular Link to the Past Randomizer, a custom mod of the game that shuffles around all the game's items (or items or entrances or whatever else, if you're brave enough), using logic to ensure it can be completed. It's both a huge portion of my own enjoyment of the game (I'm not good or fast, but I've done at least 10+ seeds in the 4 years since I've discovered it) and a testament to the quality of the original. As I said before, the items are top-notch, and getting them at different times in the game lets you discover creative and novel ways to use them. And the game's structure feels enhanced, not weakened, by the possible differences in order of dungeons and secrets when you're getting everything in a different order. A Link to the Past is just one of those games that nails everything - the story and atmosphere are straightforward but handled expertly; the amount of options and variety in the game is outstanding for a game of its time, and still holds up excellently today; the gameplay is sharp and the control is fluid and natural. I remember discussing "greatest games of all time" with a friend of mine (who happens to be a World Record Cuphead speedrunner) a few years back, trying to come up with a relatively objective answer to the age old question, and when he quickly threw out A Link to the Past, I found it hard to argue. It broke ground, it does everything well, and it plays so smoothly and easily. While the rest of my list are games I have a more personal connection to, and I tend to favor more intimate experiences when doing this ranking, I still couldn't put ALttP any lower than this, and that, for me, feels like the truest testament to just how damn great it is. --- it's an underwater adventure ride <cite>Naye745 posted [p:951381891] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>8. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES, 1992) May the way of the Hero lead to the Triforce. In the Link's Awakening writeup, I rambled a bit about how my favorite Zelda game can swing from time to time based on what kind of game I'm looking for at a given point. Wind Waker has my favorite atmosphere, Link's Awakening has my favorite story, and both A Link Between Worlds and Ocarina of Time are really strong. But A Link to the Past is the one that I can break out, at any point, and have a blast. It moves along at a great pace, it's got a great selection of items and variety of enemies, and a decent level of difficulty that isn't overwhelming or exhausting. It basically set the standards for every Zelda game to come after it until Breath of the Wild; for Zelda, Link to the Past is the series' Super Metroid - it builds off the concept of its predecessors but brings it to a modern design philosophy that not only shaped the rest of its series but its overall genre, for decades to come. Link to the Past establishes the structure that would come to be associated with Zelda, breaking from the more aggressively non-linear and open-ended "where the f*** do I go?" philosophy of Zeldas 1 and 2 for the NES. The very opening of the game is basically a tutorial sequence introducing you to the gameplay and dungeon structure while generating atmosphere by playing out the opening beats of the story in real time, set to the backdrop of a dark and stormy night. It showcases its flashy 16-bit graphics while redefining what exactly a Zelda game is. And like I've said, it seems so rote nowadays because this is the Zelda that made the standard - it hits all of those notes perfectly. And the game is just stuffed full of...stuff. I don't think it's a flaw of Zelda 1 or anything, but I always get the feeling that the overarching sense of mystery and uncertainty and lack of direction was to pad the fact that it's not a particularly huge game with tons of variety - there's lots of screens and 9 dungeons, but they're fairly samey most of the time - and is meant to pad the game's length with its cryptic nature. ALttP is just crammed full of stuff - there's 11 full dungeons (and 1/2 more if you're counting Hyrule Castle) each with their own unique themes, structure, and bosses. You have an overworld full of varied areas and caves with secrets and treasures - and a second one, as A Link to the Past's Dark World was a clever way to add game length and variety to the experience, while also hiding its own set of secrets within the parallel universes. And it's a testament to how good the concept was that its been borrowed by other game series (Hi, Symphony of the Night inverted castle and Metroid Prime 2 Dark Aether) to solid effect as well. There's also a great set of items here (one of the absolute best in the series), both classic (bow, boomerang, hookshot, hammer) and original (Ice and Fire rods, Cane of Somaria, Quake/Ether/Bombos medallions, and many others) that have a ton of useability - they don't feel like they exist solely to solve a couple of puzzles, but can be employed against all manner of enemies and scenarios. I want to make note of the recently-popular Link to the Past Randomizer, a custom mod of the game that shuffles around all the game's items (or items or entrances or whatever else, if you're brave enough), using logic to ensure it can be completed. It's both a huge portion of my own enjoyment of the game (I'm not good or fast, but I've done at least 10+ seeds in the 4 years since I've discovered it) and a testament to the quality of the original. As I said before, the items are top-notch, and getting them at different times in the game lets you discover creative and novel ways to use them. And the game's structure feels enhanced, not weakened, by the possible differences in order of dungeons and secrets when you're getting everything in a different order. A Link to the Past is just one of those games that nails everything - the story and atmosphere are straightforward but handled expertly; the amount of options and variety in the game is outstanding for a game of its time, and still holds up excellently today; the gameplay is sharp and the control is fluid and natural. I remember discussing "greatest games of all time" with a friend of mine (who happens to be a World Record Cuphead speedrunner) a few years back, trying to come up with a relatively objective answer to the age old question, and when he quickly threw out A Link to the Past, I found it hard to argue. It broke ground, it does everything well, and it plays so smoothly and easily. While the rest of my list are games I have a more personal connection to, and I tend to favor more intimate experiences when doing this ranking, I still couldn't put ALttP any lower than this, and that, for me, feels like the truest testament to just how damn great it is. </quote> ... 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MrSmartGuy 03/05/21 4:37:01 PM #66:	#6 - Resident Evil 4 (GCN, my GotY for 2005) Guess that's a locals way of breaking the ice. I'm sure you boys didn't just tag along so we can sing Kumbaya together at some boy scout bonfire. Then again, maybe you did. Where's everyone going? Bingo? A little rough, don't you think? I don't ever remember being a part of your crappy script. Can't remember the name? A senior moment perhaps. Did you send those invitations? I told you no more than fifty people! Better try a new trick, 'cause that one's gettin' old. Well well, I see that the President has equipped his daughter with ballistics, too! I knew you'd be fine if you landed on your butt. --- Xbox GT/PSN name/Nintendo ID: TatteredUniform http://www.scuffletown.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/tRBE1.gif <cite>MrSmartGuy posted [p:951382441] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>#6 - Resident Evil 4 (GCN, my GotY for 2005) Guess that's a locals way of breaking the ice. I'm sure you boys didn't just tag along so we can sing Kumbaya together at some boy scout bonfire. Then again, maybe you did. Where's everyone going? Bingo? A little rough, don't you think? I don't ever remember being a part of your crappy script. Can't remember the name? A senior moment perhaps. Did you send those invitations? I told you no more than fifty people! Better try a new trick, 'cause that one's gettin' old. Well well, I see that the President has equipped his daughter with ballistics, too! I knew you'd be fine if you landed on your butt. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Whiskey_Nick 03/05/21 4:43:20 PM #67:	#6. Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiled (DS, 2009) Hello game literally no one else here has heard of, and definitely has not played. Back before Indie games were a dime a dozen and homages to classic games were constant. A small little group of friends in Montreal wanted to make a 90's style jRPG that honored the time and more importantly their favorite game. Chrono Trigger. A lot of games over the years have tried to capture that feeling. As I have already mentioned and listed, Cosmic Star Heroine, I Am Setsuna and Lost Sphear are some of them. Black Sigil is the absolute pinnacle of games trying to be Chrono Trigger. It looks and feels like CT. The combat is a damn clone basically. There are some great songs in this game and the places you go a very colorful and lively. The cast is also outstanding except for the Robo wannabe Doll. Doll exists. Anyway this game was a GBA title originally but like I said, Indie games back then didn't just happen. This game struggled to find a publisher and funding to finish development for well over 5 years. Even with that the game released a glitchy mess which led to being panned in reviews. For the few that played through the crashes and black screens of nothing, was one hell of a treat.You are Kairu, a guy that can't use magic in a world of people that can use magic. Along with you are his step sister, Aurora. A magician named Nephi. A ninja Isa. Vai another person with no magic that was banished for it. Rogurd a Rogue >.>. Nym a summoner and Doll... a doll. I will mention now I have backed Sea of Stars for a large amount because I see them making a CT style game with true love for the source and am super hyped that we may get another Black Sigil type game. Some things people dumped on for this game besides the crashes and very limited prints of the game. It's apparently $150 on Amazon now? Cool. Anyway, there is an intense level of random battles. One CT thing they did not copy was enemies on screen. It's old fashioned FF random battles and they trigger like every 5 steps in a game with a lot of steps. I love a good grindy RPG so for me it was a plus. Plus combat is tons of fun. I would love to see this game get remastered and fix some issues so people would give it an honest chance. It is a true hidden gem. Nephi is a very charismatic Magus and easily my favorite character in the game. --- I am Nick. Go Sens, Bills, Blue Jays! UotY 2015, You should listen to The Show w/ Ngamer and Yoblazer <cite>Whiskey_Nick posted [p:951382668] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>#6. Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiled (DS, 2009) Hello game literally no one else here has heard of, and definitely has not played. Back before Indie games were a dime a dozen and homages to classic games were constant. A small little group of friends in Montreal wanted to make a 90's style jRPG that honored the time and more importantly their favorite game. Chrono Trigger. A lot of games over the years have tried to capture that feeling. As I have already mentioned and listed, Cosmic Star Heroine, I Am Setsuna and Lost Sphear are some of them. Black Sigil is the absolute pinnacle of games trying to be Chrono Trigger. It looks and feels like CT. The combat is a damn clone basically. There are some great songs in this game and the places you go a very colorful and lively. The cast is also outstanding except for the Robo wannabe Doll. Doll exists. Anyway this game was a GBA title originally but like I said, Indie games back then didn't just happen. This game struggled to find a publisher and funding to finish development for well over 5 years. Even with that the game released a glitchy mess which led to being panned in reviews. For the few that played through the crashes and black screens of nothing, was one hell of a treat.You are Kairu, a guy that can't use magic in a world of people that can use magic. Along with you are his step sister, Aurora. A magician named Nephi. A ninja Isa. Vai another person with no magic that was banished for it. Rogurd a Rogue >.>. Nym a summoner and Doll... a doll. I will mention now I have backed Sea of Stars for a large amount because I see them making a CT style game with true love for the source and am super hyped that we may get another Black Sigil type game. Some things people dumped on for this game besides the crashes and very limited prints of the game. It's apparently $150 on Amazon now? Cool. Anyway, there is an intense level of random battles. One CT thing they did not copy was enemies on screen. It's old fashioned FF random battles and they trigger like every 5 steps in a game with a lot of steps. I love a good grindy RPG so for me it was a plus. Plus combat is tons of fun. I would love to see this game get remastered and fix some issues so people would give it an honest chance. It is a true hidden gem. Nephi is a very charismatic Magus and easily my favorite character in the game. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
CherryCokes 03/05/21 4:57:27 PM #68:	10. Paper Mario (N64, 2000) (image from a fan made HD upgrade, because Nintendo doesn't like giving us too many nice things) It was a challenge to talk effectively about The Thousand Year Door knowing that I had Paper Mario 5 slots higher. Its even more of a challenge to talk about what exactly makes Paper Mario just a little bit better. But it is. Not because it was first, or because I have any particular nostalgia for it over its sequel. The gameplay between the two is essentially the same. The companions are only slightly better (Bow is much better than Flurrie; everyone is better than TTYDs Koops, no one is as good as Admiral Bobbery). The level design in Paper Mario is a little stronger - less backtracking, better use of space - overall a higher floor, slightly lower ceiling situation - and thats certainly a big, tangible thing in its favor. Trials in the Toy Box and Hot, Hot Times on Lavalava Island are both exceptional Paper Mario chapters, and The Invincible Tubba Blubba is one of the weirdest subplots ever, much less in Mario history. It plays out like some kind of Mario Twilight Zone episode, where the key to Tubbas invincibility is that his literal heart is locked away in a different place. Totally out there, but fantastic. I think, ultimately, what does it for me is that Paper Mario is just inherently more memorable and a little more charming. It wins big on the intangibles. And what is a #sports discussion without something excelling in part because of its intangibles? --- The Thighmaster <cite>CherryCokes posted [p:951383158] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>10. Paper Mario (N64, 2000) (image from a fan made HD upgrade, because Nintendo doesn't like giving us too many nice things) It was a challenge to talk effectively about The Thousand Year Door knowing that I had Paper Mario 5 slots higher. Its even more of a challenge to talk about what exactly makes Paper Mario just a little bit better. But it is. Not because it was first, or because I have any particular nostalgia for it over its sequel. The gameplay between the two is essentially the same. The companions are only slightly better (Bow is much better than Flurrie; everyone is better than TTYDs Koops, no one is as good as Admiral Bobbery). The level design in Paper Mario is a little stronger - less backtracking, better use of space - overall a higher floor, slightly lower ceiling situation - and thats certainly a big, tangible thing in its favor. Trials in the Toy Box and Hot, Hot Times on Lavalava Island are both exceptional Paper Mario chapters, and The Invincible Tubba Blubba is one of the weirdest subplots ever, much less in Mario history. It plays out like some kind of Mario Twilight Zone episode, where the key to Tubbas invincibility is that his literal heart is locked away in a different place. Totally out there, but fantastic. I think, ultimately, what does it for me is that Paper Mario is just inherently more memorable and a little more charming. It wins big on the intangibles. And what is a #sports discussion without something excelling in part because of its intangibles? </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Eddv 03/06/21 12:34:16 AM #69:	6.) Dragon Quest 8: Journey of the Cursed King (PS2, 2004) Dragon Quest 8 was to me the right game at the right time to be my favorite game for a nice long time. I could not fucking stand Final Fantasy 12. But the anticipation for it in the wake of how fucking incredible Final Fantasy X is led me to do what is now unthinkable - I bought Dragon Quest 8 just to play the demo for XII. And the XII demo fucking stunk. But the actual game I bought to experience that demo...well it was super cool! The opening sequence of Dragon Quest 8 is oozing with charm and charisma. And the initial quest with the crystal ball and the monster who had been wronged by the drunk fortune teller trying to quit the biz by throwing away the crystal ball. It was just such a different approach. It's charming and fun and the bad guys aren't evil until you really start to get into the plot. The game is slow, each town has its own story for you to unravel. Some of them completely optional - I didn't play through the Cash and Carry story until my third time through the game! I just hadn't realized it was there because it wasn't mandatory. The gameplay was simple, but unlike previous dragon quests there are genuine player build choices that you can make. The alchemy mechanic was new and fun and something that was new to me at the time. And the story is an epic fairy tale. Its perfect. It's one of the most perfect RPGs. Every moment fucking rules. I also enjoyed all the post-game content, which reveals more of the backstory of the protagonist Hero and the ability to add more characters to your party than just the main four. And it adds the option to marry Jessica instead of the canon girl, which was cool. One of my most perfectly enjoyable experiences and one I periodically return to as a form of comfort food, --- Board 8's Voice of Reason https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy <cite>Eddv posted [p:951396757] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>6.) Dragon Quest 8: Journey of the Cursed King (PS2, 2004) Dragon Quest 8 was to me the right game at the right time to be my favorite game for a nice long time. I could not fucking stand Final Fantasy 12. But the anticipation for it in the wake of how fucking incredible Final Fantasy X is led me to do what is now unthinkable - I bought Dragon Quest 8 just to play the demo for XII. And the XII demo fucking stunk. But the actual game I bought to experience that demo...well it was super cool! The opening sequence of Dragon Quest 8 is oozing with charm and charisma. And the initial quest with the crystal ball and the monster who had been wronged by the drunk fortune teller trying to quit the biz by throwing away the crystal ball. It was just such a different approach. It's charming and fun and the bad guys aren't evil until you really start to get into the plot. The game is slow, each town has its own story for you to unravel. Some of them completely optional - I didn't play through the Cash and Carry story until my third time through the game! I just hadn't realized it was there because it wasn't mandatory. The gameplay was simple, but unlike previous dragon quests there are genuine player build choices that you can make. The alchemy mechanic was new and fun and something that was new to me at the time. And the story is an epic fairy tale. Its perfect. It's one of the most perfect RPGs. Every moment fucking rules. I also enjoyed all the post-game content, which reveals more of the backstory of the protagonist Hero and the ability to add more characters to your party than just the main four. And it adds the option to marry Jessica instead of the canon girl, which was cool. One of my most perfectly enjoyable experiences and one I periodically return to as a form of comfort food, </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Arti 03/06/21 1:23:02 AM #70:	#7 - NieR: Automata (PS4, 2017) and #6 - NieR (PS3, 2010) NieR, and its sequel Automata, are both special games with some of the best storylines, characters, and music in video gaming. Let's talk about Automata first - Automata has better action gameplay but worse characters. While 9S is great and has the best character growth, 2B is pretty much a boring character. It also has the worse backtracking, with having to play the first half of the game once following 2B and then again following 9S, which makes it a bit more annoying to play through than the repeated 2nd part in the original NieR. However, the action gameplay is much better than how clunky NieR is, given Platinum Games' work on it. It's very fun to play through and a lot of the boss fights are well designed. I still am not a fan of the bullet hell bosses that make up most of this series, but the ability to slash through the bullets makes it a nonissue for me overall. The story in Automata is one of the best of the console generation it's on and I basically marathoned the story once I got past 9S's recap section. I also ignored the trophy shop at the end of the game and played my way through every trophy on the list, wanting to do as much as I could without using it (and I did get the platinum without it.) The original NieR may be classified as an action RPG, but it mixes up genres at different points of the game to keep things fresh. In particular, Emil's basement changes the game to a top-down perspective rather than the usual layout. Also, the forest area changes the game to a text adventure. Both are integrated very well into the core game that they feel just as good as the rest of it, which is a treat. Both games start with an opening sequence that make you want to see what the hell is going on, but I think NieR does it better with the short cutscene in the beginning and short fight scene. Also, the dialogue between Nier, Grimoire Weiss, Kaine and Emil is great for the group of four who really play off each other very well, and it's all voiced - which is why I was happy to see that all the original voice actors came back to voice their characters again for the NieR remake coming out later this year. I will always love opening up the game and hearing Kaine's rant about Weiss getting hypnotized by the Shadowlord every time. I hope that's in the remake too! There's no talking about either of these two games without mentioning the soundtrack, and instead of talking too much about it, I will instead just post a huge amount of links near the end. Keiichi Okabe along with Emi Evans' lyrics makes up some of the great tracks below. I do like NieR's soundtrack more overall (and place it second in all OSTs in its console generation, behind only Atelier Ayesha), but both are excellent and deserve the praise they get. There's not much I can go into here overall without dipping too much into spoiler territory and NieR is best left unspoiled as much as possible. I didn't even give a proper writeup when I ranked it back in 2017 on my top 10 list, so this is sort of a good do-over for me. I always thank Board 8 for getting me to play NieR for my 50th platinum as it is their best choice for any game that the board has recommended for me. Soundtrack Links Hills of Radiant Winds (NieR) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJHppNnNZL4 Emil ~ Karma (NieR) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5ZQYURYaAs Song of the Ancients ~ Fate (NieR) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ady--PNMsfI Shadowlord (NieR) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqXPW0oBKgg Kaine ~ Salvation (both games) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viDKam_hmGM Amusement Park (NieR: Automata) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS0T9bRJSwU Birth of a Wish (NieR: Automata) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQannt3efw8 THIS CANNOT CONTINUE THIS CANNOT CONTINUE THIS CANNOT CONTINUE THIS CANNOT CONTINUE THIS CANNOT CONTINUE THIS CANNOT CONTINUE THIS CANNOT CONTINUE THIS CANNOT CONTINUE THIS CANNOT CONTINUE THIS CANNOT CONTINUE THIS CANNOT CONTINUE THIS CANNOT CONTINUE --- http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif azuarc may not know the strength of songs in VGMC, but he conquered the guru in Game of the Decade 2! Congrats! <cite>Arti posted [p:951397773] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>#7 - NieR: Automata (PS4, 2017) and #6 - NieR (PS3, 2010) NieR, and its sequel Automata, are both special games with some of the best storylines, characters, and music in video gaming. Let's talk about Automata first - Automata has better action gameplay but worse characters. While 9S is great and has the best character growth, 2B is pretty much a boring character. It also has the worse backtracking, with having to play the first half of the game once following 2B and then again following 9S, which makes it a bit more annoying to play through than the repeated 2nd part in the original NieR. However, the action gameplay is much better than how clunky NieR is, given Platinum Games' work on it. It's very fun to play through and a lot of the boss fights are well designed. I still am not a fan of the bullet hell bosses that make up most of this series, but the ability to slash through the bullets makes it a nonissue for me overall. The story in Automata is one of the best of the console generation it's on and I basically marathoned the story once I got past 9S's recap section. I also ignored the trophy shop at the end of the game and played my way through every trophy on the list, wanting to do as much as I could without using it (and I did get the platinum without it.) The original NieR may be classified as an action RPG, but it mixes up genres at different points of the game to keep things fresh. In particular, Emil's basement changes the game to a top-down perspective rather than the usual layout. Also, the forest area changes the game to a text adventure. Both are integrated very well into the core game that they feel just as good as the rest of it, which is a treat. Both games start with an opening sequence that make you want to see what the hell is going on, but I think NieR does it better with the short cutscene in the beginning and short fight scene. Also, the dialogue between Nier, Grimoire Weiss, Kaine and Emil is great for the group of four who really play off each other very well, and it's all voiced - which is why I was happy to see that all the original voice actors came back to voice their characters again for the NieR remake coming out later this year. I will always love opening up the game and hearing Kaine's rant about Weiss getting hypnotized by the Shadowlord every time. I hope that's in the remake too! There's no talking about either of these two games without mentioning the soundtrack, and instead of talking too much about it, I will instead just post a huge amount of links near the end. Keiichi Okabe along with Emi Evans' lyrics makes up some of the great tracks below. I do like NieR's soundtrack more overall (and place it second in all OSTs in its console generation, behind only Atelier Ayesha), but both are excellent and deserve the praise they get. There's not much I can go into here overall without dipping too much into spoiler