Lurker > transience

so wait, he died or didn't? don't leave me hanging here

Joker had this ranking system where your monster would be rank F, E, D, etc, and breeding them focused on what rank they were moreso than a unique combination. there were some unique combos but most of it felt like you were banging your head against an artificial wall due to rank. Persona kinda uses this method too but not as explicitly.

Joker also had stat maxes for each character. in Monsters, you could create this uberslime with 999 HP/MP and max stats if you wanted, but Joker forced you to live within the character's archetype. your Battlerex could have tons of attack but low MP, or your metal slime would never have anything more than tiny HP. Joker in general had a structure to it that it forced you into while DQM felt a lot more freeform.

MacArrowny posted...

Out of curiosity, have you gone back to and enjoyed Ori 1 after playing Ori 2?

yeah, I have. it's still good, though it takes a while to get used to the lack of direct combat or (especially) the need to create your own save points. Ori 2 just starts with Ori 1's base and adds so much more, and the games are already so similar. even the Metroid games aren't as similar as Ori 1 is to Ori 2. they have different game feel - not so much with Ori.

SeabassDebeste posted...

why's that?

the DQM remake basically changes the mechanics of the game. it's still cool, but the Joker games that came out on DS changed the way Monsters games worked for good, and some of the changes are offputting.

CoolCly posted...

I've never tried Shin Megami Tensei but I've heard it may be similar... I thought Persona was that so I tried Persona 5 which was a good game but not what I'd hoped, but apparently that's actually a spinoff?

SMT and Persona are essentially different series' in my book. they share the same monsters and breeding mechanics but the scope of them are totally different. SMT is maybe a little more focused on monster breeding but not significantly so. you aren't going to scratch the DQM itch with SMT - DQM is just nothing but breeding while SMT has a whole RPG storyline and whatnot. SMT's fine and Persona's good, but yeah, different things.

#21. Final Fantasy X

I'm high on this game after a recent replay. This game is honestly among the very best in every major JRPG aspect: story, setting, combat, gameplay systems, you name it. There are issues with the characters as it relates to voice acting and dialogue, but otherwise this is the complete package. When FFX goes wrong it goes way off the rails, like some of those ultimate weapon sidequests, but overall this game really nails it.

#20. Ori and the Blind Forest

This game has amazing art design and some of the greatest 2d traversal in all of video games -- and it almost doesn't matter because it's been replaced by its superior sequel. I hate saying that and I hate trying to evaluate this game because of it. Let's just move on.

#19. Dragon Warrior Monsters

My favourite DQ thing is this dumb monster breeding game. There's no story to speak of and every dungeon is randomly generated -- is this a roguelite?? -- but the DQ hooks get me real good. This game can occupy my mind and my time more than any other game on the list. I'm always looking for another one of these that's anywhere near as charming or as enjoyable, kinda like how I'm always looking for the next great strategy rpg. But there's only one DQM. Even the remake of this game doesn't do it justice.

the PSP translation is definitely the better one but it's hard to get over certain changes of iconic scenes and especially names. if you change skill names and character names then you're going to throw off a lot of people.

#24. Shadow Hearts

The tone of the original Shadow Hearts is what I look for in an old PS1 RPG. This came out on the PS2 but it's really a PS1 game. There's nothing systems-wise that stands out in SH1 but the feel of moving through those lovely prerendered environments and hearing that music and those sound effects is top notch. I ripped through this game the week Pennyblood was announced and had an absolute blast despite it being pretty archaic mechanically.

#23. Final Fantasy Tactics

Blame yourself or God. FFT's character builds are the best in the genre and the maneuvering political story is really strong. You can really get lost trying to build out the perfect guy. The classes are wildly unbalanced and that kinda makes it more fun -- but if you want perfect balance there's mods for that too and those are also awesome. This game has been the star of the depressed chess genre for decades.

#22. F-Zero GX

Dear god this game is good. It might actually be perfect. As I say every year, no futuristic racing game has come out since that can even remotely compete with F-Zero GX. I've been playing the demo for this upcoming Kickstarter game called Aero GPX that is the closest I've seen in the 20 years since this game's release. I've grown a little tired of GX since there's not a lot to get out of racing the same tracks over and over, but it's undoubtedly one of the best games ever made.

