Board 8 > transience's top 100 games -- almost 2022 edition.

(+) Yeah! (+)

wow I've literally never heard of this ga--

transience posted...

(Apple Arcade)

oh that would explain it

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I bet it finds its way around eventually

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i remember really wanting to play it when it was released. the only time in my life i wished I had an iphone

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transience posted...

But for weirdo JRPG combat fans like me who like to impose dumb challenges upon myself like a four job fiesta or beating old every FF game solo, this is right up my alley.

Out of interest, what is your favorite challenge you've tried? (If it's FJF, what's your second?) Also what challenge did your regret trying the most but saw through to the end anyways.
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I don't know about 'favorite', but the one I struggled against the most was probably beating Ozma in FF9 with a solo Zidane. that took a huge number of attempts to figure out the mechanics of how it was going to work. I also enjoyed soloing Nemesis in FF10 with just Tidus. I am sure there are other challenges that I enjoyed a good bit.. but when it comes to stupid RPG challenges, those are the ones. if we go outside of RPG challenges, probably my Zero Mission stuff was my favorite, or maybe the c-sides in Celeste.

my stupidest challenge was probably Super Metroid without energy tanks, which took me forever because of the Ridley fight. it's stupid because you can't actually beat the game because the final boss forces you to lose 3 energy tanks. I used to think this was hugely impressive until I started watching what the speed run maniacs can do. I'm pretty sure that I still have that save despite having beaten super metroid maybe 30 times since doing that, because I was just so proud of it.

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Sometimes I wonder what Super Metroid speedrunning would look like if it wasn't for the forced minimum energy tanks. Even as is with the forced extra HP a lot of runs die.
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39.



I'm honestly not sure what to say about this game besides 'it's real good'. It's Dragon Quest in HD, which is a big deal after so long. The crafting system is addictive and the game has some really strong scenes, scenes that go beyond what you would usually see in a DQ game. One scene in particular is crazy, and anyone who has played this knows what I mean. (It's nothing compared to the legendary Dragon Quest: Your Story, though.)

This is essentially 3 games in one if you include the postgame, which I think you have to. It's interesting how things cycle. It's clearly done to cut down on the number of assets needed, something a whole lot of recent JRPGs do now. But even with that, this game is just a huge triumph, just that it exists.

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I'd like to get back to DQ11 sometime. Serena just joined my party the last time I played it, so I'm still really early.

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yeah, the beginning isn't super strong. it isn't until just a little after that where it gets really good, maybe one or two more arcs.

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One of these days, I will beat a Dragon Quest. I started a playthrough of DQ8 on 3DS fairly recently, but then I got distracted by GAA and haven't been back to it.

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how far did you get in 8?

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I played the original a long time ago and got to the part where Dhoulmagus enters a cave or something. I've heard talk about the fight there being notoriously tough, but I never actually fought him.

I only played a few hours on the 3DS version before GAA dropped. I'm going to try to follow a guide to keep me on the right track so I don't get frustrated and quit.

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11 IS real good

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ah, the 3DS version is a lot easier to deal with overall. that fight is hard for sure, but it's only hard in comparison to the rest of the game. if you get to level 30 and get multiheal it's not even a thing.

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38.



I still love this game. It plays better than SH2 because it's not voiced. The music still kills it and the tone that the game sets still works. I'd stop short of calling it a horror RPG, but it definitely has some creepy elements that work super well.

The combat of this game doesn't hold up at all - it's just the most basic fight and heal stuff around. But that's okay, because the monster designs are crazy and you can blast through them pretty quickly, especially once you get to the second half of the game. I still really enjoy this one.

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hey now SH1 isn't totally unvoiced, never forget the villain laughing maniacally before shouting "d'oh" because he got hit by random debris

Seriously though, I think I prefer SH2 because it has a better cast and the combat is fun to break, but I can see the argument for preferring SH1. It sells you on its atmosphere and the story of the three characters who actually matter, and it works.

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37.

The classic. No RPG is more classic than FF4, even FF1, because of just how much it defined. By that same token, you can also say that this game is boring - because it's doing the things every other RPG has been doing for 30 years now. I've always had a super fond spot for it though as I grew up playing this game. The plot is kinda dumb because people are blowing themselves up left and right - choosing your party members wasn't quite a thing yet - but it makes for climactic scenes and strong boss fights. FF4's plot goes places quickly, with strong pacing, and the end of the game is good because of the tough battles and bosses. Still love this game 30 years later.

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Some people hate the super melodrama but I really love it. It's so early 90s and works perfectly on this one game.
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FFIV doesn't do much for me but I didn't play it until I'd played all the PS1 FFs, so I probably just came to it too late.