territory and NieR is best left unspoiled as much as possible. I didn't even give a proper writeup when I ranked it back in 2017 on my top 10 list, so this is sort of a good do-over for me. I always thank Board 8 for getting me to play NieR for my 50th platinum as it is their best choice for any game that the board has recommended for me. Soundtrack Links Hills of Radiant Winds (NieR) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJHppNnNZL4 Emil ~ Karma (NieR) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5ZQYURYaAs Song of the Ancients ~ Fate (NieR) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ady--PNMsfI Shadowlord (NieR) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqXPW0oBKgg Kaine ~ Salvation (both games) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viDKam_hmGM Amusement Park (NieR: Automata) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS0T9bRJSwU Birth of a Wish (NieR: Automata) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQannt3efw8 THIS CANNOT CONTINUE THIS CANNOT CONTINUE THIS CANNOT CONTINUE THIS CANNOT CONTINUE THIS CANNOT CONTINUE THIS CANNOT CONTINUE THIS CANNOT CONTINUE THIS CANNOT CONTINUE THIS CANNOT CONTINUE THIS CANNOT CONTINUE THIS CANNOT CONTINUE THIS CANNOT CONTINUE </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Whiskey_Nick 03/06/21 9:25:32 AM #71:	#5. Final Fantasy XI (PS2, 2004) 536 days, 16 hours, 32 minutes, 8 seconds. That is my gameplay time in FFXI from 2004 to 2014. The majority of which is from 2004 to 2010 when FFXI was essentially my entire life. None of that is idle time either. I had a garbage internet connection for a long time that would disconnect if I was not there to F5. MMOs are a plague. I am one of the lucky ones where this didn't destroy my life, in fact my life was markedly better because of this game. It never got in the way of me working or paying bills or having a social life. Like on occasion yeah I didn't go do stuff because I wanted to game, but I didn't lose everything like so many others that played this or WoW or whatever. I started this game with 3 high school friends, on PS2. We made a Linkshell and progressed til we merged with a larger group and became an endgame LS. For about 7 years I was a LS Council member (a leader of the group). So I organized events, gave direction during raids, and handled LS Reward Points for drops etc. We beat pretty much all the content there was to beat for a long time. My PS2 eventually died entirely from this game. As well the laptop I got for college basically melted from this game later. I was a Dark Knight main. I also used Monk, Black Mage and later Blue Mage. So things this game did for me. Met some of my best friends to this day. Who I lived with for 6 years and allowed me to save up to buy my own house. This game also led to me losing my virginity as a woman in my LS it turned out was also in Ottawa so we got together, hit it off and stuff happened. We ended up not being compatible as a couple at all but still get along great as friends. This game also helped me get over being shy and passive. The leadership role I took in this game has really carried over to the real world. I actually use FFXI as an example in interviews. Which sounds insane, but a common question is how would you lead and motivate your team. FFXI was that on a way bigger sale, when I tell them I organized 60 people at once from all over the world via text and voice chat they can't even fathom it usually. FFXI was also one of the most challenging and least accessible games ever. You were forced to make friends or never progress. Much like B8 now, it was my entire social life pretty much and I met many of the people from my LS. They have since made the game very easy to play solo, but initially my lord what a slog. Losing EXP for dying in a game where you die a lot, really big problem. Walking everywhere before you get chocobos or fast travel and everything, they really beat it into you to be good at this game and always alert. Hyper Notorious Monster hunting.... NMs that spawn on a 24 hour cycle. Or 1 week cycle. That have amazing drops, and several LS would be there. Sitting, for hours because of a 3 hour spawn window. Hovering a finger over your provoke macro trying to get the claim. Gilfarmers and Bots. Man if there was one thing to unify all the rival LS, it was these jerks, only there to claim, get, sell, and then sell the gil for real world money. Managed to find some old pics from our LS from a guy named Azmo. --- I am Nick. Go Sens, Bills, Blue Jays! UotY 2015, You should listen to The Show w/ Ngamer and Yoblazer <cite>Whiskey_Nick posted [p:951404853] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>#5. Final Fantasy XI (PS2, 2004) 536 days, 16 hours, 32 minutes, 8 seconds. That is my gameplay time in FFXI from 2004 to 2014. The majority of which is from 2004 to 2010 when FFXI was essentially my entire life. None of that is idle time either. I had a garbage internet connection for a long time that would disconnect if I was not there to F5. MMOs are a plague. I am one of the lucky ones where this didn't destroy my life, in fact my life was markedly better because of this game. It never got in the way of me working or paying bills or having a social life. Like on occasion yeah I didn't go do stuff because I wanted to game, but I didn't lose everything like so many others that played this or WoW or whatever. I started this game with 3 high school friends, on PS2. We made a Linkshell and progressed til we merged with a larger group and became an endgame LS. For about 7 years I was a LS Council member (a leader of the group). So I organized events, gave direction during raids, and handled LS Reward Points for drops etc. We beat pretty much all the content there was to beat for a long time. My PS2 eventually died entirely from this game. As well the laptop I got for college basically melted from this game later. I was a Dark Knight main. I also used Monk, Black Mage and later Blue Mage. So things this game did for me. Met some of my best friends to this day. Who I lived with for 6 years and allowed me to save up to buy my own house. This game also led to me losing my virginity as a woman in my LS it turned out was also in Ottawa so we got together, hit it off and stuff happened. We ended up not being compatible as a couple at all but still get along great as friends. This game also helped me get over being shy and passive. The leadership role I took in this game has really carried over to the real world. I actually use FFXI as an example in interviews. Which sounds insane, but a common question is how would you lead and motivate your team. FFXI was that on a way bigger sale, when I tell them I organized 60 people at once from all over the world via text and voice chat they can't even fathom it usually. FFXI was also one of the most challenging and least accessible games ever. You were forced to make friends or never progress. Much like B8 now, it was my entire social life pretty much and I met many of the people from my LS. They have since made the game very easy to play solo, but initially my lord what a slog. Losing EXP for dying in a game where you die a lot, really big problem. Walking everywhere before you get chocobos or fast travel and everything, they really beat it into you to be good at this game and always alert. Hyper Notorious Monster hunting.... NMs that spawn on a 24 hour cycle. Or 1 week cycle. That have amazing drops, and several LS would be there. Sitting, for hours because of a 3 hour spawn window. Hovering a finger over your provoke macro trying to get the claim. Gilfarmers and Bots. Man if there was one thing to unify all the rival LS, it was these jerks, only there to claim, get, sell, and then sell the gil for real world money. Managed to find some old pics from our LS from a guy named Azmo. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Bartzyx 03/06/21 10:50:21 AM #72:	More frequent updates now that we are in the top 10 #1 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: 1621 (=) #2 Super Mario Odyssey: 1582 (=) #3 Pokemon RBY: 1303 (=) #4 Final Fantasy X: 1186 (=) #5 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past: 1180 (+23) #6 Super Smash Bros. Melee: 1168 (-1) #7 Borderlands 2: 1043 (-1) #8 Mother 3: 1032 (-1) #9 Jackbox Party Pack: 980 (-1) #10 Mario Kart 8: 913 (-1) #11 Uncharted 2: Among Thieves: 903 (-1) #12 Metroid: Zero Mission: 900 (-1) #13 Final Fantasy IV: 881 (-1) #14 Castlevania: Symphony of the Night: 877 (-1) #15 Super Mario RPG: 867 (-1) #16 Pokemon GSC: 858 (-1) #17 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: 845 (-1) #18 Super Mario 3D World: 839 (-1) #19 The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker: 834 (-1) #20 Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door: 832 (-1) #21 Mega Man 3: 828 (-1) #22 The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening: 815 (-1) #23 Uncharted 4: A Thief's End: 793 (-1) #24 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: 791 (-1) #25 Final Fantasy Tactics: 772 (-1) #26 Chrono Trigger: 769 (-1) #27 The Last of Us: 760 (-1) #28 Final Fantasy V: 741 (+142) #28 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2: 741 (-2) #30 Fallout 3: 731 (=) #30 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: 731 (-2) #32 Dragon Quest VIII: 727 (+169) #33 Kirby Super Star Ultra: 724 (-2) #34 Final Fantasy VI: 713 (-2) #35 Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony: 710 (-2) #36 Virtue's Last Reward: 698 (-2) #37 Pokemon Puzzle League: 697 (-2) #38 Yoshi's Island: 690 (-2) #39 Super Mario 64: 688 (-2) #40 Mega Man 2: 679 (-2) #41 Resident Evil 4: 677 (+207) #41 Paper Mario: 677 (+146) #43 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice: 674 (-4) #44 Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair: 666 (-4) #45 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations: 649 (-4) #46 Rock Band 2: 647 (-4) #47 Super Mario Galaxy: 618 (-4) #48 Seiken Densetsu 3: 610 (-4) #49 Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal: 600 (-4) #50 Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3: 594 (-4) #51 Elite Beat Agents: 577 (-4) #52 Bioshock: 575 (-4) #53 Disgaea: Hour of Darkness: 574 (-4) #54 Valkyria Chronicles: 567 (-4) #55 Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising: 550 (-4) #56 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: 547 (-4) #57 Grand Theft Auto: Vice City: 546 (-4) #58 Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call: 543 (+357) #59 Chrono Cross: 541 (-5) #60 Dance Dance Revolution: 540 (-5) #61 Undertale: 538 (-5) #62 The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds: 530 (-4) #62 Sonic the Hedgehog 2: 530 (-6) #64 Mario Party 2: 527 (-5) #65 Mega Man X: 519 (-5) #66 Persona 4: 518 (-5) #67 Return of the Obra Dinn: 513 (-5) #68 Metroid Prime: 512 (-5) #69 Portal 2: 510 (-5) #70 Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels: 505 (-5) #71 Final Fantasy XI: 500 (NEW) #72 Earthbound: 497 (-6) #72 RollerCoaster Tycoon: 497 (-6) #74 Sonic Adventure 2: 483 (-6) #75 Mega Man 9: 480 (-6) #75 NieR: 480 (NEW) #77 Banjo-Kazooie: 479 (-7) #78 Metroid Fusion: 466 (-7) #79 Shining Force 2: 460 (NEW) #79 NieR: Automata: 460 (NEW) #81 Horizon Zero Dawn: 458 (-9) #82 Super Monkey Ball 2: 457 (-9) #83 Diddy Kong Racing: 456 (-8) #83 Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception: 456 (-10) #85 SSX 3: 454 (-9) #86 Odinsphere: 445 (-8) #87 Super Mario World: 444 (-8) #88 Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest: 443 (-8) #89 Final Fantasy VII Remake: 442 (-8) #90 Mario Tennis: 441 (-8) #91 The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky FC: 438 (-8) --- At least your mother tipped well <cite>Bartzyx posted [p:951407018] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>More frequent updates now that we are in the top 10 #1 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: 1621 (=) #2 Super Mario Odyssey: 1582 (=) #3 Pokemon RBY: 1303 (=) #4 Final Fantasy X: 1186 (=) #5 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past: 1180 (+23) #6 Super Smash Bros. Melee: 1168 (-1) #7 Borderlands 2: 1043 (-1) #8 Mother 3: 1032 (-1) #9 Jackbox Party Pack: 980 (-1) #10 Mario Kart 8: 913 (-1) #11 Uncharted 2: Among Thieves: 903 (-1) #12 Metroid: Zero Mission: 900 (-1) #13 Final Fantasy IV: 881 (-1) #14 Castlevania: Symphony of the Night: 877 (-1) #15 Super Mario RPG: 867 (-1) #16 Pokemon GSC: 858 (-1) #17 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: 845 (-1) #18 Super Mario 3D World: 839 (-1) #19 The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker: 834 (-1) #20 Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door: 832 (-1) #21 Mega Man 3: 828 (-1) #22 The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening: 815 (-1) #23 Uncharted 4: A Thief's End: 793 (-1) #24 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: 791 (-1) #25 Final Fantasy Tactics: 772 (-1) #26 Chrono Trigger: 769 (-1) #27 The Last of Us: 760 (-1) #28 Final Fantasy V: 741 (+142) #28 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2: 741 (-2) #30 Fallout 3: 731 (=) #30 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: 731 (-2) #32 Dragon Quest VIII: 727 (+169) #33 Kirby Super Star Ultra: 724 (-2) #34 Final Fantasy VI: 713 (-2) #35 Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony: 710 (-2) #36 Virtue's Last Reward: 698 (-2) #37 Pokemon Puzzle League: 697 (-2) #38 Yoshi's Island: 690 (-2) #39 Super Mario 64: 688 (-2) #40 Mega Man 2: 679 (-2) #41 Resident Evil 4: 677 (+207) #41 Paper Mario: 677 (+146) #43 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice: 674 (-4) #44 Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair: 666 (-4) #45 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations: 649 (-4) #46 Rock Band 2: 647 (-4) #47 Super Mario Galaxy: 618 (-4) #48 Seiken Densetsu 3: 610 (-4) #49 Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal: 600 (-4) #50 Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3: 594 (-4) #51 Elite Beat Agents: 577 (-4) #52 Bioshock: 575 (-4) #53 Disgaea: Hour of Darkness: 574 (-4) #54 Valkyria Chronicles: 567 (-4) #55 Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising: 550 (-4) #56 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: 547 (-4) #57 Grand Theft Auto: Vice City: 546 (-4) #58 Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call: 543 (+357) #59 Chrono Cross: 541 (-5) #60 Dance Dance Revolution: 540 (-5) #61 Undertale: 538 (-5) #62 The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds: 530 (-4) #62 Sonic the Hedgehog 2: 530 (-6) #64 Mario Party 2: 527 (-5) #65 Mega Man X: 519 (-5) #66 Persona 4: 518 (-5) #67 Return of the Obra Dinn: 513 (-5) #68 Metroid Prime: 512 (-5) #69 Portal 2: 510 (-5) #70 Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels: 505 (-5) #71 Final Fantasy XI: 500 (NEW) #72 Earthbound: 497 (-6) #72 RollerCoaster Tycoon: 497 (-6) #74 Sonic Adventure 2: 483 (-6) #75 Mega Man 9: 480 (-6) #75 NieR: 480 (NEW) #77 Banjo-Kazooie: 479 (-7) #78 Metroid Fusion: 466 (-7) #79 Shining Force 2: 460 (NEW) #79 NieR: Automata: 460 (NEW) #81 Horizon Zero Dawn: 458 (-9) #82 Super Monkey Ball 2: 457 (-9) #83 Diddy Kong Racing: 456 (-8) #83 Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception: 456 (-10) #85 SSX 3: 454 (-9) #86 Odinsphere: 445 (-8) #87 Super Mario World: 444 (-8) #88 Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest: 443 (-8) #89 Final Fantasy VII Remake: 442 (-8) #90 Mario Tennis: 441 (-8) #91 The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky FC: 438 (-8) </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Bartzyx 03/06/21 11:13:48 AM #73:	#6 Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (Playstation 3, 2009) This game kind of got me back into video games after a few years of not playing much. It's the reason that I bought a PS3. It's the reason that I have 55 Platinum trophies. So in a way, it ruined my life. Just kidding. I love the Uncharted series, and it might be my favorite series in video games (I think Final Fantasy and Super Mario Bros. are contenders for that title too). The action and adventure formula of third-person shooting combined with exploration and traversal just does not get old for me. But I've talked about the Uncharted games three times before now. What makes Uncharted 2 so much better than the others? Well to start, I think it has the tightest story. It introduces a bit of globe-trotting for the first time, but still remains focused on Nathan Drake's quest to find treasure. Uncharted 2 introduces a few great new characters, including the franchise's most memorable villains. The conflict between Chloe and Elena is personal and relatable and understandable, and is a nice way of making Nate re-evaluate his priorities and bringing something extra to his character. And poor ~~Cameraman Jeff~~! Rest in peace forever my man. The places that the game takes you are some of my favorite environments from the series. The monastery is definitely the stand-out for me, but Nepal and Borneo are both also gorgeous and fun to explore. The setpiece moments are not to be forgotten, especially the train sequence, which is a GOAT piece of video gaming. The gameplay is tremendously improved from Drake's Fortune. Certainly the most significant quality improvement in the seriesalthough 3 and 4 did add some cool new features, it was nothing compared to what 2 brought to the table. The enemies feel more fair, the pacing is perfect, and there are a lot more options for getting around during fights. It's really night and day, the different between Uncharted 1 and 2. Uncharted 2 is the first game in the series to feature multiplayer, both cooperative and competitive. The cooperative levels were an incredible challenge and I loved playing through them over and over with Wigs and DpOblivion. The competitive mode remains my favorite among any online shooter; I wish I could still go back to it (they shut it down a little while ago unfortunately). The focus on weapon control is something that I wish games still did, instead of all this loadout bullshit. In my opinion, Uncharted 2 was perfect. The PS4 remaster was a great excuse to play through it all again, and it still looks fantastic. It's the definitive action blockbuster game and probably will retain that title for me for a long, long time. --- At least your mother tipped well <cite>Bartzyx posted [p:951407672] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>#6 Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (Playstation 3, 2009) This game kind of got me back into video games after a few years of not playing much. It's the reason that I bought a PS3. It's the reason that I have 55 Platinum trophies. So in a way, it ruined my life. Just kidding. I love the Uncharted series, and it might be my favorite series in video games (I think Final Fantasy and Super Mario Bros. are contenders for that title too). The action and adventure formula of third-person shooting combined with exploration and traversal just does not get old for me. But I've talked about the Uncharted games three times before now. What makes Uncharted 2 so much better than the others? Well to start, I think it has the tightest story. It introduces a bit of globe-trotting for the first time, but still remains focused on Nathan Drake's quest to find treasure. Uncharted 2 introduces a few great new characters, including the franchise's most memorable villains. The conflict between Chloe and Elena is personal and relatable and understandable, and is a nice way of making Nate re-evaluate his priorities and bringing something extra to his character. And poor Cameraman Jeff! Rest in peace forever my man. The places that the game takes you are some of my favorite environments from the series. The monastery is definitely the stand-out for me, but Nepal and Borneo are both also gorgeous and fun to explore. The setpiece moments are not to be forgotten, especially the train sequence, which is a GOAT piece of video gaming. The gameplay is tremendously improved from Drake's Fortune. Certainly the most significant quality improvement in the seriesalthough 3 and 4 did add some cool new features, it was nothing compared to what 2 brought to the table. The enemies feel more fair, the pacing is perfect, and there are a lot more options for getting around during fights. It's really night and day, the different between Uncharted 1 and 2. Uncharted 2 is the first game in the series to feature multiplayer, both cooperative and competitive. The cooperative levels were an incredible challenge and I loved playing through them over and over with Wigs and DpOblivion. The competitive mode remains my favorite among any online shooter; I wish I could still go back to it (they shut it down a little while ago unfortunately). The focus on weapon control is something that I wish games still did, instead of all this loadout bullshit. In my opinion, Uncharted 2 was perfect. The PS4 remaster was a great excuse to play through it all again, and it still looks fantastic. It's the definitive action blockbuster game and probably will retain that title for me for a long, long time. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
MrSmartGuy 03/06/21 12:41:52 PM #74:	#5 - Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (DS, my GotY for 2010) Ghost Trick is a game from the mind of Shu Takumi, the man behind a lot of the Ace Attorney games. You play as Sissel, a man who has recently bitten the big one and now occupies the ghost world. He quickly learns that he now has the power to possess small objects and manipulate them. However, this isnt even close to the limits of what he can do. If he comes across a recently deceased person, he can then travel back to their final 4 minutes and use his ghost tricks to try to save them in some way. Hes going to have to make the most of these powers to obtain clues and testimonies from the people around him to remember who he is and why he was killed, and he only has one night to do it. This is probably the easiest game on my entire list to explain why it is where it is. Ghost Trick is quite simply my favorite video game story of all-time. Its just a wonderful tale about a couple of good [REDACTED] saving all their friends. And thats great. It also has a pretty great game surrounding it. After Undertale, this is probably the game closest to being absolutely perfect for me. The puzzles you solve when saving people are pretty nifty. The level design is stellar. Everything is very meticulously placed and it leads to some fantastic solutions. The graphics arent anything special, but my god, the animations are ridiculous. Its unbelievable that this game came out over 10 years ago on a mobile gaming machine. All of the characters look really, really good in motion, but Im just gonna post the absolute star of the show. Look at this slick motherfucker: https://i.imgur.com/XhgEd.gif https://66.media.tumblr.com/a14ee01335887d1193619d95edf4e7ef/tumblr_inline_pr0e6tv4kv1r2vvqk_540.gif https://i.pinimg.com/originals/74/bb/8d/74bb8dcf6d74caf3f1b435e1f2cdf4ea.gif I dont know what exactly is happening in any of these, but Id be lying my ass off if I said Im not super entranced by every one of them. Even the supporting cast is so full of life. Bailey the prison guard is my all-time favorite character of no importance whatsoever. The musician plays a riff on his guitar every time he takes a step and its just wonderful. All these tiny little characters that do nothing have personalities and you can just watch them be themselves and its great. And the music is great, too. The second half of the game is filled to the brim with absolute bangers. I would post some, but the thumbnails in the recommended videos are just as filled with massive spoilers. Also, this games plot goes some places. One of my most hated writing decisions is to just drop a plot twist or a story element out of nowhere with no provocation. Only Arti will understand this segment, but its why I dont like F/GOs stories that much, and I want to rant about SE.RA.PH real quick. Uh-oh, we fell down a very long chasm what do we do oh never mind someone just magicd a five kilometer wire out of nothing. Wait whaaaaaat the big bad of the story was disguised as a random employee because I dunno just so we could have a plot twist I guess?! Fuck F/GOs stories, theyre all fucking like this and I hate it, and yet I keep playing anyway. God Im stupid. .. What was I doing again? OH RIGHT. So plot twists. I enjoy some really good foreshadowing in my stories. And Ghost Trick is basically Foreshadowed Plot Twists: The Game. There are an insane number of little tidbits along the course of the story. Youre bound to find at least 3 little breadcrumbs every single chapter, trying to guide you to what the game is about to reveal to you. I want to go on and on about how much I fucking love this games story, but I cant, or Id spoil everything. So I will anyway! Yay time for the black bars! EVERYONE IS NICE AND IS FRIENDS YAAAAAY GOOD JOB LITTLE ANIMALS YOU ARE TRULY WONDERFUL. I KNOW YOU PULLED A GUN ON A LITTLE GIRL BUT THAT WAS JUST CUZ OF ACAB ITS OK YOU CAN STILL BE OUR FRIEND LETS HAVE A HAPPY BIRTHDAY PARTY DURING THE ENDING CUTSCENE WHERE THE MOM IS STILL OK AND THEN THE DOG WILL COME SPINNING THROUGH THE DOOR WHEEEEE ~~I don't just like the story~~ ~~because~~ it's a story where everyone is nice, it's because it's a story where everyone is nice, but because of the way it's told, it only seems like everyone in the game is at odds with each other the entire time. Then when more and more of the underlying motives of everyone gets revealed, and/or more people can start to trust the mystery ghost man, only then does everyone realize they're ultimately working toward the same goal and can begin to work together. It's masterfully told, and I'm sorta sad that the way the story unfolds makes Ghost Trick completely incompatible with a potential sequel. It exists as an entirely isolated story, and you know what? I'm OK with that. It's a perfectly isolated story and it just means a shoed-in sequel can never ruin it. CHARACTER RANKINGS: Missile > Sissel > Lynne > Justice Minister > Bailey > Cabanela > Pigeon Guy > Jowd > Chicken Kitchen Chef > Yomiel > Temsik Park Hippie > Kamila > Undercover Waitress > Nearsighted Jeego > Romance Novelist > Foreign Guy That Hits The Buttons Then Smacks The Podium > Sausage Head Also, this game has a very obviously bad guy named Sith. Who couldve guessed hed be a bad guy?! --- Xbox GT/PSN name/Nintendo ID: TatteredUniform http://www.scuffletown.