#27. Super Mario Odyssey

I'm not much of a Mario guy -- this is the only Mario game on the list -- but man, I love Odyssey's creativity and energy. The semi open world structure hits me in the right way and the traversal is amazing thanks to all the interesting enemy captures. I'm not sure why I love this game and hate Mario 64, but here we are. This game is so joyful and enthusiastic. I've been waiting for a followup for 6 years and still nothing even announced!

#26. Dragon Quest VIII

It's Dragon Quest at its best: colorful visuals, a huge open world, and some of the best monster designs in the biz. There's so much to do in this game and the story is really strong for a DQ game -- some of the moments in it really resonate and the villain (well, the first one) is legitimately terrifying.

I wish they would give this game a proper remake - the 3DS version adds some QOL stuff that is absolutely vital to enjoying this game, but also kills a lot of the production values due to the limitations of that system. One day they'll bring this back in style.

#25. Cave Story

Cave Story is this weird blending of genres that is hard to even describe, something between Mega Man and Metroid but pretty far from both. I never know how to pigeonhole this one.

And that's a good thing, because it's totally unique. This game has some really cool weapon and gameplay systems, and good boss encounters thanks to them. I dunno, this game is just a great play. Cave Story is awesome.

#30. Persona 3 Portable

This has always been my favourite of the Personas just because it cuts the BS and focuses on dungeon crawling and social linking. The cutscenes are like 5 minutes tops as opposed to later games that get way out of control.

I picked this up a few weeks ago just for a temperature check and I ended up playing the whole thing. The music and tone of this game are way up there. There's some quality of life stuff the later games have that this one lacks, but otherwise it's my go-to for the series.

#29. Final Fantasy

This will always be high on my list just because of my emotional attachment to my first Final Fantasy. Even 35 years later, I can still pick up the original and pound through it happily. And if I ever get bored, there's a boatload of hard mode mods waiting for me.

#28. VVVVVV

Is there a friendlier pick up and play game than VVVVVV? It's directional keys + one button, the whole game is infectiously happy, and the music just gets you in the mood. This game is about an hour long and gives you everything you want out of a simple 2d platformer, and if you do want more there's the trinkets for extra fun. I'm pretty sure it's impossible to dislike VVVVVV.

#35. Mega Man 2

One of the most playable games ever. I pick this game up and play it all the damn time. MM2 is honestly pretty easy by MM standards, and once you know how to deal with each enemy you don't even need to use weapons on the bosses. This game has killer music for a NES game and is just a joy.

#34. Chrono Trigger

Also a joy! CT seems like an obvious pick for the "best" JRPG of all time. It's paced immaculately and the game looks and sounds great even by 2023 standards. It's a consistent 8.5/10 throughout the whole game. It doesn't reach some of the highs of other games, and that keeps it below some of my top tier RPGs.

#33. Mega Man 9

I like this game just a tiny bit more than 2. MM9 is a lot harder and you'd have to have a Mega Man savant to beat some of those bosses without using their weapon powers. MM9 has an amazing array of weapons, though, whereas 2 just has the metal blade that crushes everything in the game. Each weapon has lots of great use in the level as well as being boss weaknesses. MM9's fun factor isn't quite as high as 2's, but its weapon variety and interesting level design push it just the smallest bit above 2 for me.

#32. Suikoden

The original Suikoden has pacing on the level of a Chrono Trigger, and has a super interesting story. I love the progression of the game, not just the building of your castle but the slow push from being a band of idiots to becoming a full fledged army. Suikoden moves so quickly and it's such a fun romp to get into once you get your castle going and feel the game's flow.

(For those wondering about my eternal struggle to finally complete Suikoden 2, I played it last year for quite a while and got maybe 15 hours in... and then it quite literally crashed my Vita and corrupted every single save on the device. I'm not kidding. That game continues to hate me. I'm going to buy the remake solely to try to defeat this curse. Maybe I need a new version of the game to overcome it. This has happened to me in various forms about 5 times now.)