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the backgrounds in Fantasian aren't just prerendered, they're real-life dioramas that they built and photographed

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36.



Progression and pace are king in Suikoden. I love the building of my castle, and the game moves so damn quickly. This game feels like a full RPG but lasts maybe 15 hours because each area is just a few screens and there aren't any long cutscenes to speak of. The characters are fine, nothing special, but there's so damn many of them that the game becomes about trying to fill out your space and overcome the empire rather than the individual personalities of each guy.

When this game gets its hooks into you, it's hard to stop. I played this a month or so ago and basically neglected everything else I was doing until I saw credits. Great game.

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yeah the fantasian dioramas are nuts

https://twitter.com/auuo/status/1378731532773257221

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transience posted...

36.



Progression and pace are king in Suikoden. I love the building of my castle, and the game moves so damn quickly. This game feels like a full RPG but lasts maybe 15 hours because each area is just a few screens and there aren't any long cutscenes to speak of. The characters are fine, nothing special, but there's so damn many of them that the game becomes about trying to fill out your space and overcome the empire rather than the individual personalities of each guy.

When this game gets its hooks into you, it's hard to stop. I played this a month or so ago and basically neglected everything else I was doing until I saw credits. Great game.

Love to see it


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35.



Hey, not an RPG! Don't get used to it. Banished is just a lovely little village builder where you focus on the micro over the macro. Your village will never get above 1,000 people, and each person is individually named, age over time, and eventually die. The goal of this game is to survive the winter, which means storing enough food and having enough warmth. Sometimes it's a really bad winter and you need to be able to deal with that.

Most games of Banished end with your people getting wiped out, and in that sense it's more of a survival game than a city builder. I get really attached to my village and it crushes me when they die due to my own overexpansion or greediness. That challenge and balance is what makes me really love this game.

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34.



FF10 does one of the best jobs I've ever seen of establishing a setting. The world of Spira is really well realized thanks to all of its norms and traditions. There's an entire culture that's well defined here, different from modern day but not so different that it feels distant and foreign. It feels like I can relate to its people. For example, I know that Wakka is totally an antivaxxer idiot.

I think it's so fascinating that FF10 can pull this off while its level design is literally just a straight arrow from one side of the world to the other. You have no agency in this game but the game pulls the wool over your eyes with all of the set dressing that it lays down. There's other stuff here, like the strong battle system, the leveling system that's been copied to death for the last 20 years, and the dialogue which, while somewhat iconic, leaves a whole lot to be desired. But when I think back on this game, the strongest feeling I have is the sense of place - the Calm and the Sending and the Maesters and Al Bhed and you name it.

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Yeah, Spira is one of the best RPG worlds out there, and it's even more impressive that they pulled it off without a world map. I have a certain nostalgia for FFVIII that will always keep it #1 in my heart, but FFX is about as close to a perfect gaming experience for me as there is.

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I still need to go back and do part 3 of DQXI... I had a self-imposed rule of trying to read all of the NPC dialogue every time it updated and the prospect of doing a world tour all at once made me take a break from it.

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I was really liking DQXI until part 3. Dragged the game down quite a bit for me, unfortunately.
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part 3 is weird. I think it makes up for it by the end, but I also just really like that game and having more to do.

I think NPC dialogue is the worst part about modern DQ. those accents

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last one for tonight

33.



A lot of people first got into this game when the PSP remake came out in 2011, but I've been a huge fan of this game since the 90s. (it's one of only 12 games to make every one of my lists going back to 2003.) FFT's predecessor has a more dynamic story and is probably grittier as well. The things that Tactics Ogre's cast does is awful and you're stuck picking between bad situations and miserable schemers. Some people don't like that because you're not some idealistic rebel fighting against the empire like Ramza, but I think it's very cool.

Tactics Ogre's got some weird stuff in the gameplay department, especially the remake, that stops it from being as good as FFT, but on the right day I'll prefer it just because of the way it tells its story.

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transcience posted...

part 3 is weird. I think it makes up for it by the end, but I also just really like that game and having more to do.

I think NPC dialogue is the worst part about modern DQ. those accents

I could take or leave the accents, but I absolutely love how the npcs have their own little stories that you can learn about over the course of the game (especially in VII as the world is restored)

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I feel like I'd enjoy Tactics Ogre but for some reason have never played it

gonna check out Fantasian and The Messenger - both of those look cool

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Final Fantasy IV is basically an adaptation of the Terry Gilliam film The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Terry Gilliam is a Monty Python alum. That explains so much.

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32.