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/tRBE1.gif <cite>MrSmartGuy posted [p:951410294] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>#5 - Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (DS, my GotY for 2010) Ghost Trick is a game from the mind of Shu Takumi, the man behind a lot of the Ace Attorney games. You play as Sissel, a man who has recently bitten the big one and now occupies the ghost world. He quickly learns that he now has the power to possess small objects and manipulate them. However, this isnt even close to the limits of what he can do. If he comes across a recently deceased person, he can then travel back to their final 4 minutes and use his ghost tricks to try to save them in some way. Hes going to have to make the most of these powers to obtain clues and testimonies from the people around him to remember who he is and why he was killed, and he only has one night to do it. This is probably the easiest game on my entire list to explain why it is where it is. Ghost Trick is quite simply my favorite video game story of all-time. Its just a wonderful tale about a couple of good [REDACTED] saving all their friends. And thats great. It also has a pretty great game surrounding it. After Undertale, this is probably the game closest to being absolutely perfect for me. The puzzles you solve when saving people are pretty nifty. The level design is stellar. Everything is very meticulously placed and it leads to some fantastic solutions. The graphics arent anything special, but my god, the animations are ridiculous. Its unbelievable that this game came out over 10 years ago on a mobile gaming machine. All of the characters look really, really good in motion, but Im just gonna post the absolute star of the show. Look at this slick motherfucker: https://i.imgur.com/XhgEd.gif https://66.media.tumblr.com/a14ee01335887d1193619d95edf4e7ef/tumblr_inline_pr0e6tv4kv1r2vvqk_540.gif https://i.pinimg.com/originals/74/bb/8d/74bb8dcf6d74caf3f1b435e1f2cdf4ea.gif I dont know what exactly is happening in any of these, but Id be lying my ass off if I said Im not super entranced by every one of them. Even the supporting cast is so full of life. Bailey the prison guard is my all-time favorite character of no importance whatsoever. The musician plays a riff on his guitar every time he takes a step and its just wonderful. All these tiny little characters that do nothing have personalities and you can just watch them be themselves and its great. And the music is great, too. The second half of the game is filled to the brim with absolute bangers. I would post some, but the thumbnails in the recommended videos are just as filled with massive spoilers. Also, this games plot goes some places. One of my most hated writing decisions is to just drop a plot twist or a story element out of nowhere with no provocation. Only Arti will understand this segment, but its why I dont like F/GOs stories that much, and I want to rant about SE.RA.PH real quick. Uh-oh, we fell down a very long chasm what do we do oh never mind someone just magicd a five kilometer wire out of nothing. Wait whaaaaaat the big bad of the story was disguised as a random employee because I dunno just so we could have a plot twist I guess?! Fuck F/GOs stories, theyre all fucking like this and I hate it, and yet I keep playing anyway. God Im stupid. .. What was I doing again? OH RIGHT. So plot twists. I enjoy some really good foreshadowing in my stories. And Ghost Trick is basically Foreshadowed Plot Twists: The Game. There are an insane number of little tidbits along the course of the story. Youre bound to find at least 3 little breadcrumbs every single chapter, trying to guide you to what the game is about to reveal to you. I want to go on and on about how much I fucking love this games story, but I cant, or Id spoil everything. So I will anyway! Yay time for the black bars! EVERYONE IS NICE AND IS FRIENDS YAAAAAY GOOD JOB LITTLE ANIMALS YOU ARE TRULY WONDERFUL. I KNOW YOU PULLED A GUN ON A LITTLE GIRL BUT THAT WAS JUST CUZ OF ACAB ITS OK YOU CAN STILL BE OUR FRIEND LETS HAVE A HAPPY BIRTHDAY PARTY DURING THE ENDING CUTSCENE WHERE THE MOM IS STILL OK AND THEN THE DOG WILL COME SPINNING THROUGH THE DOOR WHEEEEE I don't just like the story because it's a story where everyone is nice, it's because it's a story where everyone is nice, but because of the way it's told, it only seems like everyone in the game is at odds with each other the entire time. Then when more and more of the underlying motives of everyone gets revealed, and/or more people can start to trust the mystery ghost man, only then does everyone realize they're ultimately working toward the same goal and can begin to work together. It's masterfully told, and I'm sorta sad that the way the story unfolds makes Ghost Trick completely incompatible with a potential sequel. It exists as an entirely isolated story, and you know what? I'm OK with that. It's a perfectly isolated story and it just means a shoed-in sequel can never ruin it. CHARACTER RANKINGS: Missile > Sissel > Lynne > Justice Minister > Bailey > Cabanela > Pigeon Guy > Jowd > Chicken Kitchen Chef > Yomiel > Temsik Park Hippie > Kamila > Undercover Waitress > Nearsighted Jeego > Romance Novelist > Foreign Guy That Hits The Buttons Then Smacks The Podium > Sausage Head Also, this game has a very obviously bad guy named Sith. Who couldve guessed hed be a bad guy?! </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
WiggumFan267 03/06/21 2:14:59 PM #75:	#8. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS2, 2004) What a thrill clank clank clank clank clank With darkness and silence through the niiight clank clank clank clank clank What a thrill clank clank clank clank clank I'm searching and I'll melt into yooou clank clank clank clank clank What a fear in my hearrrt clank clank clank clank clank *BUT YOURE SO SUPREME!* clank clank clank clank clank *I GIVE MY LIIIIFE NOT FOR HONOR, BUT FOOOOOR YOOOOOU* clank clank clank clank clank *IN MY TIIIIIIME, THERELL BE NOOO OONNEEEE ELLSSEEEEE* clank clank clank clank clank *CRIIIIIIIIIME, ITS THE WAY I FLY TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO YOOOOOOOOOOU* clank clank clank clank clank *IM STIIIIIIIIILLLL IN A DRREEEEEEEAM, SNAAAAAAAAAAKE EEEEAATTEERRRRR* clank clank clank clank clank *IM STIIIIIIIIILLLL IN A DRREEEEEEEAM, SNAAAAAAAAAAKE EEEEAATTEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRR* (Snake eeeaatteeeerrr) ..........................AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Next up: While I obviously love this game, being #7 on my list, there is one aspect of it that went from one of my favorite things about the game to my least favorite thing upon later replays. --- ~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion 2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS <cite>WiggumFan267 posted [p:951413200] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>#8. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS2, 2004) What a thrill clank clank clank clank clank With darkness and silence through the niiight clank clank clank clank clank What a thrill clank clank clank clank clank I'm searching and I'll melt into yooou clank clank clank clank clank What a fear in my hearrrt clank clank clank clank clank BUT YOURE SO SUPREME! clank clank clank clank clank I GIVE MY LIIIIFE NOT FOR HONOR, BUT FOOOOOR YOOOOOU clank clank clank clank clank IN MY TIIIIIIME, THERELL BE NOOO OONNEEEE ELLSSEEEEE clank clank clank clank clank CRIIIIIIIIIME, ITS THE WAY I FLY TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO YOOOOOOOOOOU clank clank clank clank clank IM STIIIIIIIIILLLL IN A DRREEEEEEEAM, SNAAAAAAAAAAKE EEEEAATTEERRRRR clank clank clank clank clank IM STIIIIIIIIILLLL IN A DRREEEEEEEAM, SNAAAAAAAAAAKE EEEEAATTEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRR (Snake eeeaatteeeerrr) ..........................AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Next up: While I obviously love this game, being #7 on my list, there is one aspect of it that went from one of my favorite things about the game to my least favorite thing upon later replays. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
TheKnightOfNee 03/06/21 5:26:26 PM #76:	#8. Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES, 1990) Mario games are about some guy in overalls named Mario who is a plumber, which is why he uses pipes to travel, and he tries to rescue the princess, and he jumps on enemies like goomba and koopa troopa and cheep-cheep and Okay, Mario doesn't need any real explanation now, and he didn't even really need one back when Super Mario Bros 3 came out. Mario was already huge, and the hype for SMB3 was massive. And somehow, this game lived up to every bit of hype surrounding it. There is something about Mario 3 that screams fun in every single square inch of the game. When I see the title screen, one of the world maps, the black end of level screen, the mushroom house, the airships, the warp zone, and even the box art it all feels me with feelings of joy and adventure. The Koopa Kids are also a very special part of this game. Mario 3 added a ton of power-ups. There is big Mario and fire Mario again, but then there's raccoon, tanooki, hammer suit, frog, and p-wing. Some don't appear as often, but it helps make them feel special and useful when you can have them. There is a massive number of levels in this game. Way more than any Mario game before it, but even more than Super Mario World brought after it. And there's not a level in this game that I don't see and instantly uniquely recall. At some point as a kid, I borrowed a copy of the Nintendo Power Super Mario Bros 3 Strategy Guide from someone. It was the first kind of strategy guide I had ever seen, and I thought it was so cool. I tried to learn all the secrets it told me, but I also really just poured over all the maps of levels. From then on, whenever I sat down with a piece of paper to draw or color or whatever as a kid, I would just draw Mario levels. Mario 3 had become my creativity outlet. Another older memory I have of the game, my grandparents were watching me and I was playing Mario 3 for one of the first times. I got into World 2, the Desert Land, and I got stuck. I had cleared every level I could, but I was stuck on the world map with nowhere else to go. I asked my grandpa to help me, but he didn't play games, so he had no clue what I was trying to ask of him. I ended up turning the game off without figuring it out. I probably figured it out the next time I played, but what had happened was I reached the quicksand level (with the angry sun), which is displayed on the world map as a square of quicksand. I made Mario stand on it, and tried to move him through it, but never hit the A button to enter it, because I didn't realize it was a level. Oops. I still have fun popping this game in every now and than to just see what I remember. Maybe I can pick the frog suit for the right levels with water, maybe I can still find the hidden music blocks to coin heavens, maybe I can get the right number of coins to turn hammer bros. into coin ships, maybe I can clip the subpixels in 7-1, maybe I can get all the right doors in the world 8 fortress, maybe I can match all the cards in one shot, maybe I can beat the fast airship without getting hit as small Mario or as frog Mario. Mario 3 is so packed full of neat secrets and moments from top to bottom. It has always felt like the game with the most pure feeling of "fun" no matter how I play or what I'm trying to do. --- ONLY FIVE CAN LADDER. Sushi, kamikaze, fujiyama, nippon-ichi... <cite>TheKnightOfNee posted [p:951419054] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>#8. Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES, 1990) Mario games are about some guy in overalls named Mario who is a plumber, which is why he uses pipes to travel, and he tries to rescue the princess, and he jumps on enemies like goomba and koopa troopa and cheep-cheep and Okay, Mario doesn't need any real explanation now, and he didn't even really need one back when Super Mario Bros 3 came out. Mario was already huge, and the hype for SMB3 was massive. And somehow, this game lived up to every bit of hype surrounding it. There is something about Mario 3 that screams fun in every single square inch of the game. When I see the title screen, one of the world maps, the black end of level screen, the mushroom house, the airships, the warp zone, and even the box art it all feels me with feelings of joy and adventure. The Koopa Kids are also a very special part of this game. Mario 3 added a ton of power-ups. There is big Mario and fire Mario again, but then there's raccoon, tanooki, hammer suit, frog, and p-wing. Some don't appear as often, but it helps make them feel special and useful when you can have them. There is a massive number of levels in this game. Way more than any Mario game before it, but even more than Super Mario World brought after it. And there's not a level in this game that I don't see and instantly uniquely recall. At some point as a kid, I borrowed a copy of the Nintendo Power Super Mario Bros 3 Strategy Guide from someone. It was the first kind of strategy guide I had ever seen, and I thought it was so cool. I tried to learn all the secrets it told me, but I also really just poured over all the maps of levels. From then on, whenever I sat down with a piece of paper to draw or color or whatever as a kid, I would just draw Mario levels. Mario 3 had become my creativity outlet. Another older memory I have of the game, my grandparents were watching me and I was playing Mario 3 for one of the first times. I got into World 2, the Desert Land, and I got stuck. I had cleared every level I could, but I was stuck on the world map with nowhere else to go. I asked my grandpa to help me, but he didn't play games, so he had no clue what I was trying to ask of him. I ended up turning the game off without figuring it out. I probably figured it out the next time I played, but what had happened was I reached the quicksand level (with the angry sun), which is displayed on the world map as a square of quicksand. I made Mario stand on it, and tried to move him through it, but never hit the A button to enter it, because I didn't realize it was a level. Oops. I still have fun popping this game in every now and than to just see what I remember. Maybe I can pick the frog suit for the right levels with water, maybe I can still find the hidden music blocks to coin heavens, maybe I can get the right number of coins to turn hammer bros. into coin ships, maybe I can clip the subpixels in 7-1, maybe I can get all the right doors in the world 8 fortress, maybe I can match all the cards in one shot, maybe I can beat the fast airship without getting hit as small Mario or as frog Mario. Mario 3 is so packed full of neat secrets and moments from top to bottom. It has always felt like the game with the most pure feeling of "fun" no matter how I play or what I'm trying to do. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Bartzyx 03/06/21 6:31:35 PM #77:	Oh, I drew mario levels as a kid too! --- At least your mother tipped well <cite>Bartzyx posted [p:951421066] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>Oh, I drew mario levels as a kid too! </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Arti 03/06/21 8:31:07 PM #78:	#5 - Steins;Gate (Vita, 2015) This is the choice of Steins Gate. Steins;Gate is the perfect example of games that I somehow end up impulse buying that end up being the best games I have ever purchased (there's one more of those on this list up ahead.) In 2016, I was unemployed for the entire year so I had a good look at many video games during this period, and I also had a trophy streak going on. Steins;Gate happened to be a good candidate for the daily streak with a number of random trophies like "change phone ringtone" and stuff, so I used it like this for about a week, saying that I would probably go back to it later and see how the game actually was. Ended up reading the entire visual novel in less than a week. Steins;Gate's main character is Rintaro Okabe, a self proclaimed mad scientist who is the head of the Future Gadget Laboratory, where he makes inventions that are pretty useless in general. Through sheer circumstance, one of these inventions is found to be able to send messages back in time, effectively changing the present and future by jumping to another worldline. Unlike most visual novel protagonists, Okabe isn't a stupid bland dude you can use as a self-insert; he's a fully developed character from the get go and the VN honestly would not work as well without his personality. In my eyes, after reading through the game multiple times, I think Steins;Gate is the perfect example for someone trying to get into visual novels having already tried the pseudo ones such as Zero Escape and Phoenix Wright games. It hooks you in from the get-go with a very interesting prologue, and though some of the early chapters can be rather long, there is a certain point where there's no way you're putting it down until you see the end. When I said I read through the entire thing in a week, the last four chapters were done in a day. There simply was no reason for me to put my Vita down to stop, and I even had it in the charger during this time so I could read without waiting. I've bought every SciAdv title since reading through this one, and Steins;Gate 0 made it on this list while Chaos;Child slightly missed it. Unfortunately, I'm still reading through Robotics;Notes as it also suffers from the "interesting hook but slow start" that all Science Adventure games seem to have. I'm not sure that Mages and 5pb will ever be able to top this game's quality ever, in any of their releases. They're certainly not giving up, as there's another Steins title in development and I'll definitely pick it up if it ever gets localized over here. I own both the spinoffs, Darling of Loving Vows and Linear Bound Phenogram but for some reason have not started either of them. I feel that reading 0 was probably necessary as it expanded the plot, but I feel like the story of Steins;Gate is perfect as it is, and needs no changes. It was a very special visual novel from beginning to end, and deserves all the praise it gets. El Psy Kongroo Soundtrack Links Sky Clad Observer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2LDC0sTsEQ --- http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif azuarc may not know the strength of songs in VGMC, but he conquered the guru in Game of the Decade 2! Congrats! <cite>Arti posted [p:951424818] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>#5 - Steins;Gate (Vita, 2015) This is the choice of Steins Gate. Steins;Gate is the perfect example of games that I somehow end up impulse buying that end up being the best games I have ever purchased (there's one more of those on this list up ahead.) In 2016, I was unemployed for the entire year so I had a good look at many video games during this period, and I also had a trophy streak going on. Steins;Gate happened to be a good candidate for the daily streak with a number of random trophies like "change phone ringtone" and stuff, so I used it like this for about a week, saying that I would probably go back to it later and see how the game actually was. Ended up reading the entire visual novel in less than a week. Steins;Gate's main character is Rintaro Okabe, a self proclaimed mad scientist who is the head of the Future Gadget Laboratory, where he makes inventions that are pretty useless in general. Through sheer circumstance, one of these inventions is found to be able to send messages back in time, effectively changing the present and future by jumping to another worldline. Unlike most visual novel protagonists, Okabe isn't a stupid bland dude you can use as a self-insert; he's a fully developed character from the get go and the VN honestly would not work as well without his personality. In my eyes, after reading through the game multiple times, I think Steins;Gate is the perfect example for someone trying to get into visual novels having already tried the pseudo ones such as Zero Escape and Phoenix Wright games. It hooks you in from the get-go with a very interesting prologue, and though some of the early chapters can be rather long, there is a certain point where there's no way you're putting it down until you see the end. When I said I read through the entire thing in a week, the last four chapters were done in a day. There simply was no reason for me to put my Vita down to stop, and I even had it in the charger during this time so I could read without waiting. I've bought every SciAdv title since reading through this one, and Steins;Gate 0 made it on this list while Chaos;Child slightly missed it. Unfortunately, I'm still reading through Robotics;Notes as it also suffers from the "interesting hook but slow start" that all Science Adventure games seem to have. I'm not sure that Mages and 5pb will ever be able to top this game's quality ever, in any of their releases. They're certainly not giving up, as there's another Steins title in development and I'll definitely pick it up if it ever gets localized over here. I own both the spinoffs, Darling of Loving Vows and Linear Bound Phenogram but for some reason have not started either of them. I feel that reading 0 was probably necessary as it expanded the plot, but I feel like the story of Steins;Gate is perfect as it is, and needs no changes. It was a very special visual novel from beginning to end, and deserves all the praise it gets. El Psy Kongroo Soundtrack Links Sky Clad Observer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2LDC0sTsEQ </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
CherryCokes 03/06/21 8:52:05 PM #79:	09. Pikmin 3/Deluxe (Wii U, 2103/Switch, 2020) Those of you whove kept up with this topic series might have noticed Pikmin and Pikmin 2 earlier in my list and assumed, understandably, that that was it. Not so! Pikmin 3 Deluxe, released late last year, is the peak of the series to date, but even before that, I think I probably would have ranked Pikmin 3 in the top 20. Deluxe is, I think, the definitive Pikmin experience thus far. The Wii U version was clever, and offered some really remarkable improvements and exciting new concepts over its predecessor. The Wii U gamepad acted as a tactical second screen, giving you a touchscreen map to move your three captains, Alph, Brittany, and Charlie, around to different objectives with their squads of Pikmin, while you switched between actively controlling them and passively having them complete tasks. Sometimes, you had to bring the captains together for puzzles that required throwing the captains themselves like Pikmin. Other times you had to intentionally split them up to fight roving enemies or to get more accomplished in a given day, all in pursuit of two goals: fruit to sustain your lives, and a mysterious spaceman named Olimar, who seems to have vanished from this strange planet some time before the campaign begins. The Switch version loses the second screen feature, but gains a lot in QOL upgrades in gameplay, plus co-op, and a new Olimar side story that fills in some of the story between Pikmin 2 and 3. It is the most fluid, beautiful, sharpest controlled entry in the series. It truly is an upgrade worth the Deluxe appellation. The great thing about the game, though, is that its difficulty level and learning curve are not dictated so much by the game itself as it is by the person playing. As long as you pick up enough fruit to stay alive, which is incredibly easy, you can take as leisurely or measured an approach as you want. If youre experienced with Pikmin, you can push the tempo pretty aggressively; its possible to 100% the game in as quick as 10 in-game days. If youre a savant, theres harder difficulties in Deluxe for your subsequent runs, and there are challenge modes that offer a pretty significant test of your Pikmin management skills. A gamer of any skill can dive into this game, at this point in the series, whether or not they have ever played a Pikmin game before, and be challenged and thrilled by the experience. Thats a really tight needle to thread and the Pikmin dev team absolutely nailed it here. As a long-time Pikmin fan, this game presents some of the most fantastical environments, most interesting challenges, and introduces new Pikmin - pink fliers and rock guys who cant grab enemies but can smash glass and do heavy impact damage - and an entire ships worth of likeable and interesting new captains in one fell swoop. It presents more of everything thats satisfying and fun about Pikmin - a surprising depth of strategy, collecting treasures, harrowing boss fights, and beautiful visuals and sound design - while also expanding the games universe in ways that make total sense. Its an incredible experience, and I cant recommend it enough. --- The Thighmaster <cite>CherryCokes posted [p:951425407] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>09. Pikmin 3/Deluxe (Wii U, 2103/Switch, 2020) Those of you whove kept up with this topic series might have noticed Pikmin and Pikmin 2 earlier in my list and assumed, understandably, that that was it. Not so! Pikmin 3 Deluxe, released late last year, is the peak of the series to date, but even before that, I think I probably would have ranked Pikmin 3 in the top 20. Deluxe is, I think, the definitive Pikmin experience thus far. The Wii U version was clever, and offered some really remarkable improvements and exciting new concepts over its predecessor. The Wii U gamepad acted as a tactical second screen, giving you a touchscreen map to move your three captains, Alph, Brittany, and Charlie, around to different objectives with their squads of Pikmin, while you switched between actively controlling them and passively having them complete tasks. Sometimes, you had to bring the captains together for puzzles that required throwing the captains themselves like Pikmin. Other times you had to intentionally split them up to fight roving enemies or to get more accomplished in a given day, all in pursuit of two goals: fruit to sustain your lives, and a mysterious spaceman named Olimar, who seems to have vanished from this strange planet some time before the campaign begins. The Switch version loses the second screen feature, but gains a lot in QOL upgrades in gameplay, plus co-op, and a new Olimar side story that fills in some of the story between Pikmin 2 and 3. It is the most fluid, beautiful, sharpest controlled entry in the series. It truly is an upgrade worth the Deluxe appellation. The great thing about the game, though, is that its difficulty level and learning curve are not dictated so much by the game itself as it is by the person playing. As long as you pick up enough fruit to stay alive, which is incredibly easy, you can take as leisurely or measured an approach as you want. If youre experienced with Pikmin, you can push the tempo pretty aggressively; its possible to 100% the game in as quick as 10 in-game days. If youre a savant, theres harder difficulties in Deluxe for your subsequent runs, and there are challenge modes that offer a pretty significant test of your Pikmin management skills. A gamer of any skill can dive into this game, at this point in the series, whether or not they have ever played a Pikmin game before, and be challenged and thrilled by the experience. Thats a really tight needle to thread and the Pikmin dev team absolutely nailed it here. As a long-time Pikmin fan, this game presents some of the most fantastical environments, most interesting challenges, and introduces new Pikmin - pink fliers and rock guys who cant grab enemies but can smash glass and do heavy impact damage - and an entire ships worth of likeable and interesting new captains in one fell swoop. It presents more of everything thats satisfying and fun about Pikmin - a surprising depth of strategy, collecting treasures, harrowing boss fights, and beautiful visuals and sound design - while also expanding the games universe in ways that make total sense. Its an incredible experience, and I cant recommend it enough. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Whiskey_Nick 03/07/21 10:47:44 AM #80:	#4. Final Fantasy V (SNES, 1992) God I love the job system. I first played this in a very poorly translated rom. Then I played it on PS1 in a glitchy port that had save bug issues. Then I played it on GBA and I think I experienced it how I was meant to finally. Thing is I loved each experience. FFV is a game you can play so many ways. While having less characters, it has way more in the sense that you can customize them a great many ways. In fact there is an entire community based around this that raises money for charity in the Four Job Fiesta. I believe Nee mentioned this already, or someone did. Anyway for that you can play however you want or select some preset job sets, or go full random. Also mentioned before is the 99 floor dungeon RNG hack which I spent an entire summer with. I just love how you can play this game so many ways. Every job is valid, short of Berserker which is just an lol gimmick. I forgot to mention songs in FFXI's write up, as it is a top 5 all time video game OST for me with Chrono Cross, FF9 and two more games to come. FFXI has some killer tracks like Gustaberg, Zi Tah and Selbina. Now why I mention that here. FFV is not a top 5 OST for me, but it does feature the all time best video game song. Battle on the Big Bridge. Often called Clash on the Big Bridge. It alongside MM2 Wily Stage 1, top 2 songs all time for me. Enjoy this remix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVGDde40x7A And this remix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZdFVr2gAC4 Also this remix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHbYIbleQP8 Oh and the original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dghlAQDQneU Now that I have jammed out to that for over an hour, perhaps I can finish this write up. Bartz is a great main character generic do gooder. Galuf is a fun old man type. Lenna is very forgettable other than Bartz wants some of that. Faris is a cool pirate and the gender stuff was pretty nifty for 1992. Krile exists. Boko is the Boko. Ride him. Enjoy Mambo De Chocobo when you meet his Black cousin who is purple for some reason. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gq-uEtyQ2U Blue Mage > Summoner > Ninja (Dat Duel Wield) > Time Mage (METEO!) > Samurai (Gil Toss) > Ranger (Oh man 4x Shot) > Mystic Knight > Black Mage > Mime > Dancer > White Mage > Geomancer > Bard > Monk > Thief (fast run on map) > Dragoon > Red Mage > Beastmaster > Knight > Chemist > Berserker GBA added Necromancer, Cannoneer, Gladiator and Oracle which I won't rank because I didn't spend nearly as much time with them. --- I am Nick. Go Sens, Bills, Blue Jays! UotY 2015, You should listen to The Show w/ Ngamer and Yoblazer <cite>Whiskey_Nick posted [p:951441200] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>#4. Final Fantasy V (SNES, 1992) God I love the job system. I first played this in a very poorly translated rom. Then I played it on PS1 in a glitchy port that had save bug issues. Then I played it on GBA and I think I experienced it how I was meant to finally. Thing is I loved each experience. FFV is a game you can play so many ways. While having less characters, it has way more in the sense that you can customize them a great many ways. In fact there is an entire community based around this that raises money for charity in the Four Job Fiesta. I believe Nee mentioned this already, or someone did. Anyway for that you can play however you want or select some preset job sets, or go full random. Also mentioned before is the 99 floor dungeon RNG hack which I spent an entire summer with. I just love how you can play this game so many ways. Every job is valid, short of Berserker which is just an lol gimmick. I forgot to mention songs in FFXI's write up, as it is a top 5 all time video game OST for me with Chrono Cross, FF9 and two more games to come. FFXI has some killer tracks like Gustaberg, Zi Tah and Selbina. Now why I mention that here. FFV is not a top 5 OST for me, but it does feature the all time best video game song. Battle on the Big Bridge. Often called Clash on the Big Bridge. It alongside MM2 Wily Stage 1, top 2 songs all time for me. Enjoy this remix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVGDde40x7A And this remix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZdFVr2gAC4 Also this remix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHbYIbleQP8 Oh and the original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dghlAQDQneU Now that I have jammed out to that for over an hour, perhaps I can finish this write up. Bartz is a great main character generic do gooder. Galuf is a fun old man type. Lenna is very forgettable other than Bartz wants some of that. Faris is a cool pirate and the gender stuff was pretty nifty for 1992. Krile exists. Boko is the Boko. Ride him. Enjoy Mambo De Chocobo when you meet his Black cousin who is purple for some reason. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gq-uEtyQ2U Blue Mage > Summoner > Ninja (Dat Duel Wield) > Time Mage (METEO!) > Samurai (Gil Toss) > Ranger (Oh man 4x Shot) > Mystic Knight > Black Mage > Mime > Dancer > White Mage > Geomancer > Bard > Monk > Thief (fast run on map) > Dragoon > Red Mage > Beastmaster > Knight > Chemist > Berserker GBA added Necromancer, Cannoneer, Gladiator and Oracle which I won't rank because I didn't spend nearly as much time with them. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Eddv 03/07/21 11:52:07 AM #81:	5.) Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis (PS2, 2007) I love this game to bits - when everyone else was ranting and raving about the persona series, I personally got completely drawn into this entirely different game about school life with social link style bonding events with your teammates and moody backstories for most of the characters. I did not know at the time that this game was a successor to Atelier Iris and the Alchemy series. In fact when I had first seen it I mainly was interested because I thought with the word "mana" it might be related to the mana series. It is still a lot more light than persona, which is probably the reason I liked it so much. You play this game as Vayne, a young boy who doesn't remember too terribly much about his past, just that he is a budding alchemist who has a talking cat as a familiar. He is approached by the principal of Al-Revis academy and told to enroll in the school and, having no reason not, he does. While there he is sorted into a class with some memorable characters - Nikki who is a boy-crazed catwoman who wants to be in a rock band, and Jessica, a sickly girl who is most consumed with her alchemy studies (in a normal alchemy game she would have been the protagonist). As you go along you recruit a ghost woman, a man who fancies himself a hero of justice, a young very-intense sword woman, a guy who may as well be the rival from any card game anime and of course a space alien who somehow ends up involved with your class. You can build up your relationship with each and as you do you find out more about each of them - Catpeople have pretty short lifespans so Nikki's boy-crazy ways are biologically driven and make her quite unhappy and she still wants to be a star so she tries dragging you into that, Annas illness has rendered her physically weak and she seeks a cure, Vayne and Anna wrap you up in their psychosis and of course the ghost wants to unravel what happened to her. The thing I appreciate most is how not every relationship ends up romantic - and in fact is even lampshaded somewhat in Anna's ending, where Vayne attempts to romance her and she's too much concerned with her sword studies to even really want Vayne around as anything but a friend and training partner. You end up forming a super hero duo with Vayne and i'm stll not sure what to make of the alien ending. Of course if you do just want traditional romance, well you have Nikki and Jessica. The cast is just so vibrant and zany and is probably my favorite part of the game Probably my favorite mechanic in the game is the grow-book. It's similar to the sphere grid system in some ways. You go into the book and spend points to learn new recipes and as you make the items involved, you grow the characters stats. This gives you a good reason to make the most of your time in the laboratory so you can develop as much as possible. There are other reasons to do this as well, as fine-tuning your equipment and your expendable weapons is a major source of making your own life easier in this game. The intense customization is matched and surpassed by later alchemy games but I enjoy the way the whole puzzle fits together here the most. The battle system is in the same general style as FFX with a couple exceptions. Your support character can swap in when you die automatically and each character has some pretty intense areas of specialization. The card guy can manipulate the turn order cards directly, the sword girl is SO FAST she can just give herself extra turns, The ghost girl doesn't stay dead, she just self-revives after a turn or two. And the special abilities are all generally visually pleasing such as this: And then there is the music which is the guitar heavy gust, not the weird instrument heavy gust and gave me the song I pushed for years in VGMC, Nefertiti: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2guiRH2FsSk The game has a sequel, which I still enjoy and would have ranked somewhere in the 40s but it goes just a little TOO hard at the zany, not achieving the perfect balance of this entry. --- Board 8's Voice of Reason https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy <cite>Eddv posted [p:951443008] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>5.) Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis (PS2, 2007) I love this game to bits - when everyone else was ranting and raving about the persona series, I personally got completely drawn into this entirely different game about school life with social link style bonding events with your teammates and moody backstories for most of the characters. I did not know at the time that this game was a successor to Atelier Iris and the Alchemy series. In fact when I had first seen it I mainly was interested because I thought with the word "mana" it might be related to the mana series. It is still a lot more light than persona, which is probably the reason I liked it so much. You play this game as Vayne, a young boy who doesn't remember too terribly much about his past, just that he is a budding alchemist who has a talking cat as a familiar. He is approached by the principal of Al-Revis academy and told to enroll in the school and, having no reason not, he does. While there he is sorted into a class with some memorable characters - Nikki who is a boy-crazed catwoman who wants to be in a rock band, and Jessica, a sickly girl who is most consumed with her alchemy studies (in a normal alchemy game she would have been the protagonist). As you go along you recruit a ghost woman, a man who fancies himself a hero of justice, a young very-intense sword woman, a guy who may as well be the rival from any card game anime and of course a space alien who somehow ends up involved with your class. You can build up your relationship with each and as you do you find out more about each of them - Catpeople have pretty short lifespans so Nikki's boy-crazy ways are biologically driven and make her quite unhappy and she still wants to be a star so she tries dragging you into that, Annas illness has rendered her physically weak and she seeks a cure, Vayne and Anna wrap you up in their psychosis and of course the ghost wants to unravel what happened to her. The thing I appreciate most is how not every relationship ends up romantic - and in fact is even lampshaded somewhat in Anna's ending, where Vayne attempts to romance her and she's too much concerned with her sword studies to even really want Vayne around as anything but a friend and training partner. You end up forming a super hero duo with Vayne and i'm stll not sure what to make of the alien ending. Of course if you do just want traditional romance, well you have Nikki and Jessica. The cast is just so vibrant and zany and is probably my favorite part of the game Probably my favorite mechanic in the game is the grow-book. It's similar to the sphere grid system in some ways. You go into the book and spend points to learn new recipes and as you make the items involved, you grow the characters stats. This gives you a good reason to make the most of your time in the laboratory so you can develop as much as possible. There are other reasons to do this as well, as fine-tuning your equipment and your expendable weapons is a major source of making your own life easier in this game. The intense customization is matched and surpassed by later alchemy games but I enjoy the way the whole puzzle fits together here the most. The battle system is in the same general style as FFX with a couple exceptions. Your support character can swap in when you die automatically and each character has some pretty intense areas of specialization. The card guy can manipulate the turn order cards directly, the sword girl is SO FAST she can just give herself extra turns, The ghost girl doesn't stay dead, she just self-revives after a turn or two. And the special abilities are all generally visually pleasing such as this: And then there is the music which is the guitar heavy gust, not the weird instrument heavy gust and gave me the song I pushed for years in VGMC, Nefertiti: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2guiRH2FsSk The game has a sequel, which I still enjoy and would have ranked somewhere in the 40s but it goes just a little TOO hard at the zany, not achieving the perfect balance of this entry. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Bartzyx 03/07/21 12:22:25 PM #82:	#1 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: 1621 (=) #2 Super Mario Odyssey: 1582 (=) #3 Uncharted 2: Among Thieves: 1383 (+8) #4 Pokemon RBY: 1303 (-1) #5 Final Fantasy V: 1266 (+23) #6 Final Fantasy X: 1186 (-2) #7 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past: 1180 (-2) #8 Super Smash Bros. Melee: 1168 (-2) #9 Borderlands 2: 1043 (-2) #10 Mother 3: 1032 (-2) #11 Jackbox Party Pack: 980 (-2) #12 Mario Kart 8: 913 (-2) #13 Metroid: Zero Mission: 900 (-1) #14 Final Fantasy IV: 881 (-1) #15 Castlevania: Symphony of the Night: 877 (-1) #16 Super Mario RPG: 867 (-1) #17 Pokemon GSC: 858 (-1) #18 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: 845 (-1) #19 Super Mario 3D World: 839 (-1) #20 The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker: 834 (-1) #21 Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door: 832 (-1) #22 Mega Man 3: 828 (-1) #23 The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening: 815 (-1) #24 Super Mario Bros. 3: 805 (+103) #25 Uncharted 4: A Thief's End: 793 (-2) #26 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: 791 (-2) #27 Final Fantasy Tactics: 772 (-2) #28 Chrono Trigger: 769 (-2) #29 The Last of Us: 760 (-2) #30 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2: 741 (-1) #31 Fallout 3: 731 (-1) #31 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: 731 (-1) #33 Dragon Quest VIII: 727 (-1) #34 Kirby Super Star Ultra: 724 (-1) #35 Steins;Gate: 718 (+197) #36 Final Fantasy VI: 713 (-2) #37 Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony: 710 (-2) #38 Virtue's Last Reward: 698 (-2) #39 Pokemon Puzzle League: 697 (-2) #40 Yoshi's Island: 690 (-2) #41 Super Mario 64: 688 (-2) #42 Mega Man 2: 679 (-2) #43 Resident Evil 4: 677 (-2) #43 Paper Mario: 677 (-2) #45 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice: 674 (-2) #46 Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair: 666 (-2) #47 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations: 649 (-2) #48 Rock Band 2: 647 (-2) #49 Super Mario Galaxy: 618 (-2) #50 Seiken Densetsu 3: 610 (-2) #51 Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal: 600 (-2) #52 Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3: 594 (-2) #53 Elite Beat Agents: 577 (-2) #54 Bioshock: 575 (-2) #55 Disgaea: Hour of Darkness: 574 (-2) #56 Valkyria Chronicles: 567 (-2) #57 Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective: 560 (+489) #58 Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising: 550 (-3) #59 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: 547 (-3) #60 Grand Theft Auto: Vice City: 546 (-3) #61 Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call: 543 (-3) #62 Chrono Cross: 541 (-3) #63 Dance Dance Revolution: 540 (-3) #64 Undertale: 538 (-3) #65 The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds: 530 (-3) #65 Sonic the Hedgehog 2: 530 (-3) #67 Pikmin 3: 528 (+349) --- At least your mother tipped well <cite>Bartzyx posted [p:951443814] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>#1 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: 1621 (=) #2 Super Mario Odyssey: 1582 (=) #3 Uncharted 2: Among Thieves: 1383 (+8) #4 Pokemon RBY: 1303 (-1) #5 Final Fantasy V: 1266 (+23) #6 Final Fantasy X: 1186 (-2) #7 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past: 1180 (-2) #8 Super Smash Bros. Melee: 1168 (-2) #9 Borderlands 2: 1043 (-2) #10 Mother 3: 1032 (-2) #11 Jackbox Party Pack: 980 (-2) #12 Mario Kart 8: 913 (-2) #13 Metroid: Zero Mission: 900 (-1) #14 Final Fantasy IV: 881 (-1) #15 Castlevania: Symphony of the Night: 877 (-1) #16 Super Mario RPG: 867 (-1) #17 Pokemon GSC: 858 (-1) #18 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: 845 (-1) #19 Super Mario 3D World: 839 (-1) #20 The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker: 834 (-1) #21 Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door: 832 (-1) #22 Mega Man 3: 828 (-1) #23 The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening: 815 (-1) #24 Super Mario Bros. 3: 805 (+103) #25 Uncharted 4: A Thief's End: 793 (-2) #26 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: 791 (-2) #27 Final Fantasy Tactics: 772 (-2) #28 Chrono Trigger: 769 (-2) #29 The Last of Us: 760 (-2) #30 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2: 741 (-1) #31 Fallout 3: 731 (-1) #31 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: 731 (-1) #33 Dragon Quest VIII: 727 (-1) #34 Kirby Super Star Ultra: 724 (-1) #35 Steins;Gate: 718 (+197) #36 Final Fantasy VI: 713 (-2) #37 Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony: 710 (-2) #38 Virtue's Last Reward: 698 (-2) #39 Pokemon Puzzle League: 697 (-2) #40 Yoshi's Island: 690 (-2) #41 Super Mario 64: 688 (-2) #42 Mega Man 2: 679 (-2) #43 Resident Evil 4: 677 (-2) #43 Paper Mario: 677 (-2) #45 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice: 674 (-2) #46 Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair: 666 (-2) #47 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations: 649 (-2) #48 Rock Band 2: 647 (-2) #49 Super Mario Galaxy: 618 (-2) #50 Seiken Densetsu 3: 610 (-2) #51 Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal: 600 (-2) #52 Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3: 594 (-2) #53 Elite Beat Agents: 577 (-2) #54 Bioshock: 575 (-2) #55 Disgaea: Hour of Darkness: 574 (-2) #56 Valkyria Chronicles: 567 (-2) #57 Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective: 560 (+489) #58 Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising: 550 (-3) #59 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: 547 (-3) #60 Grand Theft Auto: Vice City: 546 (-3) #61 Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call: 543 (-3) #62 Chrono Cross: 541 (-3) #63 Dance Dance Revolution: 540 (-3) #64 Undertale: 538 (-3) #65 The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds: 530 (-3) #65 Sonic the Hedgehog 2: 530 (-3) #67 Pikmin 3: 528 (+349) </quote> ... 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MrSmartGuy 03/07/21 12:33:12 PM #83:	#4 - F-Zero GX (GCN, my GotY for 2003) A vast majority of the games in my top 20 are made with the intention of playing through it once, maybe twice to see some extra easter eggs and scenes you missed the first time around, so you can enjoy a nice story. F-Zero GX is most certainly the specialest of exceptions. I could boot up and play this game any time, anywhere, whether with people or just by myself, and have an absolute blast, guaranteed. Its amazing that this game existed back in the early 2000s, or that its predecessor on the N64 existed even before that. A game that allowed 30 racers all on screen at once was completely unheard of back then, and is still extremely rare today. However, I feel like F-Zero X was more of a test run of what the series could possibly do. Maybe its just a sign that I didn't possess the right skillset back in my early teens for a racer that required the most technical movements and absolute quickest of reflexes, but I could never quite grasp how to succeed at it. Most of my time spent playing it was dedicated to the Death Race, which tasked you with killing every single one of your 29 adversaries as quickly as you could. For having such a grim title, it was a pretty chill mode. It didnt have a time limit, so I just honed my skills over and over. It didnt make me a better racer for the rest of the game, but it sure made me a more sadistic driver. But I was ready when the series came back in 2003. I was ready to push my skills and patience to its limits. Just kidding, I still fucking sucked at video games back then and I couldnt beat Chapter 7 of the story mode or the second-to-hardest difficulty Grand Prix. I enjoyed my time with the main game modes, though. F-Zero was going to make a fan of me yet. It actually wasnt until after I graduated high school that I would finally be able to master this game fully. And I dont say those words lightly; you have to master this game in order to beat everything it has to offer. The longer we go without another F-Zero game, the more I fall in love with this one. I go back to play through it all nowadays every 2 or 3 years. Starting with the default 30 and unlocking all the create-a-ship parts and new drivers is so satisfying. Having to buy new story chapters when the previous chapter didnt give you enough credits to do so is not so satisfying, but whatever. The game controls like an absolute dream and runs at a constant 60 FPS. Every time you fuck up in it can entirely be attributed to something you did wrong. Well, I guess there are times where the course dips in and youre driving too fast and fly off the track, and that might feel a bit unfair, but other than that, its all on you. The hitboxes are great for both the cars and the track. Ive never felt like Ive driven a perfect race and didnt win. Yes, Chapter 7 literally makes you drive a perfect race for 5 whole laps, but it can be done, as evidenced by the time I streamed it last year: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/650447651 There isnt much else to say. Its a racing game where the racing itself feels miles ahead of anything else ever made. If there was one more thing I had to add, its how fucking goofy the story is. It just constantly hams up Captain Falcon being this amazing driver and bounty hunter, and hes trying to save the city from the evil Black Shadow, but he keeps getting wrapped up in these crazy hijinks. And the songs that play in the background are the most cheezy fucking songs Ive ever heard. These are actual lyrics to the song after you beat the story: When myopic confusion threatens your lunch Falcon will be unleashing a Falcon Punch. Thank heavens hes on the right side Or else thered be nowhere to hide. Give it up for the Capitn! Three cheers for the Falcon! I dont know what the fuck these lyrics are doing in this game, but I love how dumb they are. And every single one of the 40 racers in the game get their own theme song. They literally never play during the course of the actual game. You have to go to their profile and play them there. Some just feel like throwaway tracks, but a few of them are really good. Its very bizarre to me that theyd put in all the effort to do something like this and never showcase it in-game, but its still a welcome addition. Can we please get another F-Zero game? Please? Nintendo why have you forsaken us? Just some GX Online would be killer. Actually, maybe not, given their track record with online services. Its already bad enough with 4 players in Smash, I can only imagine how god awful a race with 30 players would be like. But I still want more, dammit! --- Xbox GT/PSN name/Nintendo ID: TatteredUniform http://www.scuffletown.