#31. Skul: The Hero Slayer

Skul! This game is super good! I don't think people know Skul all that well, but it should be mentioned alongside Hades and Rogue Legacy and Enter the Gungeon and all of those kinds of games. It's better than all of 'em. Skul is basically sidescrolling Hades but with (in my opinion) much better progression and a much higher skill ceiling. This game is super hard and you come across dozens of different skull forms -- think the weapons in Hades -- that you can equip.

The builds you come across in this game are super interesting and varied, and the game is so hard that you need to really master each item in order to survive. I'd actually recommend that any new player start on the easy mode because even that mode will kill you fast. I can't recommend this enough for people who like those kinds of games.

#40. Final Fantasy IV

The OG JRPG. FF4 introduces all the FF concepts that apply to the modern age and as someone who played it on day 1, it was game changing. That stuff hits me in the right spot, but FF4 also has some of the most interesting rom hack content out there, from the Free Enterprise randomizer (which is amazing) to some of the fan games that have been made (I've probably played 6 different FF4 hacks, which is saying something because I own every copy of FF4 out there!) I most recently played the pixel remaster and had a great time going back through the game, even getting all of the stupid achievements.

#39. Chained Echoes

This game. My god. All I can think about is how essentially one person made all the content for this thing. Usually indie JRPGs are short little jaunts, or if they're really packed with stuff, maybe 15-20 hours. Chained Echoes looks like a 16 bit RPG but has the scope and feel of a PS1 game, all while wearing its influences on its sleeve: Xenogears, FF6, Suikoden, Xenoblade, etc. This guy knows the right games and nails the impressions perfectly.

And while it borrows from all of those games, it is entirely its own game with tons of interesting ideas, both in combat and narratively. Chained Echoes manages to somehow stand alongside JRPG titans without looking like a one-man show, which is the absolute highest praise I can give it. I don't know if it'll stay this high on future lists as I slowly accept the magnitude of what one person accomplished here, but I was legitimately shook at how the game kept going above and above my expectations every time.

#38. The Walking Dead

This game probably had the biggest emotional impact on me of any game I've played. The relationship between the two main characters is beautiful and devastating. I'm not sure that any other game crushes your spirit quite like this one, and if you like that kind of thing (I do), then it's one of the best games around.

This is another game I'll gladly never play again but it's a damn masterpiece.

#37. Street Fighter IV

This game is still great! I played SF6 a few weeks ago and oh my god. Nothing makes me feel like a boomer than getting demolished on a modern fighter. SF4 feels like a modern fighter but also plays in a way that doesn't make me feel like a moron. I love this game's mechanics and meters. Like SF2, nobody is going to play this game against me, but I enjoy just playing the CPU or whatever. A great game.

#36. Outland

This Ikaruga-like in platformer clothing plays like a metroidvania but without the nonlinear progression. It's honestly a dumb genre mashup but it somehow works super well. The game's difficulty curve is so smooth that you end up doing some pretty impressive stuff with your hands to get through the obstacles. This one's just fun.

okay here comes the JRPG section of my list. they really clumped up this year.

#45. Triangle Strategy

For literally decades, I have been diving into the depths trying to find the next Final Fantasy Tactics or Tactics Ogre. I once heard someone describe them as "depressed chess" and I'm sticking with that. I've looked for games with similar job systems like Fell Seal, or dumb anime games like Disgaea (how are they up to Disgaea 7???), or old PSP games like Jeanne d'Arc, or even kickstarted spiritual successors that still aren't out 5 years later. It's been a long list of failures from my perspective. Some people like those games but they aren't TO or FFT.

So Triangle Strategy comes along and.. isn't really mechanically like those games at all, but does a shockingly amazing job of matching exactly what I want from those games. Important aristocrats scheming, cool combat mechanics and interesting narrative choices that I struggled with for several minutes before making a choice. It does branching paths as well or better than Tactics Ogre which is saying something. I had a really great time with this game.

#44. Bleed 2

Bleed 2 is just a great 2d action game. It's only about 90 minutes long but there are like 25 bosses or something in those 90 minutes. The action per minute count on this game is about as high as anything out there. It's right there with this next game.