Just an absolute classic. SF5 is okay but SF4 is awesome and still fun as heck to play today. I'm not any good it anymore -- not that I ever was -- but just trying to pull off some of the higher level stuff is super duper satisfying.

Of course, I don't have the time or interest to devote to playing a game like this competitively, so a lot of my feelings on this are more theoretical. I'd love to spend a day just trying to FADC into ultra but that's not realistically going to happen, and I don't find playing randos online fun in pretty much any game. So, while I super duper love this game, I'm probably not going to be finding myself in too many situations to actually play it.

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Heck yeah, SFIV is awesome. That's probably the only game where I've played a substantial amount online. I played against several B8ers and I didn't even mind playing randos in this one. A shame SFV didn't measure up.

Guy and Cody for life

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31.



This is basically the only Mario game I care about at this point, basically because it plays like something unique. Odyssey is such a creative game. It's got really great wide open environments and it's so colorful and dynamic. They're a joy to just explore, and the game gives you so many ways to do so with the different captures. Wandering around the sand kingdom as a bullet bill, or around the cap kingdom as a frog, or whatever is super enjoyable. The platforming stuff is fun but honestly, it's just wandering around and seeing what you find that gets me.

And then there's the moons. Moons are just seeping out of every crevice in this game. You can walk into a kingdom and just happen upon like 30 moons. You don't need to look hard to seek them out. That feeling of discovery is amazing and it's so easy to get lost meaning to do one thing but ending up doing five others before getting back to your main objective. This game is just so cool. You'll notice I don't talk at all about the bosses or the progression, and that's because they're really secondary to just wandering and finding cool stuff everywhere. You don't even need to do most of it if you find enough moons, and believe me, you won't struggle to find enough moons if you try.

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I need to replay Odyssey at some point. I haven't touched it since I originally beat it, but yeah, that casual feeling of exploration is really neat.

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30.



Just a lovely 2d action game. Like the original Bleed, Bleed 2 has some of the best minute to minute action around, with absolutely zero fluff. There's maybe 27 bosses in 70 minutes here and each one is good. Bleed 2 adds a parry that feels so essential and good that it renders the previous game obsolete.

Bleed 2 is also fun to play co-op and there are multiple characters to play with that all feel unique. It's not a game you can really play endlessly, but it is one that I go back every once in a while and enjoy every time.

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29.



This Ikaruga-inspired platformer is just a fun play. There's bullet patterns everywhere and you have to switch colors to absorb them. The patterns feel tough but there's always a pretty reasonable way through them. It makes you feel like you're solving challenging puzzles but not dying endlessly to them. It's nice.

This game feels like a metroidvania but it's really just extra gold and life that are just slightly off the beaten path. It's appreciated, though, and makes everything feel like an interconnected world. Lots of good stuff here, and it's too bad it never got followed up on. The developer's doing pretty okay for themselves so I don't think they'll be revisiting this anytime in the future.

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I never finished Outland but I enjoyed my time with it

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Hey I played that one. I liked it but I think I went in expecting metroidvania and left a little disappointed. Had I gone for the action I probably would have appreciated it more. And getting the platinum required grinding out almost as much gold as I naturally aquired the whole game.

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yeah, metroidvania means something specific to me as a big fan of the genre and a connected world isn't enough. you have to have some degree of autonomy over the world and what you do. no one is going back into old worlds other than to find those little bonus trinkets.

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Yeah, I wouldn't consider Outland a Metroidvania.

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28.



It takes a little bit for this game to get moving, but once you get into the heart of the plot with Magus, the Masamune/Dreamstone and, eventually, Zeal -- it's just among the best ever. Everything about this game feels simple and straightforward, but not to the point of it being boring. It's just accessible and likable, and it's got a whole lot of charm thanks to its great look and soundtrack too.

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Yeah, I've always said I'm not sure CT does anything particularly great but it does everything well.

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heck yeah DQXI, that's a top 5 game right there

heck yeah USF4, that's a top 5 game right there

I got Mario Odyssey for my birthday recently, so I'm excited to finally give that a play, when I have some free time

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transience posted...

It takes a little bit for this game to get moving,

Nah I think by the time you get to the trial the plot is already movin

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it is, but it doesnt really get interesting until you get to the end of time. the future section is probably the low point.

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Yeah, the future section is a stark contrast to the rest of the game because it's just so bleak and colorless in an otherwise colorful game.

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27.



I'll still be playing this game in 2050. The original, mostly, because that's what I grew up with. But I also played the pixel remaster recently, and while that game feels like a perversion of the spirit of the game that I grew up with, it's still fun to walk through that world with those six classes.

I won't try to argue that a newcomer should play this archaic game, but man do I love it.

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