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/tRBE1.gif <cite>MrSmartGuy posted [p:951444144] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>#4 - F-Zero GX (GCN, my GotY for 2003) A vast majority of the games in my top 20 are made with the intention of playing through it once, maybe twice to see some extra easter eggs and scenes you missed the first time around, so you can enjoy a nice story. F-Zero GX is most certainly the specialest of exceptions. I could boot up and play this game any time, anywhere, whether with people or just by myself, and have an absolute blast, guaranteed. Its amazing that this game existed back in the early 2000s, or that its predecessor on the N64 existed even before that. A game that allowed 30 racers all on screen at once was completely unheard of back then, and is still extremely rare today. However, I feel like F-Zero X was more of a test run of what the series could possibly do. Maybe its just a sign that I didn't possess the right skillset back in my early teens for a racer that required the most technical movements and absolute quickest of reflexes, but I could never quite grasp how to succeed at it. Most of my time spent playing it was dedicated to the Death Race, which tasked you with killing every single one of your 29 adversaries as quickly as you could. For having such a grim title, it was a pretty chill mode. It didnt have a time limit, so I just honed my skills over and over. It didnt make me a better racer for the rest of the game, but it sure made me a more sadistic driver. But I was ready when the series came back in 2003. I was ready to push my skills and patience to its limits. Just kidding, I still fucking sucked at video games back then and I couldnt beat Chapter 7 of the story mode or the second-to-hardest difficulty Grand Prix. I enjoyed my time with the main game modes, though. F-Zero was going to make a fan of me yet. It actually wasnt until after I graduated high school that I would finally be able to master this game fully. And I dont say those words lightly; you have to master this game in order to beat everything it has to offer. The longer we go without another F-Zero game, the more I fall in love with this one. I go back to play through it all nowadays every 2 or 3 years. Starting with the default 30 and unlocking all the create-a-ship parts and new drivers is so satisfying. Having to buy new story chapters when the previous chapter didnt give you enough credits to do so is not so satisfying, but whatever. The game controls like an absolute dream and runs at a constant 60 FPS. Every time you fuck up in it can entirely be attributed to something you did wrong. Well, I guess there are times where the course dips in and youre driving too fast and fly off the track, and that might feel a bit unfair, but other than that, its all on you. The hitboxes are great for both the cars and the track. Ive never felt like Ive driven a perfect race and didnt win. Yes, Chapter 7 literally makes you drive a perfect race for 5 whole laps, but it can be done, as evidenced by the time I streamed it last year: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/650447651 There isnt much else to say. Its a racing game where the racing itself feels miles ahead of anything else ever made. If there was one more thing I had to add, its how fucking goofy the story is. It just constantly hams up Captain Falcon being this amazing driver and bounty hunter, and hes trying to save the city from the evil Black Shadow, but he keeps getting wrapped up in these crazy hijinks. And the songs that play in the background are the most cheezy fucking songs Ive ever heard. These are actual lyrics to the song after you beat the story: When myopic confusion threatens your lunch Falcon will be unleashing a Falcon Punch. Thank heavens hes on the right side Or else thered be nowhere to hide. Give it up for the Capitn! Three cheers for the Falcon! I dont know what the fuck these lyrics are doing in this game, but I love how dumb they are. And every single one of the 40 racers in the game get their own theme song. They literally never play during the course of the actual game. You have to go to their profile and play them there. Some just feel like throwaway tracks, but a few of them are really good. Its very bizarre to me that theyd put in all the effort to do something like this and never showcase it in-game, but its still a welcome addition. Can we please get another F-Zero game? Please? Nintendo why have you forsaken us? Just some GX Online would be killer. Actually, maybe not, given their track record with online services. Its already bad enough with 4 players in Smash, I can only imagine how god awful a race with 30 players would be like. But I still want more, dammit! </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Eddv 03/07/21 7:54:00 PM #84:	4.) Phantasy Star IV (Genesis, 1995) Alys Brangwin is quite possibly the best JRPG protagonist that there has even been or ever will be. And its her incredible performance that has always anchored this game for me. She's tough and isn't there to be eye-candy (scene dedicated to a shady information dealer selling her measurements aside) and she tosses all the boomerangs. She is the anchor of one of my favorite JRPG casts of all time - the plucky Chase, who is Alys assistant and partner as a monster hunter, the timid but determined Han, a scientist who needs to know what happened to his mentor and is willing to endure all manner of harassment from Alys to find the answer, Rune, a cocky practitioner of the lost art of Magic, Rika the naive and energetic beast girl whose past is a mystery and a few other characters whose whole deals involve getting into some heavier spoilers for the game. Probably the thing that stands out most about the game is just how ahead of its time it is in all sorts of ways. This is before cutscenes were a thing, but every major story scene instead goes into manga style panels in order to up the sense of cinema in ways that would become standard in the video game generation that would come in the PSX and PS2. The game had various combination techniques that were possible. In every JRPG you end up with your standard set of things you do on a given turn - this game allowed you to program those turns a Macros to save you some time. Everything about it was so forward thinking and smooth. Your more powerful abilities were usable X number of times per day, except for rune who since he actually uses magic has MP instead. The game is truly epic - it seeks to wrap up the overall story arc that begins in Phantasy Star 2 to truly end the series in a definitive way. This causes you to planet hop from place to place as the game goes on and you find the truth behind Dark Force and how to put an end to it for good as opposed to merely surviving it as you did in Phantasy Star 1 2 and 3. And in the end, that truly was it for the JRPG series version of Phantasy Star. The concept of the hunter guild from this game ended up going on to form the basis for the new Phantasy Star Online series and those games are...well theyre fine, but they'll never be what this game was. This game is truly great. It's one of the best constructed games I can think of. The plot is finely tuned, the gameplay has surprising depth to it, the visual style is truly its own. The plot goes a little bit into the Japan Dumb side of things but to and extent I find pleasing as opposed to off putting. And of course finally the music, is probably the games weakpoint overall, but man does it make some sick use of the genesis bass chords check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMplusdva5k Fuck yeah --- Board 8's Voice of Reason https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy <cite>Eddv posted [p:951457934] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>4.) Phantasy Star IV (Genesis, 1995) Alys Brangwin is quite possibly the best JRPG protagonist that there has even been or ever will be. And its her incredible performance that has always anchored this game for me. She's tough and isn't there to be eye-candy (scene dedicated to a shady information dealer selling her measurements aside) and she tosses all the boomerangs. She is the anchor of one of my favorite JRPG casts of all time - the plucky Chase, who is Alys assistant and partner as a monster hunter, the timid but determined Han, a scientist who needs to know what happened to his mentor and is willing to endure all manner of harassment from Alys to find the answer, Rune, a cocky practitioner of the lost art of Magic, Rika the naive and energetic beast girl whose past is a mystery and a few other characters whose whole deals involve getting into some heavier spoilers for the game. Probably the thing that stands out most about the game is just how ahead of its time it is in all sorts of ways. This is before cutscenes were a thing, but every major story scene instead goes into manga style panels in order to up the sense of cinema in ways that would become standard in the video game generation that would come in the PSX and PS2. The game had various combination techniques that were possible. In every JRPG you end up with your standard set of things you do on a given turn - this game allowed you to program those turns a Macros to save you some time. Everything about it was so forward thinking and smooth. Your more powerful abilities were usable X number of times per day, except for rune who since he actually uses magic has MP instead. The game is truly epic - it seeks to wrap up the overall story arc that begins in Phantasy Star 2 to truly end the series in a definitive way. This causes you to planet hop from place to place as the game goes on and you find the truth behind Dark Force and how to put an end to it for good as opposed to merely surviving it as you did in Phantasy Star 1 2 and 3. And in the end, that truly was it for the JRPG series version of Phantasy Star. The concept of the hunter guild from this game ended up going on to form the basis for the new Phantasy Star Online series and those games are...well theyre fine, but they'll never be what this game was. This game is truly great. It's one of the best constructed games I can think of. The plot is finely tuned, the gameplay has surprising depth to it, the visual style is truly its own. The plot goes a little bit into the Japan Dumb side of things but to and extent I find pleasing as opposed to off putting. And of course finally the music, is probably the games weakpoint overall, but man does it make some sick use of the genesis bass chords check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMplusdva5k Fuck yeah </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Bartzyx 03/07/21 9:28:56 PM #85:	#5 Super Mario World (SNES, 1991) This is peak 2D platforming. I have not found anything that comes close in 30 years now. Everything about Super Mario World is sublime: the level design, the music, sound effects, aesthetic, length, secret areas, and more. Every game of its type that I have played since has always had to be compared to this one, and nothing has measured up. And I really could leave it at that. But seeing as I ranked this game and not Super Mario Bros. 3, I thought I could speak to that decision. I think SMB3 is a great game, but it just did not make the cut for this list. And there are a number of reasons for this. First, SMB3 has a lot of levels that I do not really like. In particular, the autoscroller levels, whether they are airships or not, do not appeal to me. SMW has only a few of these, and is a better game for it. The length of the levels in SMB3 is too short for my taste. The raccoon tail is not as versatile as the cape. The Boo Houses are one of my favorite additions, and the design of those levels and the castles is beyond anything seen in SMB3. And I think most importantly, Super Mario World added the ability to go back and replay any level at any time. That was huge, and really gave an incentive to scour every level for secrets. Super Mario World has a ton of secrets, and discovering those secrets as a kid was just so exciting. Whether the Star Road entrances or the Top Secret Area or something else, I felt like I was an explorer finding things that nobody had seen before. This was all prior to the prevalence of the internet. And despite having beat it over and over, it's a game that I love coming back to and playing again. It just feels so much nicer to play than any other of the SMB games. Like I said, nothing has come close for me. --- At least your mother tipped well <cite>Bartzyx posted [p:951461060] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>#5 Super Mario World (SNES, 1991) This is peak 2D platforming. I have not found anything that comes close in 30 years now. Everything about Super Mario World is sublime: the level design, the music, sound effects, aesthetic, length, secret areas, and more. Every game of its type that I have played since has always had to be compared to this one, and nothing has measured up. And I really could leave it at that. But seeing as I ranked this game and not Super Mario Bros. 3, I thought I could speak to that decision. I think SMB3 is a great game, but it just did not make the cut for this list. And there are a number of reasons for this. First, SMB3 has a lot of levels that I do not really like. In particular, the autoscroller levels, whether they are airships or not, do not appeal to me. SMW has only a few of these, and is a better game for it. The length of the levels in SMB3 is too short for my taste. The raccoon tail is not as versatile as the cape. The Boo Houses are one of my favorite additions, and the design of those levels and the castles is beyond anything seen in SMB3. And I think most importantly, Super Mario World added the ability to go back and replay any level at any time. That was huge, and really gave an incentive to scour every level for secrets. Super Mario World has a ton of secrets, and discovering those secrets as a kid was just so exciting. Whether the Star Road entrances or the Top Secret Area or something else, I felt like I was an explorer finding things that nobody had seen before. This was all prior to the prevalence of the internet. And despite having beat it over and over, it's a game that I love coming back to and playing again. It just feels so much nicer to play than any other of the SMB games. Like I said, nothing has come close for me. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
TheKnightOfNee 03/07/21 9:37:34 PM #86:	#7. Tetris (Game Boy, 1989) Tetris got me through a lot of car trips as a kid. I know I ranked the Game Boy classics Donkey Kong '94 and Zelda: Link's Awakening earlier with a similar reason, and those got some decent play. Pokemon Red got a lot of time too. But Tetris was always the game I could pop in and just go for as long as I wanted. It was a five hour drive to see my grandparents, so whenever that trip happened, you can bet there was a decent amount of Tetris being played. Tetris was always a game I liked decently enough for the NES and Game Boy, but it wasn't among my favorites from the start. Then one summer, when I was like 12 years old, I played a game of Game Boy Tetris and got further than ever before. It felt pretty good, so the next night I played Tetris again, and I got a high score again. I ended up playing a little bit of Tetris like this every single night through the end of summer, which could've been a month, two months, I can't remember exactly. By the end, I could make it to level 18, maybe level 19 on a good day. The Game Boy and NES Tetris are a little different from each other. The Game Boy version involves quickly tapping directions to move fast to the side, because holding a direction is too slow. The NES goes faster with a held direction, but there's also some start-up time before a piece rapidly slides to the side, so you need to push the direction with good timing. I know the NES version is what the classic Tetris tournaments run now, but I always preferred that Game Boy difference as a kid. Also, the Game Boy version stops speeding up after level 20, so it's just barely manageable enough that you could keep going forever if you play well enough. Newer versions of Tetris have some changes like piece holding & delayed locking into place at the bottom, and those are nice changes. But also, T-spins and such being such a big thing in Tetris has never fully clicked with me. I just want to put blocks into lines. As such, I think I prefer the classic style of Tetris still. I also considered putting Puyo Puyo Tetris on my list, until I realized the Tetris part is what I really love. The Puyo Puyo part is fun, but I'm not nearly as fond of it or as good at it as I am Tetris. I did once win some money (and a medal!) for playing Puyo Puyo Tetris's swap mode, but that was all because of Tetris, and a nice bit of luck that worked in my favor. I still find it fun to just turn on Tetris and clear lines as fast as I can or for as long as I can. I've done it so much, that it doesn't really offer anything new these days, but also due to the nature of Tetris, it's always a new experience as I'm adapting my plans and strategy on the fly. The Tetris experience created over 30 years ago was just such a perfect idea that it remains just as fun to this day. --- ONLY FIVE CAN LADDER. Sushi, kamikaze, fujiyama, nippon-ichi... <cite>TheKnightOfNee posted [p:951461345] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>#7. Tetris (Game Boy, 1989) Tetris got me through a lot of car trips as a kid. I know I ranked the Game Boy classics Donkey Kong '94 and Zelda: Link's Awakening earlier with a similar reason, and those got some decent play. Pokemon Red got a lot of time too. But Tetris was always the game I could pop in and just go for as long as I wanted. It was a five hour drive to see my grandparents, so whenever that trip happened, you can bet there was a decent amount of Tetris being played. Tetris was always a game I liked decently enough for the NES and Game Boy, but it wasn't among my favorites from the start. Then one summer, when I was like 12 years old, I played a game of Game Boy Tetris and got further than ever before. It felt pretty good, so the next night I played Tetris again, and I got a high score again. I ended up playing a little bit of Tetris like this every single night through the end of summer, which could've been a month, two months, I can't remember exactly. By the end, I could make it to level 18, maybe level 19 on a good day. The Game Boy and NES Tetris are a little different from each other. The Game Boy version involves quickly tapping directions to move fast to the side, because holding a direction is too slow. The NES goes faster with a held direction, but there's also some start-up time before a piece rapidly slides to the side, so you need to push the direction with good timing. I know the NES version is what the classic Tetris tournaments run now, but I always preferred that Game Boy difference as a kid. Also, the Game Boy version stops speeding up after level 20, so it's just barely manageable enough that you could keep going forever if you play well enough. Newer versions of Tetris have some changes like piece holding & delayed locking into place at the bottom, and those are nice changes. But also, T-spins and such being such a big thing in Tetris has never fully clicked with me. I just want to put blocks into lines. As such, I think I prefer the classic style of Tetris still. I also considered putting Puyo Puyo Tetris on my list, until I realized the Tetris part is what I really love. The Puyo Puyo part is fun, but I'm not nearly as fond of it or as good at it as I am Tetris. I did once win some money (and a medal!) for playing Puyo Puyo Tetris's swap mode, but that was all because of Tetris, and a nice bit of luck that worked in my favor. I still find it fun to just turn on Tetris and clear lines as fast as I can or for as long as I can. I've done it so much, that it doesn't really offer anything new these days, but also due to the nature of Tetris, it's always a new experience as I'm adapting my plans and strategy on the fly. The Tetris experience created over 30 years ago was just such a perfect idea that it remains just as fun to this day. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Arti 03/07/21 9:44:50 PM #87:	#4 - 428: Shibuya Scramble (PS4, 2018) Along with Steins;Gate and Muv Luv Alternative, 428: Shibuya Scramble are the three visual novels that I've given a 10/10 rating on vndb.org, suggesting that all three of these visual novels are among the best in their genre. Of the three, I feel 428: Shibuya Scramble stands over the other two pretty easily. Instead of focusing on a single protagonist in 428, the game focuses on five protagonists that you follow through a single day in Shibuya: rookie detective Shinya Kano, former gang member Achi Endo, freelance writer Minoru Minorikawa, virus researcher Kenji Osawa, and Tama, a girl trapped in a cat mascot costume. The game begins by explaining that one of Kenji Osawa's twin daughters was kidnapped for ransom, and the kidnappers asked for her twin sister to bring the ransom to the statue of Hachiko near the Shibuya Scramble Crossing. Shinya Kano is assigned to the case and is staking out in the area, while Achi Endo ends up in the area by pure circumstance. The other protagonist eventually get their stories started and intertwined with the others, frequently appearing throughout each other's stories all the way to the end. 428 is a crime thriller from the get go, but some of the different storylines in the game crossover into other genres, like Tama's being more comedic than the others. Unlike most visual novels which use drawings for backgrounds and character art, 428 is completely live action throughout the entire game (except for a post-story unlockable), shot in Shibuya itself. The game is shown through still images, so there's no voice acting or character movement. The purpose of the game is to get all the protagonists to the end of each hour of the game through their interactions with the other protagonists - one protagonist will get some red text in their stories references someone else, which allows you to jump over to another protagonist's story, which is usually locked until this is fulfilled. Sometimes, decisions made in the early parts of one character's route can lead to a bad ending in another route. For example, one character is asked for directions from a number of shady men. If you give them the correct directions, they cause a bad ending in another character's route - so you only want to do this if you're collecting all the bad endings! I mentioned I played through most of Steins;Gate within a week. This game is much longer and I played through almost the entire game in a single weekend - clearing the last six in-game hours, all the bad endings, and all the post-game content as well. By noon in-game I was pretty much hooked and had to know what happened next. All the characters seem believable and the story really has no flaws - besides the character of Canaan, but I blame that on the Fate series writer. The game also has a mini dungeon adventure added as an easter egg in one route, which is a nice diversion from the main plot if you choose to go through it. The producer, Koichi Nakamura, has pretty much said that 428: Shibuya Scramble was not a financial success considering how much the original game cost to produce, though he has the framework for a sequel to 428 in his mind if it ever seems feasible. Which is kind of a shame because it was not exactly a genre that sells well over here, and it's only available for PS4/Steam with no handheld release, which it would be perfect for (Japan had PSP and mobile versions at some point). If you like visual novels at all, 428: Shibuya Scramble is a game not to be missed. Soundtrack Links Sekai wa Sore demo Kawari wa Shinai https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X_qh1hWUu8 Main Theme https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKQIRaAsFMw --- http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif azuarc may not know the strength of songs in VGMC, but he conquered the guru in Game of the Decade 2! Congrats! <cite>Arti posted [p:951461605] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>#4 - 428: Shibuya Scramble (PS4, 2018) Along with Steins;Gate and Muv Luv Alternative, 428: Shibuya Scramble are the three visual novels that I've given a 10/10 rating on vndb.org, suggesting that all three of these visual novels are among the best in their genre. Of the three, I feel 428: Shibuya Scramble stands over the other two pretty easily. Instead of focusing on a single protagonist in 428, the game focuses on five protagonists that you follow through a single day in Shibuya: rookie detective Shinya Kano, former gang member Achi Endo, freelance writer Minoru Minorikawa, virus researcher Kenji Osawa, and Tama, a girl trapped in a cat mascot costume. The game begins by explaining that one of Kenji Osawa's twin daughters was kidnapped for ransom, and the kidnappers asked for her twin sister to bring the ransom to the statue of Hachiko near the Shibuya Scramble Crossing. Shinya Kano is assigned to the case and is staking out in the area, while Achi Endo ends up in the area by pure circumstance. The other protagonist eventually get their stories started and intertwined with the others, frequently appearing throughout each other's stories all the way to the end. 428 is a crime thriller from the get go, but some of the different storylines in the game crossover into other genres, like Tama's being more comedic than the others. Unlike most visual novels which use drawings for backgrounds and character art, 428 is completely live action throughout the entire game (except for a post-story unlockable), shot in Shibuya itself. The game is shown through still images, so there's no voice acting or character movement. The purpose of the game is to get all the protagonists to the end of each hour of the game through their interactions with the other protagonists - one protagonist will get some red text in their stories references someone else, which allows you to jump over to another protagonist's story, which is usually locked until this is fulfilled. Sometimes, decisions made in the early parts of one character's route can lead to a bad ending in another route. For example, one character is asked for directions from a number of shady men. If you give them the correct directions, they cause a bad ending in another character's route - so you only want to do this if you're collecting all the bad endings! I mentioned I played through most of Steins;Gate within a week. This game is much longer and I played through almost the entire game in a single weekend - clearing the last six in-game hours, all the bad endings, and all the post-game content as well. By noon in-game I was pretty much hooked and had to know what happened next. All the characters seem believable and the story really has no flaws - besides the character of Canaan, but I blame that on the Fate series writer. The game also has a mini dungeon adventure added as an easter egg in one route, which is a nice diversion from the main plot if you choose to go through it. The producer, Koichi Nakamura, has pretty much said that 428: Shibuya Scramble was not a financial success considering how much the original game cost to produce, though he has the framework for a sequel to 428 in his mind if it ever seems feasible. Which is kind of a shame because it was not exactly a genre that sells well over here, and it's only available for PS4/Steam with no handheld release, which it would be perfect for (Japan had PSP and mobile versions at some point). If you like visual novels at all, 428: Shibuya Scramble is a game not to be missed. Soundtrack Links Sekai wa Sore demo Kawari wa Shinai https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X_qh1hWUu8 Main Theme https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKQIRaAsFMw </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
MrSmartGuy 03/07/21 9:49:04 PM #88:	How dare you post 428 songs and not include the best one, by far. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aps0gjMRhs --- Xbox GT/PSN name/Nintendo ID: TatteredUniform http://www.scuffletown.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/tRBE1.gif <cite>MrSmartGuy posted [p:951461743] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>How dare you post 428 songs and not include the best one, by far. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aps0gjMRhs </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