#43. Ikaruga

This game is maybe 21 minutes long and once it gets going, literally every second is thrilling. I'll always suck at it but I go back to it every couple of years trying to crack the code of how to deal with level 4. I will never get there but the impossibly high bar pushes me to always try again.

#42. Fantasian

This mobile game is an amazing achievement. It nails the feel of a PS1 RPG but with a lot of modern quality of life improvements. The music and story and prerendered backgrounds feel like it was ripped straight out of 1999. This game would be super highly regarded if it wasn't an apple arcade exclusive. One day it'll break those chains.

This game got released in two parts -- think world of balance and ruin from FF6 -- and the second part is some of the hardest turn based combat out there. The bosses are oh my god. The bar is so high that even JRPG super vets like me struggle with it. Figuring out how to overcome the game was a lot of fun for me, but it's not a casual kind of playthrough despite being a cute throwback mobile game.

#41. Final Fantasy VI

Yeah it's good. Lately I've been enjoying some of the quality rom hacks the community has made around this game. I played one a couple years ago that's largely a rebalance and makes some really smart decisions. It even has Leo as a playable character, something I laughed at but actually works better than it should!

I considered GAA2 for my list since it made it near the bottom last time, and I realized that I've completely forgotten every detail about those games

yeah that's huge. I owned a game gear once, not sure I need to do it again

#50. The Messenger

This game starts as a ninja gaiden clone but turns into a metroidvania halfway through as it morphs to 16 bit. The gameplay mechanics are really strong and the level design is challenging enough to make you master those mechanics. This game can be hard to put down because it's so fun to just traverse the world. Those challenging jumps feel good.

#49. Inside

I always put this game and Brothers in the same box. Inside's narrative punch at the end has to be seen to be believed, and you'll never forget the feeling once you go inside. This game feels like a silent horror film and the level of production is pretty incredible. There's a lot of hand crafted work to make that ending soar.

#48. Dragon Quest XI

DQ11 is lovely. It's basically DQ8 in HD, but the story doesn't hit quite as hard (though it's good) and the music is kind of dreadful thanks to its composer being like 90 years old. There's lots of cool mechanics though and some of the scenes it sets up are shocking (in a good way). There's also a lot of reused assets as you essentially revisit each location 3 different times, and that's kind of a bummer. That's the side effect of designing those darn HD towns, I guess. Anyway, I love DQ games and this is maybe the only true HD game in the series.

#47. Ace Attorney

You know how some people swear by the Star Wars OT and everything else is kinda watered down in comparison? That's me with the original AA trilogy. This game is exceedingly simple compared to where the series eventually goes but just seeing those charming characters connect for the first time is enough for me. This game basically ends two different times and both of them are really strong climaxes.

#46. Haiku, the Robot

An amazing metroidvania from a single creator that was kickstarted. My derogatory shorthand for this game is "Hollow Knight but good" -- it has all the tropes that Hollow Knight brought into the 'vania conversation but done in ways that I appreciate. The bosses are tough but manageable and the inventory management/powerup system is fun to play with. It's just a good damn metroidvania and I will always love those.

that AA7 leak is from like 3 years ago and it hasn't resurfaced yet. that, along with the fact that it's been 7 years and the only thing we've gotten since are rereleases of old games, suggests to me that they aren't too keen about investing in the property, especially since dev costs increase when you talk about a system with HD capabilities.

#55. Inscryption

Oh man, where to start with this game? At its heart, Inscryption is a deckbuilder with a ton of creepy vibes, and that stuff works super well. But it also has multiple meta layers and iterations of game that are completely different. Some of that stuff doesn't land but the overall presentation and just wondering what the hell the game is going to do next. Even when the narrative completes, there's stuff like Kaycee's Mod that turns into a proper roguelite deckbuilder to give the game extra value. I pop back into that thing on occasion just because I like the gruesome mechanics of the game.

#54. Life is Strange

The Telltale style of game and its descendants are such a weird thing to consider when making a list. These are games that have choice driven narratives but the choices you make are your own personal canon and you don't want to replay them ever out of fear of overwriting that truth. That's LIS to me - a really good story about high school and time travel that I don't really want to experience again.