TheKnightOfNee 03/07/21 10:55:42 PM #89:	#6. Tetris Attack/Panel de Pon (SNES, 1996) I've gone back and forth on my #6 and #7 games since I started this list. I finally settled on this. I think it's pretty big change, because Tetris has always been above Tetris Attack. But I think if I really consider how I feel about the two games, this is where I'm at now. And I'm labeling this as Panel de Pon in addition to Tetris Attack, but Tetris Attack is what I first knew it as and the version I'm most often playing. I first played Tetris Attack at a Blockbuster video. They had those video game displays where you could play a game they had set up to demo. When the N64 came out, that demo setup always had a kid using it, but at that time, the store swapped their SNES demo to this new game, Tetris Attack. I ended up playing it a couple visits when I didn't want to wait for the N64 demo. And I found that the game was pretty fun, and I started wanting to jump on the SNES demo instead of N64 in future visits, even when both were open. And after enough time, I knew I needed to get a copy of this game for myself. In my Tetris writeup, I talked about getting addicted to it and playing daily for a lengthy stretch. Well, the same thing ended up happening with Tetris Attack. I was getting the hang of bigger combos, and kind of getting the hang of chains, and trying more and more difficult modes. I thought it would be one of the biggest game accomplishments if I could be the Vs. Mode on very hard with no deaths. I didn't get it as a kid, but I know I kept coming close. Fast forward to college, hanging out with my DDR friends (look, that DDR writeup of mine was a very important lore-building writeup. Please go back and read it if you haven't already. It's been referred to many times now. And spoilers for the list, this also isn't the last time it will be referred to). One of those friends in that group revealed they had played a lot of Tetris Attack as a kid, like I did. We had some very lengthy and intense battles. They were a lot of fun, but also put me on a kick to play this game more again. When Planet Puzzle League came out for the DS, I found out Tetris Attack wasn't made as some Tetris spinoff with Yoshi characters, but was the start of the Panel de Pon series (which also explained why there were Pokemon versions too). It's a series that truly has not received anywhere near the amount of love it deserves. I wish it could get new versions in some way like Tetris/Puyo Puyo so I could play online, or just get more of this in some manner. It can even be the same as a previous game, I'll buy it again, and more people will hopefully experience it and find out how fun it is. Because there isn't any new version of Panel de Pon, I almost always just go back to Tetris Attack to play it. I got a renewed interest in this version especially when I saw people speed running the vs. mode. At some point, I picked it up myself to speed run. I'm not nearly as good as the top players in the game, but I've made it through Very Hard Vs. in as fast as 9:57, which is still very good. It can be a very luck-based run, but it also holds the excitement and fun in each run. The little bit I dabbled in speed running before this often got frustrating fast, so that difference in mood I felt is why I'll try Tetris Attack every now and then. As much as Tetris is that puzzle game I can just pop in a system and play for fun on any day, Tetris Attack is actually that to a higher degree. I definitely opt to play this game more often, I've been watching streams of people playing it more often, and it even has some different modes that are fun to switch up things, keeping the Panel de Pon experience even fresher. --- ONLY FIVE CAN LADDER. Sushi, kamikaze, fujiyama, nippon-ichi... <cite>TheKnightOfNee posted [p:951463906] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>#6. Tetris Attack/Panel de Pon (SNES, 1996) I've gone back and forth on my #6 and #7 games since I started this list. I finally settled on this. I think it's pretty big change, because Tetris has always been above Tetris Attack. But I think if I really consider how I feel about the two games, this is where I'm at now. And I'm labeling this as Panel de Pon in addition to Tetris Attack, but Tetris Attack is what I first knew it as and the version I'm most often playing. I first played Tetris Attack at a Blockbuster video. They had those video game displays where you could play a game they had set up to demo. When the N64 came out, that demo setup always had a kid using it, but at that time, the store swapped their SNES demo to this new game, Tetris Attack. I ended up playing it a couple visits when I didn't want to wait for the N64 demo. And I found that the game was pretty fun, and I started wanting to jump on the SNES demo instead of N64 in future visits, even when both were open. And after enough time, I knew I needed to get a copy of this game for myself. In my Tetris writeup, I talked about getting addicted to it and playing daily for a lengthy stretch. Well, the same thing ended up happening with Tetris Attack. I was getting the hang of bigger combos, and kind of getting the hang of chains, and trying more and more difficult modes. I thought it would be one of the biggest game accomplishments if I could be the Vs. Mode on very hard with no deaths. I didn't get it as a kid, but I know I kept coming close. Fast forward to college, hanging out with my DDR friends (look, that DDR writeup of mine was a very important lore-building writeup. Please go back and read it if you haven't already. It's been referred to many times now. And spoilers for the list, this also isn't the last time it will be referred to). One of those friends in that group revealed they had played a lot of Tetris Attack as a kid, like I did. We had some very lengthy and intense battles. They were a lot of fun, but also put me on a kick to play this game more again. When Planet Puzzle League came out for the DS, I found out Tetris Attack wasn't made as some Tetris spinoff with Yoshi characters, but was the start of the Panel de Pon series (which also explained why there were Pokemon versions too). It's a series that truly has not received anywhere near the amount of love it deserves. I wish it could get new versions in some way like Tetris/Puyo Puyo so I could play online, or just get more of this in some manner. It can even be the same as a previous game, I'll buy it again, and more people will hopefully experience it and find out how fun it is. Because there isn't any new version of Panel de Pon, I almost always just go back to Tetris Attack to play it. I got a renewed interest in this version especially when I saw people speed running the vs. mode. At some point, I picked it up myself to speed run. I'm not nearly as good as the top players in the game, but I've made it through Very Hard Vs. in as fast as 9:57, which is still very good. It can be a very luck-based run, but it also holds the excitement and fun in each run. The little bit I dabbled in speed running before this often got frustrating fast, so that difference in mood I felt is why I'll try Tetris Attack every now and then. As much as Tetris is that puzzle game I can just pop in a system and play for fun on any day, Tetris Attack is actually that to a higher degree. I definitely opt to play this game more often, I've been watching streams of people playing it more often, and it even has some different modes that are fun to switch up things, keeping the Panel de Pon experience even fresher. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Whiskey_Nick 03/08/21 7:21:55 AM #90:	#3. Xenogears (PS1, 1998) I kept expecting this game to appear on someones list. Guess it isn't happening at this point so I stand alone on the Xenogears hill. This game is insanely story heavy, like there are 2 hour segments of text with no save points. That would be a huge problem except the story is excellent. The game is gorgeous sprite work with some polygon garbage from that time mixed in. This games main problem is it was too ambitious. They ran out of money before they could finish so disc 2 is pretty much just the story told in still photos and a final dungeon. So you still get the full idea, but you don't really play it. XG is part 5 of the Perfect Works Saga. I had hopes that Xenosaga was going to be part 1, and it could have been but then they abandoned that so we never see parts 1 to 4 or part 6. Just exists in literature. Xenogears should have been like an 8 disc game had they been able to do everything they wanted to do. Anyway, the actual game has cool combo based combat when you are not in a mech, and then a bad fuel based stamina system when you are in a mech. Luckily mech combat is not too often. The character based combat is way more fun. The cast is outstanding and offers a huge range of perspectives on a large holy war. This game also has a sex scene which in 1998 was not common practice on console games. Citan is my favorite character in this game. Id is second. Grahf also cool. Basically every character is great except Chuchu. A giant pink thing that seems to plague Square RPGs. Like Cait Sith. OST features so true gems. The game is very heavy on religion. Most areas are named after Jewish holy days. Story of the haves, the have nots, and the super haves that no one even knows exist. Also big on Freud. There are two dungeons in this game notorious for being awful. The sewers near the beginning, and the tower of Babil which is a platforming hell. Miss a jump and start over. --- I am Nick. Go Sens, Bills, Blue Jays! UotY 2015, You should listen to The Show w/ Ngamer and Yoblazer <cite>Whiskey_Nick posted [p:951472825] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>#3. Xenogears (PS1, 1998) I kept expecting this game to appear on someones list. Guess it isn't happening at this point so I stand alone on the Xenogears hill. This game is insanely story heavy, like there are 2 hour segments of text with no save points. That would be a huge problem except the story is excellent. The game is gorgeous sprite work with some polygon garbage from that time mixed in. This games main problem is it was too ambitious. They ran out of money before they could finish so disc 2 is pretty much just the story told in still photos and a final dungeon. So you still get the full idea, but you don't really play it. XG is part 5 of the Perfect Works Saga. I had hopes that Xenosaga was going to be part 1, and it could have been but then they abandoned that so we never see parts 1 to 4 or part 6. Just exists in literature. Xenogears should have been like an 8 disc game had they been able to do everything they wanted to do. Anyway, the actual game has cool combo based combat when you are not in a mech, and then a bad fuel based stamina system when you are in a mech. Luckily mech combat is not too often. The character based combat is way more fun. The cast is outstanding and offers a huge range of perspectives on a large holy war. This game also has a sex scene which in 1998 was not common practice on console games. Citan is my favorite character in this game. Id is second. Grahf also cool. Basically every character is great except Chuchu. A giant pink thing that seems to plague Square RPGs. Like Cait Sith. OST features so true gems. The game is very heavy on religion. Most areas are named after Jewish holy days. Story of the haves, the have nots, and the super haves that no one even knows exist. Also big on Freud. There are two dungeons in this game notorious for being awful. The sewers near the beginning, and the tower of Babil which is a platforming hell. Miss a jump and start over. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
MrSmartGuy 03/08/21 5:51:45 PM #91:	#3 - Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (PS2, my GotY for 2004) The final of my unassailable top 3 from a decade ago. Its held up the best of them to me, on account of being the most replayable one, by far. Mainly because the game is just chock full of fun shit to do. Its also the best James Bond game ever made. You play as Naked Snake, years before the events of any of the other Metal Gear games. Your mentor, The Boss, is on your codec, ready to help you on your mission to rescue an experimental weapons designer named Sokolov. You are able to get to him, but the plan goes awry when The Boss defects to the Soviet Union, bringing with her a few nuclear warheads as a gift. Prime Asshole Colonel Volgin decides to take one of them out for a spin, and nukes his own city. Then the real mission begins: rescue Sokolov, sabotage Volgins weapon development, and take out The Boss to establish The United States disinvolvement with the whole thing. Along the way, you have a fantastic support team on your codec, with Para-Medic and Sigint, you get to meet a few younger versions of established Metal Gear favorites, like Revolver Ocelot, and some great new characters, like EVA. MGS3 has one of the strongest casts of any video game Ive ever played. The dialogue with the codec team in particular can get really wacky, and its great. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COdkHuogVkw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqS18aj6Vis The overall story for MGS3 is one of the best Ive ever encountered, too. The Bosss story is phenomenal. Its no wonder it spawned a sequel game on its own in Peace Walker. There are plenty of twists and turns, and of course, it wouldnt be a Metal Gear game without a half hour cutscene at the end to wrap it all up. Except this time, its arguably the best part of the game. I think it was the first time in my life that a video games story ever made me cry. Meanwhile, the game is ridiculously fun as well. If you were to take the game completely seriously, it would still be a good time, but you would be missing out on the absurd amount of cheese they instilled into it that makes it truly fun. When I said before that Undertale is the game that has the most alternate dialogue, I would say MGS3 is a worthy contender for that title as well. You can tranq snakes and rabbits and stuff, and then throw them on guards to attack them. Theres a secret minigame where you play a completely different hack-n-slash game if you save and reload at a certain point in the game. Theres a boss you can kill during a cutscene if youre really quick on the trigger, and completely skip his fight later in the game. If you go into your cure menu, you can spin yourself around, and if you do that for too long, when you return to the game, you will throw up. You can make yourself do this on a poor unconscious guards face, if you wish. You can get an alligator hat, and if you crawl around some cover with it on, then poke your head up, guards will get scared and run away. Punching guards in the dick is a OHKO. Theres always something new that pops up every time I play. And I play it quite often. Its just a dumb game where everything came together just right to create the perfect Metal Gear experience. Well, after Subsistence came out anyway. I actually never played Snake Eater, but I read that it originally had like a MGS2 camera, and it made it really difficult to navigate the outdoors. It also tried a multiplayer MGS mode, but I honestly thought it was pretty meh. But the base game is so fucking good, it really didnt need it. SECRET THEATER RANKINGS: Payback > The Ultimate Weapon > Gotcha this time! > Metal Gear S > The Beginning of the End > Metal Gear Raiden: Snake Eraser > The Quick Version > Diehard > Close Call > the rest are all garbage, don't even bother watching --- Xbox GT/PSN name/Nintendo ID: TatteredUniform http://www.scuffletown.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/tRBE1.gif <cite>MrSmartGuy posted [p:951493107] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>#3 - Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (PS2, my GotY for 2004) The final of my unassailable top 3 from a decade ago. Its held up the best of them to me, on account of being the most replayable one, by far. Mainly because the game is just chock full of fun shit to do. Its also the best James Bond game ever made. You play as Naked Snake, years before the events of any of the other Metal Gear games. Your mentor, The Boss, is on your codec, ready to help you on your mission to rescue an experimental weapons designer named Sokolov. You are able to get to him, but the plan goes awry when The Boss defects to the Soviet Union, bringing with her a few nuclear warheads as a gift. Prime Asshole Colonel Volgin decides to take one of them out for a spin, and nukes his own city. Then the real mission begins: rescue Sokolov, sabotage Volgins weapon development, and take out The Boss to establish The United States disinvolvement with the whole thing. Along the way, you have a fantastic support team on your codec, with Para-Medic and Sigint, you get to meet a few younger versions of established Metal Gear favorites, like Revolver Ocelot, and some great new characters, like EVA. MGS3 has one of the strongest casts of any video game Ive ever played. The dialogue with the codec team in particular can get really wacky, and its great. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COdkHuogVkw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqS18aj6Vis The overall story for MGS3 is one of the best Ive ever encountered, too. The Bosss story is phenomenal. Its no wonder it spawned a sequel game on its own in Peace Walker. There are plenty of twists and turns, and of course, it wouldnt be a Metal Gear game without a half hour cutscene at the end to wrap it all up. Except this time, its arguably the best part of the game. I think it was the first time in my life that a video games story ever made me cry. Meanwhile, the game is ridiculously fun as well. If you were to take the game completely seriously, it would still be a good time, but you would be missing out on the absurd amount of cheese they instilled into it that makes it truly fun. When I said before that Undertale is the game that has the most alternate dialogue, I would say MGS3 is a worthy contender for that title as well. You can tranq snakes and rabbits and stuff, and then throw them on guards to attack them. Theres a secret minigame where you play a completely different hack-n-slash game if you save and reload at a certain point in the game. Theres a boss you can kill during a cutscene if youre really quick on the trigger, and completely skip his fight later in the game. If you go into your cure menu, you can spin yourself around, and if you do that for too long, when you return to the game, you will throw up. You can make yourself do this on a poor unconscious guards face, if you wish. You can get an alligator hat, and if you crawl around some cover with it on, then poke your head up, guards will get scared and run away. Punching guards in the dick is a OHKO. Theres always something new that pops up every time I play. And I play it quite often. Its just a dumb game where everything came together just right to create the perfect Metal Gear experience. Well, after Subsistence came out anyway. I actually never played Snake Eater, but I read that it originally had like a MGS2 camera, and it made it really difficult to navigate the outdoors. It also tried a multiplayer MGS mode, but I honestly thought it was pretty meh. But the base game is so fucking good, it really didnt need it. SECRET THEATER RANKINGS: Payback > The Ultimate Weapon > Gotcha this time! > Metal Gear S > The Beginning of the End > Metal Gear Raiden: Snake Eraser > The Quick Version > Diehard > Close Call > the rest are all garbage, don't even bother watching </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Eddv 03/08/21 8:25:39 PM #92:	3.) Trails of Cold Steel II (PS3, 2014) Trails of Cold Steel II is a game that I honestly don't think I will ever be able to quite replicate the experience of. The game takes place at the crossroads of a lot of lore that I would need to take some time to explain. But essentially the big overarching plot of the franchise set up in the background of the exciting goings on in Trails in the Sky begins to finally see some real pay off in Cold Steel II. Oh sure there are hints of it going on in Trails in the Sky 3 and in Cold Steel I of what's to come but Cold Steel I is all precursor. Its showing you what Erebonia is like and what its social structures and societal problems are. And during the grand climax of the game...that status quo they spend the whole game showing you is shattered and that nation plunged into civil war. What's more there's a final dungeon after that, completing the tartarus-like endless old schoolhouse dungeon that had been a recurring theme throughout the game and you come to discover...there is a giant Magic Knight that is basically an intelligent Gundam and what's more the main character Rean Schwarzer is the man meant to pilot it. And in the chaos of the end of the game and all that is happening, Valimar the Ashen Knight takes Rean to safety and away from Class VII. Now it is up to Rean, his classmates, and a few well-placed people who know what's really going to try and prevent the civil war from devouring the country. Thanks to the introduction of Valimar big Gundam battles now play a central role in the game's more epic moments and enough lore and characters are built up that there can be huge character moments playing out at any given time in the story, which lends the game a unique feel. The battle system for the gundam battles is different enough to feel special but not SO different that it ends up like Xenogears where its a huge pain in the ass. And the main game play is still really fun - executing a blend of FFX's turn cards with tactical maps and with a few innovations, like effects that go off on specific turns. The result is that Trails of Cold Steel II is a well-oiled machine that truly builds on what was going on in Trails of Cold Steel I replacing the school days plot with something so much more intriguing and fun to play through. And of course, the plot and characters and the character of the setting all play major roles. Our comedic messages come back on the insides of chests and each character is to me pretty memorable. In Cold Steel I, each character had a foil and we get to see all of those relationships evolve beyond the basic foiling they were left at in Cold Steel 1. In the end, this game just really fulfills the JRPG itch better than anything else ever has. Everything is big, everything is worth exploring. There are countless little collectables that bring the game to life, everything from landscapes and lithographs on down to newspapers and light novels that you can read that are set within this world. It feels every bit as alive as the streets of tokyo in Yakuza, only on such a large and entire fantastical scale. --- Board 8's Voice of Reason https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy <cite>Eddv posted [p:951498642] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>3.) Trails of Cold Steel II (PS3, 2014) Trails of Cold Steel II is a game that I honestly don't think I will ever be able to quite replicate the experience of. The game takes place at the crossroads of a lot of lore that I would need to take some time to explain. But essentially the big overarching plot of the franchise set up in the background of the exciting goings on in Trails in the Sky begins to finally see some real pay off in Cold Steel II. Oh sure there are hints of it going on in Trails in the Sky 3 and in Cold Steel I of what's to come but Cold Steel I is all precursor. Its showing you what Erebonia is like and what its social structures and societal problems are. And during the grand climax of the game...that status quo they spend the whole game showing you is shattered and that nation plunged into civil war. What's more there's a final dungeon after that, completing the tartarus-like endless old schoolhouse dungeon that had been a recurring theme throughout the game and you come to discover...there is a giant Magic Knight that is basically an intelligent Gundam and what's more the main character Rean Schwarzer is the man meant to pilot it. And in the chaos of the end of the game and all that is happening, Valimar the Ashen Knight takes Rean to safety and away from Class VII. Now it is up to Rean, his classmates, and a few well-placed people who know what's really going to try and prevent the civil war from devouring the country. Thanks to the introduction of Valimar big Gundam battles now play a central role in the game's more epic moments and enough lore and characters are built up that there can be huge character moments playing out at any given time in the story, which lends the game a unique feel. The battle system for the gundam battles is different enough to feel special but not SO different that it ends up like Xenogears where its a huge pain in the ass. And the main game play is still really fun - executing a blend of FFX's turn cards with tactical maps and with a few innovations, like effects that go off on specific turns. The result is that Trails of Cold Steel II is a well-oiled machine that truly builds on what was going on in Trails of Cold Steel I replacing the school days plot with something so much more intriguing and fun to play through. And of course, the plot and characters and the character of the setting all play major roles. Our comedic messages come back on the insides of chests and each character is to me pretty memorable. In Cold Steel I, each character had a foil and we get to see all of those relationships evolve beyond the basic foiling they were left at in Cold Steel 1. In the end, this game just really fulfills the JRPG itch better than anything else ever has. Everything is big, everything is worth exploring. There are countless little collectables that bring the game to life, everything from landscapes and lithographs on down to newspapers and light novels that you can read that are set within this world. It feels every bit as alive as the streets of tokyo in Yakuza, only on such a large and entire fantastical scale. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Bartzyx 03/08/21 9:12:00 PM #93:	#4 Spec Ops: The Line (Playstation 3, 2012) In general, I am not really into military-themed shooters. I have played a few and enjoyed them for what they are, but you haven't really seen them on my list. Spec Ops: The Line is not your average military shooter, although you couldn't tell that at first glance. It subverts a lot of your expectations about this type of game and ends up being something very unique. I will go into specific detail on this (and also the game's whole story) so if you ever want to play this game "un-spoiled" you should probably stop reading now. And maybe also a warning that the content of the game is pretty disturbing/dark, so read at your own risk. Although I guess even that is a spoiler, but that's the risk you take when reading about a game you haven't played yet! And I don't think any of the other presenters in this topic played this game. This third-person shooter follows a trio of Delta Force operators in a near-future setting that has Dubai, UAE engulfed in an apocalyptic, never-ending sandstorm. They are sent to investigate the desertion and disappearance of a US Army battalion that was assisting the city with evacuation efforts. The leader of the Delta Force squad, Martin Walker, knows the battalion commander, Colonel Konrad, personally. It all starts off like a normal mission, with the trio fighting against local insurgents as they enter the city. Subsequently, Walker finds out the insurgents are being organized by CIA agents to fight against the remnants of the deserted Army battalion, and soon after the squad are targeted by the deserters. Disobeying orders to leave the city, Walker starts a personal war against Konrad and his army. As the game progresses, Walker commits increasingly worse atrocities in his vendetta against Konrad, and gradually descends into madness. All the while, Konrad taunts Walker over a two-way radio. The more horrible his actions, the more he blames them on Konrad, and the more he loses the trust of his squad, although they continue to follow his orders. Eventually he completely loses the ability to discern reality from his disturbing hallucinations, and the last act of the game takes on a surreal nightmare-like quality. Finally, after his squad is killed, and after a violent last stand that sees almost every last person in Dubai dead, Walker reaches Konrad's headquarters and the remaining deserters surrender. When he enters Konrad's office, he finds Konrad's long-deceased corpse. Turns out that Konrad killed himself long ago and Walker had been imagining their conversations the whole time. This moment of lucidity is capped when Walker sees Konrad's ghost who explains that all the despicable atrocities that Walker blamed on Konrad were all his fault. Walker either accepts responsibility and commits suicide, or kills Konrad's ghost and continues living alone in Dubai in a PTSD-induced denial. There are a number of things that make the game unique. The third-person perspective is unusual for military shooters, but it allows the player to get a better sense of Walker's condition and his emotions throughout the game. As I said before, at the start, it's all very standard stuff; typical army procedure and banter among the squad in their clean uniforms, fighting against Middle-Eastern insurgents. As the story moves forward, the squad becomes disorderly, their appearance is more rough, and their attitudes turn desperate. By the end, they have abandoned all pretense of civility, covered in blood and wounds, constantly screaming and cursing at each other and their enemies. It's curious to see Walker, who was the calm and collected leader at the start of the game, become someone who can brutally execute a fellow US solider while shouting "Fuck you!" (continued on next post...) --- At least your mother tipped well <cite>Bartzyx posted [p:951500250] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>#4 Spec Ops: The Line (Playstation 3, 2012) In general, I am not really into military-themed shooters. I have played a few and enjoyed them for what they are, but you haven't really seen them on my list. Spec Ops: The Line is not your average military shooter, although you couldn't tell that at first glance. It subverts a lot of your expectations about this type of game and ends up being something very unique. I will go into specific detail on this (and also the game's whole story) so if you ever want to play this game "un-spoiled" you should probably stop reading now. And