#53. Ace Attorney 6

This game ends the second trilogy of AA games with an absolute bang. The last case of AA6 sets up some astonishing choices that you can't wait to see where it goes.. and then you remember that this game came out 7 years ago and there's still not an AA7 even announced. It's another casualty of the Switch revolution.

#52. Etrian Odyssey 4

The best Etrian game isn't just a solid dungeon crawler - there's also an overworld that you can explore. Dungeons are broken into smaller levels, kind of like a regular dungeon in an RPG, and you can tackle them at your pace rather than just continuously descend. EO4 has some of the coolest classes and the interactions between them are probably the best in the series. I wish this game had some of the QOL features that later games had, but it's still the best one despite not having some of that stuff.

#51. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

This game is my personal posterchild for the short, 3 hour mid-budget indie game with a narrative punch at the end. Brothers's final punch is as strong as any game ever made and that feeling stays with me some 10 years later. The game itself is a nice little puzzle game where you control two characters with one controller, but really you're just here to experience that last hit, and it's as effective as anything out there.

KommunistKoala posted...

I don't really think of 3 as that much more anime than 1 personally. 2 isn't for everyone that's for sure.

you're not wrong, but 1 really ramps up toward the end of the game (and that's the worst part of XB1). 2 and 3 are just more pronounced. some of those overlong battle scenes in 3 are just hilarious.

#60. Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin

This has been my favorite Castlevania game since the day it was released. It's the perfect mix between classic Castlevania and the more modern (not so modern anymore) Castlevania - the sprawling maze-y goodness that people associate it with today. It even has a whip and a sword. The second half of the game especially shines from a traversal perspective.

#59. Shadow Hearts: Covenant

This game hasn't aged especially well but I'm on a big Shadow Hearts kick right now with Pennyblood having been announced. SH2's humor has certainly not held up -- a gay vampire wrestler isn't the hilarious zing that it used to be, and maybe never was? -- but the storyline of Yuri and his demons works really well, and this game ends as strong as any JRPG ever has.

#58. Xenoblade Chronicles

The more Xenoblade that I play, the more exhausted I am of the combat system. Yeah, they add tweaks to it but there's only so many hours I can stand there and let the skills pop off. In reality it's not that different from your classic ATB system but something about it, the characters yelling attacks while I circle around and wait for meters to fill, just doesn't do it for me like it did in 2011.

It doesn't help that Xenoblade 3 is anime to the extreme, a style that I just can't get into. Xeno games have always been anime but Xenoblade 2 and 3 have been anime in that Tales kind of way that irks me, and drags the original down in the process. It's a great game to explore but this used to be in my top 10 and I wouldn't consider it now.

#57. Portal

I figured that this game wouldn't hold up, so I played it last week and, yeah, it totally does. Okay, the cake is a lie is anti-funny these days, but the simple puzzle nature of Portal, along with its relative brevity just really works for me. The game feels good to explore and I much prefer this game's simplicity to what they did in Portal 2, another game I've been playing with my youngest in co-op. That game is fun but the original is where it's at.

#56. Castle Crashers

This is the only classic beat em up that I really like. It's exceedingly simple in all aspects but I don't know, something about it keeps it fun despite it being really mashy. I like building out my characters with the most simple of RPG mechanics and I like fighting the goofy bosses. I love this thing. Its lowest common denominator design really works because it's so ubiquitous and everyone can pick it up and play it competently. It's a great couch co-op game and always will be.

#65. Desert Golfing

I love this dumb game. It doesn't belong anywhere near a top 100 but it's just so cozy. I broke my addiction to this thing the day that Slay the Spire came out on mobile, and truth be told, I spend more time these days playing the sequel, Golf on Mars, than Desert Golfing. But the original is just such a weird timeless classic to me that it has to be my pick for this list.

#64. Tales of Maj'Eyal

I'm not well versed in capital-r Roguelikes, but my go-to is this little game, which feels like a custom NES RPG that rebuilds itself for you each time you play it. There's more to this game than I could ever want to engage with, and I often stick with just one or two classes because getting deeper in than that is basically committing yourself to playing just his one game for a year, kinda like an MMO. This game is deeper than just about anything else I play and I can only engage so much with that stuff, but it's really good.