maybe also a warning that the content of the game is pretty disturbing/dark, so read at your own risk. Although I guess even that is a spoiler, but that's the risk you take when reading about a game you haven't played yet! And I don't think any of the other presenters in this topic played this game. This third-person shooter follows a trio of Delta Force operators in a near-future setting that has Dubai, UAE engulfed in an apocalyptic, never-ending sandstorm. They are sent to investigate the desertion and disappearance of a US Army battalion that was assisting the city with evacuation efforts. The leader of the Delta Force squad, Martin Walker, knows the battalion commander, Colonel Konrad, personally. It all starts off like a normal mission, with the trio fighting against local insurgents as they enter the city. Subsequently, Walker finds out the insurgents are being organized by CIA agents to fight against the remnants of the deserted Army battalion, and soon after the squad are targeted by the deserters. Disobeying orders to leave the city, Walker starts a personal war against Konrad and his army. As the game progresses, Walker commits increasingly worse atrocities in his vendetta against Konrad, and gradually descends into madness. All the while, Konrad taunts Walker over a two-way radio. The more horrible his actions, the more he blames them on Konrad, and the more he loses the trust of his squad, although they continue to follow his orders. Eventually he completely loses the ability to discern reality from his disturbing hallucinations, and the last act of the game takes on a surreal nightmare-like quality. Finally, after his squad is killed, and after a violent last stand that sees almost every last person in Dubai dead, Walker reaches Konrad's headquarters and the remaining deserters surrender. When he enters Konrad's office, he finds Konrad's long-deceased corpse. Turns out that Konrad killed himself long ago and Walker had been imagining their conversations the whole time. This moment of lucidity is capped when Walker sees Konrad's ghost who explains that all the despicable atrocities that Walker blamed on Konrad were all his fault. Walker either accepts responsibility and commits suicide, or kills Konrad's ghost and continues living alone in Dubai in a PTSD-induced denial. There are a number of things that make the game unique. The third-person perspective is unusual for military shooters, but it allows the player to get a better sense of Walker's condition and his emotions throughout the game. As I said before, at the start, it's all very standard stuff; typical army procedure and banter among the squad in their clean uniforms, fighting against Middle-Eastern insurgents. As the story moves forward, the squad becomes disorderly, their appearance is more rough, and their attitudes turn desperate. By the end, they have abandoned all pretense of civility, covered in blood and wounds, constantly screaming and cursing at each other and their enemies. It's curious to see Walker, who was the calm and collected leader at the start of the game, become someone who can brutally execute a fellow US solider while shouting "Fuck you!" (continued on next post...) </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Bartzyx 03/08/21 9:12:05 PM #94:	(...continued) The Line presents choices throughout the story. They aren't really "moral" choices, because often the choice becomes choosing between two bad things, or a bad thing and a worse thing. And the choices don't have many long-term consequences, although a couple are referred back to later. But it does give the player some agency in how ruthless Walker is. Although, some of the worst things Walker does are unavoidable, and that is probably enough to turn a lot of people off of the game. Either enable Walker to do these terrible things, or stop playing the game. The game does let you control how Walker ultimately reconciles everything at the end. There are a slew of endings based on how you navigate the last few minutes. Walker can kill himself, either voluntarily or through Konrad's "ghost." If he chooses to live, there is a post-credits scene where Walker is picked up by the US Military. He can either accept their rescue, or fight them, which seems to be suicide and brings its own ending. But not necessarily! If you are skilled enough, Walker can murder everyone sent to rescue him, which is another ending. I enjoy the story of the game and the unusual themes that it addresses. It dwells a lot on the horrors of war and how it can negatively affect the mental health of those who engage in it. Walker wants to be a hero and thinks that he's a hero, even as he commits despicable acts in pursuit of his own glory, and he is traumatized. It's a sharp contrast to other games that kind of gloss over what this kind of violence does to a person. You know, I just showcased Uncharted 2 as one of my favorite games ever, but that series is kind of a meme for how nonchalantly Nathan Drake shoots and kills hundreds of people, even though his killing may be justified. The Line makes it impossible to ignore this issue and not so subtly points out how nasty the whole situation is. The gameplay itself is good. The shooting feels mechanically satisfying and there are a lot of different guns to try out. The shootouts utilize some basic squad tacticsyou can give your mates orders and they will do their best to execute. The game presents a ton of verticalitysince Dubai is buried under a mile of sand, there are many opportunities to move through, and usually down along, skyscrapers. The varied environments do a great job of keeping the otherwise straightforward shooting fresh. The Line is tough though, especially at the end, so it can be a bit of a grind at that point. The urban wasteland of Dubai is beautifully rendered (for 2012) and fun to explore. The artists put in a ton of work and made some really stunning areas with a bunch of original art, murals, graffiti, et cetera. The loading screens in particular have great stills from the campaign that are really gorgeous, and given the difficulty of the game, you will see them enough. The game's soundtrack is pretty good and makes wonderful use of licensed music, either diegetic or otherwise. The voice acting is very professionalthey got Nolan North to do the main role, and also picked up some Hollywood actors for some of the recurring characters. All things considered, it's a very well-produced game. Due to the subject matter, it may not be very "fun," though. And it's certainly not a game for everyone. But I really enjoyed it and found the change of pace, subversion of expectations, and disturbing narrative to be a really neat surprise and an experience worth remembering. Just not a title that I find myself wanting to play again and again. --- At least your mother tipped well <cite>Bartzyx posted [p:951500253] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>(...continued) The Line presents choices throughout the story. They aren't really "moral" choices, because often the choice becomes choosing between two bad things, or a bad thing and a worse thing. And the choices don't have many long-term consequences, although a couple are referred back to later. But it does give the player some agency in how ruthless Walker is. Although, some of the worst things Walker does are unavoidable, and that is probably enough to turn a lot of people off of the game. Either enable Walker to do these terrible things, or stop playing the game. The game does let you control how Walker ultimately reconciles everything at the end. There are a slew of endings based on how you navigate the last few minutes. Walker can kill himself, either voluntarily or through Konrad's "ghost." If he chooses to live, there is a post-credits scene where Walker is picked up by the US Military. He can either accept their rescue, or fight them, which seems to be suicide and brings its own ending. But not necessarily! If you are skilled enough, Walker can murder everyone sent to rescue him, which is another ending. I enjoy the story of the game and the unusual themes that it addresses. It dwells a lot on the horrors of war and how it can negatively affect the mental health of those who engage in it. Walker wants to be a hero and thinks that he's a hero, even as he commits despicable acts in pursuit of his own glory, and he is traumatized. It's a sharp contrast to other games that kind of gloss over what this kind of violence does to a person. You know, I just showcased Uncharted 2 as one of my favorite games ever, but that series is kind of a meme for how nonchalantly Nathan Drake shoots and kills hundreds of people, even though his killing may be justified. The Line makes it impossible to ignore this issue and not so subtly points out how nasty the whole situation is. The gameplay itself is good. The shooting feels mechanically satisfying and there are a lot of different guns to try out. The shootouts utilize some basic squad tacticsyou can give your mates orders and they will do their best to execute. The game presents a ton of verticalitysince Dubai is buried under a mile of sand, there are many opportunities to move through, and usually down along, skyscrapers. The varied environments do a great job of keeping the otherwise straightforward shooting fresh. The Line is tough though, especially at the end, so it can be a bit of a grind at that point. The urban wasteland of Dubai is beautifully rendered (for 2012) and fun to explore. The artists put in a ton of work and made some really stunning areas with a bunch of original art, murals, graffiti, et cetera. The loading screens in particular have great stills from the campaign that are really gorgeous, and given the difficulty of the game, you will see them enough. The game's soundtrack is pretty good and makes wonderful use of licensed music, either diegetic or otherwise. The voice acting is very professionalthey got Nolan North to do the main role, and also picked up some Hollywood actors for some of the recurring characters. All things considered, it's a very well-produced game. Due to the subject matter, it may not be very "fun," though. And it's certainly not a game for everyone. But I really enjoyed it and found the change of pace, subversion of expectations, and disturbing narrative to be a really neat surprise and an experience worth remembering. Just not a title that I find myself wanting to play again and again. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Bartzyx 03/08/21 10:33:25 PM #95:	#1 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: 1621 (=) #2 Super Mario Odyssey: 1582 (=) #3 Uncharted 2: Among Thieves: 1383 (=) #4 Pokemon RBY: 1303 (=) #5 Final Fantasy V: 1266 (=) #6 Final Fantasy X: 1186 (=) #7 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past: 1180 (=) #8 Super Smash Bros. Melee: 1168 (=) #9 Borderlands 2: 1043 (=) #10 Mother 3: 1032 (=) #11 Metal Gear Solid 3: 995 (+81) #12 Jackbox Party Pack: 980 (-1) #13 Super Mario World: 944 (+80) #14 Mario Kart 8: 913 (-2) #15 Metroid: Zero Mission: 900 (-2) #16 Final Fantasy IV: 881 (-2) #17 Castlevania: Symphony of the Night: 877 (-2) #18 Super Mario RPG: 867 (-2) #19 Pokemon GSC: 858 (-2) #20 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: 845 (-2) #21 Super Mario 3D World: 839 (-2) #22 The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker: 834 (-2) #23 Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door: 832 (-2) #24 F-Zero GX: 830 (+145) #25 Mega Man 3: 828 (-3) --- At least your mother tipped well <cite>Bartzyx posted [p:951503034] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>#1 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: 1621 (=) #2 Super Mario Odyssey: 1582 (=) #3 Uncharted 2: Among Thieves: 1383 (=) #4 Pokemon RBY: 1303 (=) #5 Final Fantasy V: 1266 (=) #6 Final Fantasy X: 1186 (=) #7 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past: 1180 (=) #8 Super Smash Bros. Melee: 1168 (=) #9 Borderlands 2: 1043 (=) #10 Mother 3: 1032 (=) #11 Metal Gear Solid 3: 995 (+81) #12 Jackbox Party Pack: 980 (-1) #13 Super Mario World: 944 (+80) #14 Mario Kart 8: 913 (-2) #15 Metroid: Zero Mission: 900 (-2) #16 Final Fantasy IV: 881 (-2) #17 Castlevania: Symphony of the Night: 877 (-2) #18 Super Mario RPG: 867 (-2) #19 Pokemon GSC: 858 (-2) #20 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: 845 (-2) #21 Super Mario 3D World: 839 (-2) #22 The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker: 834 (-2) #23 Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door: 832 (-2) #24 F-Zero GX: 830 (+145) #25 Mega Man 3: 828 (-3) </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
WiggumFan267 03/09/21 12:55:55 AM #96:	#7. Final Fantasy X (PS2, 2001) This game still holds up. The style no longer does, but somehow the game does anyway and I find that incredibly impressive. When I replayed it when FFX Remaster came out several years ago, I found myself still greatly enjoying (ALMOST) every part of it, and some of that sure, might be nostalgia, but a lot of it is not. The fact that this was the first RPG I ever played (besides the Pokemon games) not withstanding, as I never really played that style of game until I borrowed this one off of a friend because I saw him playing it and it looked cool. Anyway, there is so much to like about this game. It looks absolutely beautiful for its time and the remasters look great too, even trying to de-render those famous PS2 renders. The music on the whole is great (not fantastic), but very memorable. There are some fantastic tracks like the dulcet tones of To Zanarkand, the THUMP THUMPing of Someday the Dream Will End, and my favorite track in the game- Seymour Omnis. Otherworld though. Man. The first time I heard this (well, second, at the end of the game. I dont think I processed it at the start of the game), I could not stop laughing. The temple themes are also memorable I think thats a good thing but Im not sure. The prerendered cutscenes though have always looked great- and that opening Blitzball game, plus the Yuna dancing scene (ok ok and that one scene on the lake), plus the whole Listen to my Story intro (not pre-rendered) are some of the most visually memorable gaming experiences Ive seen. Muscle memory though? Obviously however many times weve heard the spiel before the Seymour 3, and the Yunalesca fights. I think I might be able to do bits and pieces of those cutscenes still. The story and characters very memorable. Enjoyable characters that most of us can still quote and enjoy to this day. Obviously looking back, a lot of them do wind up maybe a bit annoying, stereotyped, or what have you. But theres so much memorable stuff about all of them, its obviously had a lasting impact. Hah hah hah hah hah. All of the characters have a lot to like about them, even if Wakka is kind of a racist dick. The story is a goddamn mess and a lot of times I still have no idea whats going on, its sort of time travel but not really and Tidus ~~may or may not exist~~, and theres so much stuff that makes no stuff, but again. Its endearing. I appreciate it. I like it. The battle system is very compelling, I never really liked ATB systems all that much and prefer a more think it over/tactical style than just trying to get in as many attacks as possible quickly in a time limit in my RPGs. So being able to see the turn order and how its affected by using various moves was a huge selling point to me. Further, being able to freely swap characters in and out without wasting a turn adds to how you can strategize too, and allows the game to have its battles actually be more strategic and that is fun! Being able also to customize weapons was a great addition, and of course, the Sphere Grid is legendary, starting off developing your characters down specific paths, but then giving you the freedom to branch off as you please if you want to get a bit creative and have a tank Yuna or Black Mage Auron or what have you. Then you have the side content, and this is where the game really shines. There is SO much to do and (ALMOST) all of it is so interesting, fun, and well-worthy of your time sink into these events. Trying to do all the stuff to get the ultimate weapons, all the side dungeons, the dark aeons (in the remaster), the Al Bhed primers/passwords, the endless content of capturing monsters for Monster Arena and fighting the side bosses, the Cactuar Village, travelling around pre-end game with the airship, even the annoying stuff like lightning dodging, Chocobo Racing, butterfly capturing I love all of it .. But Im sorry. I just think Blitzball is the worst minigame ever. I dont hate it though. I like it in THEORY. I loved it as a kid. It ALMOST works. Its just so damn easy to break by hiding behind the net, and even if you dont do that, its just so incredibly easy besides that almost impossible to win first match, but hell, you know we all kept resetting until we won that won. That was at least a challenge. I feel like this game is SO CLOSE to being really good, it just becomes mind numblingly easy, especially once you recruit all the good FAs. You know the ones. Mostly the Al Bhed, like Eigaar and Nimrook. Anyway. There is so much good and so much memorable about this game. It has a lot of flaws, but ultimately everything else endearing and memorable about this game stands out so much, its impossible for me not to love. Next up: This is a game from a genre that has not shown up on my top 100 so far. --- ~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion 2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS <cite>WiggumFan267 posted [p:951506608] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>#7. Final Fantasy X (PS2, 2001) This game still holds up. The style no longer does, but somehow the game does anyway and I find that incredibly impressive. When I replayed it when FFX Remaster came out several years ago, I found myself still greatly enjoying (ALMOST) every part of it, and some of that sure, might be nostalgia, but a lot of it is not. The fact that this was the first RPG I ever played (besides the Pokemon games) not withstanding, as I never really played that style of game until I borrowed this one off of a friend because I saw him playing it and it looked cool. Anyway, there is so much to like about this game. It looks absolutely beautiful for its time and the remasters look great too, even trying to de-render those famous PS2 renders. The music on the whole is great (not fantastic), but very memorable. There are some fantastic tracks like the dulcet tones of To Zanarkand, the THUMP THUMPing of Someday the Dream Will End, and my favorite track in the game- Seymour Omnis. Otherworld though. Man. The first time I heard this (well, second, at the end of the game. I dont think I processed it at the start of the game), I could not stop laughing. The temple themes are also memorable I think thats a good thing but Im not sure. The prerendered cutscenes though have always looked great- and that opening Blitzball game, plus the Yuna dancing scene (ok ok and that one scene on the lake), plus the whole Listen to my Story intro (not pre-rendered) are some of the most visually memorable gaming experiences Ive seen. Muscle memory though? Obviously however many times weve heard the spiel before the Seymour 3, and the Yunalesca fights. I think I might be able to do bits and pieces of those cutscenes still. The story and characters very memorable. Enjoyable characters that most of us can still quote and enjoy to this day. Obviously looking back, a lot of them do wind up maybe a bit annoying, stereotyped, or what have you. But theres so much memorable stuff about all of them, its obviously had a lasting impact. Hah hah hah hah hah. All of the characters have a lot to like about them, even if Wakka is kind of a racist dick. The story is a goddamn mess and a lot of times I still have no idea whats going on, its sort of time travel but not really and Tidus may or may not exist, and theres so much stuff that makes no stuff, but again. Its endearing. I appreciate it. I like it. The battle system is very compelling, I never really liked ATB systems all that much and prefer a more think it over/tactical style than just trying to get in as many attacks as possible quickly in a time limit in my RPGs. So being able to see the turn order and how its affected by using various moves was a huge selling point to me. Further, being able to freely swap characters in and out without wasting a turn adds to how you can strategize too, and allows the game to have its battles actually be more strategic and that is fun! Being able also to customize weapons was a great addition, and of course, the Sphere Grid is legendary, starting off developing your characters down specific paths, but then giving you the freedom to branch off as you please if you want to get a bit creative and have a tank Yuna or Black Mage Auron or what have you. Then you have the side content, and this is where the game really shines. There is SO much to do and (ALMOST) all of it is so interesting, fun, and well-worthy of your time sink into these events. Trying to do all the stuff to get the ultimate weapons, all the side dungeons, the dark aeons (in the remaster), the Al Bhed primers/passwords, the endless content of capturing monsters for Monster Arena and fighting the side bosses, the Cactuar Village, travelling around pre-end game with the airship, even the annoying stuff like lightning dodging, Chocobo Racing, butterfly capturing I love all of it .. But Im sorry. I just think Blitzball is the worst minigame ever. I dont hate it though. I like it in THEORY. I loved it as a kid. It ALMOST works. Its just so damn easy to break by hiding behind the net, and even if you dont do that, its just so incredibly easy besides that almost impossible to win first match, but hell, you know we all kept resetting until we won that won. That was at least a challenge. I feel like this game is SO CLOSE to being really good, it just becomes mind numblingly easy, especially once you recruit all the good FAs. You know the ones. Mostly the Al Bhed, like Eigaar and Nimrook. Anyway. There is so much good and so much memorable about this game. It has a lot of flaws, but ultimately everything else endearing and memorable about this game stands out so much, its impossible for me not to love. Next up: This is a game from a genre that has not shown up on my top 100 so far. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
CherryCokes 03/09/21 2:20:02 AM #97:	08. Super Smash Bros. (N64, 1999) *It is imperative that you read this writeup while listening to this:* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRCe5L1imxg Sometimes, as weve seen throughout this topic series, the best version of a game, or of a style or genre of game, isnt always the highest ranking. For me, thats the case here. The original Super Smash Bros. was the game that hooked me into console gaming. I was 11, a relatively late arrival to non-handheld, non-PC gaming, and they had a demo kiosk set up at Best Buy. In the spring and summer of 1999, I would go with either parent, any time they went to the Liberty Tree Mall, and post up at the Smash kiosk. I tried to save up money from my paper route, but M:tG kept sapping my money. Thankfully, my parents, as Ive mentioned earlier, got me one for Christmas. Im not sure how they made it happen - we didnt have a lot of wiggle room then - but they did. And by then, Id socked away enough to buy myself Super Smash. It became a staple in my house, and later, my college dorm, and still was a game I played occasionally post-college. I still have a few functioning N64 controllers, and Ill still plug everything in and challenge my brother to a few matches every now and again. Now, as ever, he almost never wins. For whatever reason, this, this is the game I am better at relative to my peers than all others. A game which I almost never have the opportunity to play against anyone in person. Figures, right? (Dear Nintendo: Put this on the Switch with online play, you cowards) I initially took to Kirby, because who didnt? Kirby was the obvious powerhouse, with better recovery than everyone else and more of what became known as meteor smashes than any other character. Final Cutter remains one of the most devastatingly broken moves in gaming history when executed correctly. Eventually, though, as my friends caught on to Kirbys wiles, I expanded, and became a Pikachu main for a while. Like Kirby, Pikachu was unassuming. And deadly. No particular moves were obvious killers for Pika, which made it a lot harder for my opponents to anticipate what was going to do them in. The third character I adopted as a main, who, like Kirby, has only gotten worse over time, was Ness. Nesss moveset became emblematic of the type of characters I would grow to love in fighters - weird, technical spacers. The thing with Ness is that if you can avoid the distancing game, he can still punish you up close. Those yo-yos and that homerun bat are especially nasty, as is the short-hopped down-air, the tidiest killshot in the game imo. But the thing that puts Ness over the top is his throws. Huge launching capabilities, which open up a lot of possibilities for pain. They tried to compensate for Ness ridiculously strong moveset by making his recovery exceptionally hard to execute - I never managed the muscle memory for it in any of the subsequent Smash games due to the increased speed required - but once you get it down, its surprisingly usable, and, surprise surprise, also surprisingly dangerous. Im not sure there is a single more gratifying way of KOing someone in the entire series than successfully connecting with Ness himself as a psionically-charged missile. --- The Thighmaster <cite>CherryCokes posted [p:951508092] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>08. Super Smash Bros. (N64, 1999) It is imperative that you read this writeup while listening to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRCe5L1imxg Sometimes, as weve seen throughout this topic series, the best version of a game, or of a style or genre of game, isnt always the highest ranking. For me, thats the case here. The original Super Smash Bros. was the game that hooked me into console gaming. I was 11, a relatively late arrival to non-handheld, non-PC gaming, and they had a demo kiosk set up at Best Buy. In the spring and summer of 1999, I would go with either parent, any time they went to the Liberty Tree Mall, and post up at the Smash kiosk. I tried to save up money from my paper route, but M:tG kept sapping my money. Thankfully, my parents, as Ive mentioned earlier, got me one for Christmas. Im not sure how they made it happen - we didnt have a lot of wiggle room then - but they did. And by then, Id socked away enough to buy myself Super Smash. It became a staple in my house, and later, my college dorm, and still was a game I played occasionally post-college. I still have a few functioning N64 controllers, and Ill still plug everything in and challenge my brother to a few matches every now and again. Now, as ever, he almost never wins. For whatever reason, this, this is the game I am better at relative to my peers than all others. A game which I almost never have the opportunity to play against anyone in person. Figures, right? (Dear Nintendo: Put this on the Switch with online play, you cowards) I initially took to Kirby, because who didnt? Kirby was the obvious powerhouse, with better recovery than everyone else and more of what became known as meteor smashes than any other character. Final Cutter remains one of the most devastatingly broken moves in gaming history when executed correctly. Eventually, though, as my friends caught on to Kirbys wiles, I expanded, and became a Pikachu main for a while. Like Kirby, Pikachu was unassuming. And deadly. No particular moves were obvious killers for Pika, which made it a lot harder for my opponents to anticipate what was going to do them in. The third character I adopted as a main, who, like Kirby, has only gotten worse over time, was Ness. Nesss moveset became emblematic of the type of characters I would grow to love in fighters - weird, technical spacers. The thing with Ness is that if you can avoid the distancing game, he can still punish you up close. Those yo-yos and that homerun bat are especially nasty, as is the short-hopped down-air, the tidiest killshot in the game imo. But the thing that puts Ness over the top is his throws. Huge launching capabilities, which open up a lot of possibilities for pain. They tried to compensate for Ness ridiculously strong moveset by making his recovery exceptionally hard to execute - I never managed the muscle memory for it in any of the subsequent Smash games due to the increased speed required - but once you get it down, its surprisingly usable, and, surprise surprise, also surprisingly dangerous. Im not sure there is a single more gratifying way of KOing someone in the entire series than successfully connecting with Ness himself as a psionically-charged missile. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
KingButz 03/09/21 8:37:33 AM #98:	Damn the Al Bhed --- rip imgcake <cite>KingButz posted [p:951513027] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>Damn the Al Bhed</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Eddv 03/09/21 9:44:37 AM #99:	2.) Crusader Kings III (PC, 2019) I plugged literally hundreds upon hundreds of hours into Crusader Kings 2. It was the 4x game that scratched all the itches. Though really i suppose its not entirely 4x as the object of the game is simply to persist as prosperously as possible. Its really easy to go all out on expansion only to die out a generation later. Economy management, technology management, city management, and then adding the twist of family tree and title management to this mix. And then...Crusader Kings III came out and literally outclassed its predecessor in every way. Everything is simultaneously more in depth and more streamlined in all the ways that I had wished the original was without really sacrificing anything. It also removed a bunch of shortcuts I had gotten accustomed to, forcing me to experiment and get better at the game. CK2 also began as a christian-only game and slowly tacked on more and more material. Which was great and got many many dollars in expansion passes out of me, but it was great to walk into CK3 with pretty much all the great DLCs already baked into the game and its presentation. But the thing that gets me about Crusader Kings that separates it from Victoria II or other 4x games is the capacity to roleplay. Youre not merely an omnipotent ruler. Your Callum Eau Briein, High King of all the Irelands and youre a horny old goat. And the game facilitates you getting up to all sorts of exploits. You can seduce your rivals wife and turn him into a cuckold. Hell...he may even be cool with it. Or he may try to kill you. You can assassinate, go hunting, go drinking, go on pilgrimage to your religions holy sites. You can throw feasts and carnivals. Youre a living person who sometimes farts while talking to a up a woman. I love everything about this game...but deep in my heart I know I love another just slightly more... --- Board 8's Voice of Reason https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy <cite>Eddv posted [p:951514531] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>2.) Crusader Kings III (PC, 2019) I plugged literally hundreds upon hundreds of hours into Crusader Kings 2. It was the 4x game that scratched all the itches. Though really i suppose its not entirely 4x as the object of the game is simply to persist as prosperously as possible. Its really easy to go all out on expansion only to die out a generation later. Economy management, technology management, city management, and then adding the twist of family tree and title management to this mix. And then...Crusader Kings III came out and literally outclassed its predecessor in every way. Everything is simultaneously more in depth and more streamlined in all the ways that I had wished the original was without really sacrificing anything. It also removed a bunch of shortcuts I had gotten accustomed to, forcing me to experiment and get better at the game. CK2 also began as a christian-only game and slowly tacked on more and more material. Which was great and got many many dollars in expansion passes out of me, but it was great to walk into CK3 with pretty much all the great DLCs already baked into the game and its presentation. But the thing that gets me about Crusader Kings that separates it from Victoria II or other 4x games is the capacity to roleplay. Youre not merely an omnipotent ruler. Your Callum Eau Briein, High King of all the Irelands and youre a horny old goat. And the game facilitates you getting up to all sorts of exploits. You can seduce your rivals wife and turn him into a cuckold. Hell...he may even be cool with it. Or he may try to kill you. You can assassinate, go hunting, go drinking, go on pilgrimage to your religions holy sites. You can throw feasts and carnivals. Youre a living person who sometimes farts while talking to a up a woman. I love everything about this game...but deep in my heart I know I love another just slightly more... </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
MrSmartGuy 03/09/21 4:45:54 PM #100:	#2 - The Outer Wilds (PC, my GotY for 2019) This game may well be the very reason I wanted to start this project in the first place. I honestly didnt think this game would be my kind of game when I bought it. It was pitched to me as an open-world exploration game where you go to different planets and solve puzzles that will give you clues on how to solve puzzles on other planets. My initial thought was that it would be like The Witness, which is a game I enjoyed, but wasnt something I considered exceptional. I passed on trying it until the beginning of last year when an Epic Games sale put the game down to $15 plus a $10 coupon to be used on something else. I decided to jump on that, but even then, it just sat there on my computer for a while. When summer hit, I had a lot of free time on my hands, and started a new game binging spree, with Outer Wilds at the forefront. Little did I know that this first game was about to change my life. Discord has documented a timeline for when I played the game. I started the game the night of May 19, and beat the game in the wee hours of May 21 after a 14-hour marathon play segment. I was fucking glued to this game from the moment I started. And every single moment of that time I spent was worth it. There are certain high points to the game, but there are no low points. Its absolutely insane how much everything in this game comes together to make such a perfect experience. I will do better to explain the overall premise than I had first heard. You start out as an anthropomorphic amphibian who has just earned his space pilots license. You are tasked with using a newly-developed technology that is able to translate a long-extinct mammal races writing (the Nomai) that is scattered all over the solar system. You must commandeer your wooden spaceship around the various nearby planetary bodies and try to figure out why they suddenly disappeared. There are no upgrades or new abilities you will ever acquire over the course of the game. The only hindrance to progress you can make in the game is knowledge about how the planets around you function. I could boot the game up right now, on a new file, and go beat the game just as easy as I did at the end of my 30-hour file, in a matter of about 20 minutes, because I know all the beats. This is an example for how your first voyage might go, as you begin playing this game. You head to the giant water planet with a dozen constant tornadoes called Giants Deep. There are a few areas of note there where you can read some general info about how the old Nomai lived and find a few areas you dont know how to get into. When youre done, you then take off toward the crumbling planet with a black hole core, called Brittle Hollow. There, you learn some more general plot points, and figure out a new, useful tidbit that would teach you how to progress somewhere on the twin planets where sand flows back and forth: the Ash Twins. You decide to head there, and go to the new place you figured out, and you find another clue for how to get to one of the areas you couldnt figure out on Giants Deep, so now you can go back there and learn something else new. Of course, your first voyage might also be a 30 second trip into the center of the sun. You really havent played the game correctly unless youve met a fiery end to the sun at least once. Obviously, the entire game isnt this cut and dry. Many of the clues you come across are quite vague, and its up to you to piece the clues together to reason out how to proceed, especially towards the endgame. The game is very loosely a Metroidvania where you return to places youve been before because you can get into new areas there now. Its just that youre utilizing knowledge of how it all works to get in, not a new upgrade or something. This idea for a game is neat, but it wouldnt be nearly as great as it is if it hadnt supplemented some of the most exceptional storytelling Ive ever witnessed. Im typically not a fan whenever a game decides to tell, rather than show, but Outer Wilds kinda does both at the same time, to amazing effect. You will read about something the Nomai discovered thousands of years ago, but its a big hint for what youre supposed to do and you will just get to experience what they discovered for yourself. As a massive bonus, the Nomais tale is told spectacularly. No matter what order you view them in, you will get attached to certain names, and they all have distinct personalities in their writing. Despite all this praise Im heaping on the journey, the destination makes even more of an impact. There is an ending to the game, and its absolutely phenomenal. Its literally changed my way of thinking about life and our individual role in the universe. Similar to the Danganronpa games Ive listed, Ive loved checking out other peoples playthroughs on YouTube. If you would care to check out some of my favorites, I would recommend Vinnys from Vinesauce for its entertainment value, and Materwelonz for its critical thinking and emotional values. There isnt a single negative thing I can conjure up about this game. Upon reflection, I do believe I lied in my Ghost Trick and Undertale write-ups. Outer Wilds might actually be the most flawless game Ive ever played, and its a much greater undertaking than those games are. The characters are all full of so much personality, those that are alive *andthe ones that are dead. The music is also perfect. You only get stingers for most of the game, until you happen upon something particularly important, at which point a little 1-minute melody will play that fits the particular mood. Make it to a fun experiment room? A happy little ditty will play as you peruse the area. Follow a lead that turns into a disaster? A somber tune will course through your ears. And yet the piece that will stick with me the longest is 100% this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVGlXbApOCs There isnt a single song that will get more of a visceral reaction out of me than hearing this one in-game. If youve played it, you know why. Theres always that question hopping around Board 8 of if you had the pen from Men in Black and were able to erase a single game from your memory so you could experience it for the first time again, what would it be? My answer would be Outer Wilds, 100%. Since that will never be a realistic option for anyone, if Ive managed to persuade you to give the game a shot, let me know. Experiencing one of my absolute favorite games of all-time again through my friends is as close to that as I will ever be able to get. ASTROLOGICAL OBJECT RANKINGS:* Ash Twins > Giants Deep > Mystery Moon > Timber Hearth > Interloper > Dark Bramble > Attlerock > Brittle Hollow --- Xbox GT/PSN name/Nintendo ID: TatteredUniform http://www.scuffletown.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/tRBE1.gif <cite>MrSmartGuy posted [p:951528809] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>#2 - The Outer Wilds (PC, my GotY for 2019) This game may well be the very reason I wanted to start this project in the first place. I honestly didnt think this game would be my kind of game when I bought it. It was pitched to me as an open-world exploration game where you go to different planets and solve puzzles that will give you clues on how to solve puzzles on other planets. My initial thought was that it would be like The Witness, which is a game I enjoyed, but wasnt something I considered exceptional. I passed on trying it until the beginning of last year when an Epic Games sale put the game down to $15 plus a $10 coupon to be used on something else. I decided to jump on that, but even then, it just sat there on my computer for a while. When summer hit, I had a lot of free time on my hands, and started a new game binging spree, with Outer Wilds at the forefront. Little did I know that this first game was about to change my life. Discord has documented a timeline for when I played the game. I started the game the night of May 19, and beat the game in the wee hours of May 21 after a 14-hour marathon play segment. I was fucking glued to this game from the moment I started. And every single moment of that time I spent was worth it. There are certain high points to the game, but there are no low points. Its absolutely insane how much everything in this game comes together to make such a perfect experience. I will do better to explain the overall premise than I had first heard. You start out as an anthropomorphic amphibian who has just earned his space pilots license. You are tasked with using a newly-developed technology that is able to translate a long-extinct mammal races writing (the Nomai) that is scattered all over the solar system. You must commandeer your wooden spaceship around the various nearby planetary bodies and try to figure out why they suddenly disappeared. There are no upgrades or new abilities you will ever acquire over the course of the game. The only hindrance to progress you can make in the game is knowledge about how the planets around you function. I could boot the game up right now, on a new file, and go beat the game just as easy as I did at the end of my 30-hour file, in a matter of about 20 minutes, because I know all the beats. This is an example for how your first voyage might go, as you begin playing this game. You head to the giant water planet with a dozen constant tornadoes called Giants Deep. There are a few areas of note there where you can read some general info about how the old Nomai lived and find a few areas you dont know how to get into. When youre done, you then take off toward the crumbling planet with a black hole core, called Brittle Hollow. There, you learn some more general plot points, and figure out a new, useful tidbit that would teach you how to progress somewhere on the twin planets where sand flows back and forth: the Ash Twins. You decide to head there, and go to the new place you figured out, and you find another clue for how to get to one of the areas you couldnt figure out on Giants Deep, so now you can go back there and learn something else new. Of course, your first voyage might also be a 30 second trip into the center of the sun. You really havent played the game correctly unless youve met a fiery end to the sun at least once. Obviously, the entire game isnt this cut and dry. Many of the clues you come across are quite vague, and its up to you to piece the clues together to reason out how to proceed, especially towards the endgame. The game is very loosely a Metroidvania where you return to places youve been before because you can get into new areas there now. Its just that youre utilizing knowledge of how it all works to get in, not a new upgrade or something. This idea for a game is neat, but it wouldnt be nearly as great as it is if it hadnt supplemented some of the most exceptional storytelling Ive ever witnessed. Im typically not a fan whenever a game decides to tell, rather than show, but Outer Wilds kinda does both at the same time, to amazing effect. You will read about something the Nomai discovered thousands of years ago, but its a big hint for what youre supposed to do and you will just get to experience what they discovered for yourself. As a massive bonus, the Nomais tale is told spectacularly. No matter what order you view them in, you will get attached to certain names, and they all have distinct personalities in their writing. Despite all this praise Im heaping on the journey, the destination makes even more of an impact. There is an ending to the game, and its absolutely phenomenal. Its literally changed my way of thinking about life and our individual role in the universe. Similar to the Danganronpa games Ive listed, Ive loved checking out other peoples playthroughs on YouTube. If you would care to check out some of my favorites, I would recommend Vinnys from Vinesauce for its entertainment value, and Materwelonz for its critical thinking and emotional values. There isnt a single negative thing I can conjure up about this game. Upon reflection, I do believe I lied in my Ghost Trick and Undertale write-ups. Outer Wilds might actually be the most flawless game Ive ever played, and its a much greater undertaking than those games are. The characters are all full of so much personality, those that are alive andthe ones that are dead. The music is also perfect. You only get stingers for most of the game, until you happen upon something particularly important, at which point a little 1-minute melody will play that fits the particular mood. Make it to a fun experiment room? A happy little ditty will play as you peruse the area. Follow a lead that turns into a disaster? A somber tune will course through your ears. And yet the piece that will stick with me the longest is 100% this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVGlXbApOCs There isnt a single song that will get more of a visceral reaction out of me than hearing this one in-game. If youve played it, you know why. Theres always that question hopping around Board 8 of if you had the pen from Men in Black and were able to erase a single game from your memory so you could experience it for the first time again, what would it be? My answer would be Outer Wilds, 100%. Since that will never be a realistic option for anyone, if Ive managed to persuade you to give the game a shot, let me know. Experiencing one of my absolute favorite games of all-time again through my friends is as close to that as I will ever be able to get. ASTROLOGICAL OBJECT RANKINGS: Ash Twins > Giants Deep > Mystery Moon > Timber Hearth > Interloper > Dark Bramble > Attlerock > Brittle Hollow </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Whiskey_Nick 03/09/21 5:26:14 PM #101:	#2. Final Fantasy VII (PS1, 1997) Let's mosey. FF7 was the second RPG I ever played. I have beaten it well over a dozen times. Own it on PS1, PS3 and PS4. And somehow... first played this in a group of 4. On PC. Well I did play it once before that when we rented a PS1, but didn't rent a memory card so instead we played Vigilante 8 all weekend. So yeah I originally played this on PC and loved it so much I talked my parents into a PS1. Everyone on B8 knows all about FF7, so I really don't have much to say. It is another of my top 5 OSTs all time. Cait Sith is one of the worst characters in video games and is really the only bad thing in FF7. The story is timeless. The way the commercials in the 90s showed stuff no one had ever seen. I still think the lego men characters are beautiful. The Materia system is excellent. My go to party is Cloud, Tifa, Cid. I am so hyped for the rest of the remake. Could it actually crack my top 5? Check back in 2043 for this project when we are all in our 50s --- I am Nick. Go Sens, Bills, Blue Jays! UotY 2015, You should listen to The Show w/ Ngamer and Yoblazer <cite>Whiskey_Nick posted [p:951530168] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>#2. Final Fantasy VII (PS1, 1997) Let's mosey. FF7 was the second RPG I ever played. I have beaten it well over a dozen times. Own it on PS1, PS3 and PS4. And somehow... first played this in a group of 4. On PC. Well I did play it once before that when we rented a PS1, but didn't rent a memory card so instead we played Vigilante 8 all weekend. So yeah I originally played this on PC and loved it so much I talked my parents into a PS1. Everyone on B8 knows all about FF7, so I really don't have much to say. It is another of my top 5 OSTs all time. Cait Sith is one of the worst characters in video games and is really the only bad thing in FF7. The story is timeless. The way the commercials in the 90s showed stuff no one had ever seen. I still think the lego men characters are beautiful. The Materia system is excellent. My go to party is Cloud, Tifa, Cid. I am so hyped for the rest of the remake. Could it actually crack my top 5? Check back in 2043 for this project when we are all in our 50s </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
CherryCokes 03/09/21 6:16:52 PM #102:	07. The Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening (GB, 1993, et al) This is where it all started for me with the series, nearly a quarter of a century ago. Links Awakening is the absolute peak of the classic Zelda formula, but its also remarkably unique and different from its NES and SNES relatives. Its distinctly weird and other, and not just because it manages to pack a full Zelda experience into a handheld title. Its the first Zelda game to take place entirely outside of Hyrule, on the odd but idyllic Koholint Island. Characters, locations, and creatures here seem to be echoes of more familiar faces and places from other places, including Hyrule and, peculiarly, the Mushroom Kingdom. It doesnt all add up, and as you progress through the game, you begin to learn why: the entirety of the island exists in the mind of the slumbering Windfish, who you are trying to wake so that you can return home. To save himself and get home, Link must destroy this place, and the people who reside there, the very same people who have helped him on his quest, unwitting self-saboteurs to their own existence. SPOILERS FOR WANDAVISION BELOW Ive been thinking about Links Awakening a lot lately, in part because I knew this writeup was coming, but also as WandaVision has wound to a close. This may seem weird to you, but my brain makes connections in strange ways sometimes, and I think in this case theres a reasonable comparison to be made. Both pieces of culture are set in a fiction created by a character central to the story: Westview created by Wanda for herself, Koholint by created by the Windfish. Both position their protagonist in the center of an idyllic world; Mabe and Westview are unaffected by the harsh realities of the world outside their borders. The residents of both towns cant even conceive of any other place existing! Both WandaVision and Links Awakening engage in misdirection around the nature of their protagonists, and what it means to be a hero. The difference in how the game handles this dilemma is what Links Awakening an all-time great game is what prevents WandaVision from being an all-time great superhero story: the game slowly but steadily makes Link the villain, the undoer of the world youve come to love. WandaVision, which leans so hard into the idea of this hero doing unspeakably villainous things in wake of her grief, instead pulls up lame at the end, trying to convince the viewers that Wanda sacrificed so much for the people of Westview. That Links Awakening tells such a strange and surprisingly bleak story so simply, and sticks the landing, is one of its greatest feats. The best Zelda games are not only fun to play, they tell an interesting story. Links Awakening - in all three of its equally excellent iterations - succeeds marvelously on both points, and having that in my first Zelda experience undoubtedly hooked me for life. --- The Thighmaster <cite>CherryCokes posted [p:951531976] in Board 8 #s... [t:79323228]...</cite> <quote>07. The Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening (GB, 1993, et al) This is where it all started for me with the series, nearly a quarter of a century ago. Links Awakening is the absolute peak of the classic Zelda formula, but its also remarkably unique and different from its NES and SNES relatives. Its distinctly weird and other, and not just because it manages to pack a full Zelda experience into a handheld title. Its the first Zelda game to take place entirely outside of Hyrule, on the odd but idyllic Koholint Island. Characters, locations, and creatures here seem to be echoes of more familiar faces and places from other places, including Hyrule and, peculiarly, the Mushroom Kingdom. It doesnt all add up, and as you progress through the game, you begin to learn why: the entirety of the island exists in the mind of the slumbering Windfish, who you are trying to wake so that you can return home. To save himself and get home, Link must destroy this place, and the people who reside there, the very same people who have helped him on his quest, unwitting self-saboteurs to their own existence. SPOILERS FOR WANDAVISION BELOW Ive been thinking about Links Awakening a lot lately, in part because I knew this writeup was coming, but also as WandaVision has wound to a close. This may seem weird to you, but my brain makes connections in strange ways sometimes, and I think in this case theres a reasonable comparison to be made. Both pieces of culture are set in a fiction created by a character central to the story: Westview created by Wanda for herself, Koholint by created by the Windfish. Both position their protagonist in the center of an idyllic world; Mabe and Westview are unaffected by the harsh realities of the world outside their borders. The residents of both towns cant even conceive of any other place existing! Both WandaVision and Links Awakening engage in misdirection around the nature of their protagonists, and what it means to be a hero. The difference in how the game handles this dilemma is what Links Awakening an all-time great game is what prevents WandaVision from being an all-time great superhero story: the game slowly but steadily makes Link the villain, the undoer of the world youve come to love. WandaVision, which leans so hard into the idea of this hero doing unspeakably villainous things in wake of her grief, instead pulls up lame at the end, trying to convince the viewers that Wanda sacrificed so much for the people of Westview. That Links Awakening tells such a strange and surprisingly bleak story so simply, and sticks the landing, is one of its greatest feats. The best Zelda games are not only fun to play, they tell an interesting story. Links Awakening - in all three of its equally excellent iterations - succeeds marvelously on both points, and having that in my first Zelda experience undoubtedly hooked me for life. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
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Board 8 > Board 8 #sports Discord Ranks Their Top 100 Video Games Finale: THE TOP 10 (+) Yeah! (+)

Board 8 > Board 8 #sports Discord Ranks Their Top 100 Video Games Finale: THE TOP 10