#63. Tunic

This game is just fascinating. It's like Zelda 1 crossed with Fez and maybe a Souls game. Unraveling this game's secrets is so enthralling, something that it doesn't look like it would have if you just looked at its cute isometric visuals and Zelda-inspired combat. Instead, you're learning a whole language and learning the game's mechanics on the fly via finding pages of an instruction manual and all sorts of other crazy stuff. Unlocking how you even engage with this game is what makes it so cool.

#62. Ace Attorney Investigations 2

This might be the most complete Ace Attorney game. No other game is as cohesive as this sprawling game that takes place across 5 cases but is really one continuous story. There are great moments in this game, but it also gets overlong at times so it isn't quite on the level of the top games in the AA series. It feels like the apex of what the AA series can be though.

#61. Metroid Fusion

It's nominally a metroidvania, but feels more like a survival horror game in Metroid clothing. You're stalked in this game and the music is more about eliciting a feeling from you than letting you explore an interesting space. You're getting powerups not to get stronger, but to survive. Once you reorient yourself to those expectations, this game is great. It's not a top tier Metroid game and that is by design.

#70. Actraiser

Just a classic SNES game, the one that really showed off the power of the system for that first time. It probably doesn't hang if it comes out fresh in 2023, but I have such strong feelings attached to the weird mix of action and town building here. Also I will never play the recent "remake" because it looks like poo poo.

#69. The Legend of Zelda

The open ended nature of this game really works in its favor so many years later. It's the originator of the "randomizer" and might still be the best version of those thanks to its open ended design. I still come back to play this every couple of years and my memory holds up just well enough to know where to go without knowing every single secret. I used to know it inside and out, but not so much anymore, and that's probably a good thing.

#68. Crypt of the Necrodancer

I suuuuuuuck at this game and love it anyway. One day I'll finally beat it? I love rhythm games and this weird dungeon crawler/rhythm hybrid just works for me.

#67. Final Fantasy IX

The most "classic" of the Final Fantasies: I'm more nostalgic over this game than some of the older ones in the series, FF4 or whatever. It's weird because it's very clearly a love letter to that game. I love the story and the atmosphere presented here, but the slow gameplay keeps me from having it much higher. It's not just the battle speed, but also the narrative pacing as you go into some of those slower, less interesting towns.

#66. Dragon Quest Builders 2

This spinoff is way better than it has any right to be. I'm not a Minecraft guy by any stretch but the simple act of building crossed with familiar DQ trappings and a narrative purpose really works for it. I love the grind from entering a dead area to having this sprawling metropolis that looks like a disaster but produces everything I need. This game has a lot of spirit.

the best use case for the switch is being able to throw it in a bag on a trip and still play a decent chunk of modern games. some games don't work super great on it portably, but your simpler, slower paced games perform pretty well, and that's mostly what I play these days anyway.

#75: Mega Man 11

They made a new Mega Man, it was good, it sold well, and it modernized a bunch of stuff just enough for the hardcore fans (sup) to not revolt... and then never made another Mega Man again. This game is really solid! I look forward to an eventual MM12 but Mega Man might be in that weird spot where any release is just pandering to a boomer audience.

#74. Geometry Wars 2

This game is so 2009, and maybe the only XBLA game that didn't find its way to another platform. It must be some licensing thing. GW2 still slaps and the visuals are still really impressive 15 years later. One of the big draws of this game was competing on leaderboards and, well, nobody sane still plays this game at a high level. Still, it's fun to throw on for a few minutes and get your face blown off by the visuals. Kinda like Vampire Survivors, I guess? Actually, my first reaction on Vampire Survivors was that it felt like a dual stick shooter without having to aim. Anyway.

#73. Monster Train

Put this on mobile and it probably rises 40 spots. I just love playing these kinds of games on a phone. Monster Train is really good, kinda like Slay the Spire conceptually but also nothing like it thanks to its multi floor mechanics and different classes. It's nice as a palette cleanser when I've just played too much Spire.

#72. Street Fighter 2

An absolute classic, and easily a top 5 most played game in my lifetime, not to mention a top 5 most influential game. There's not much of a reason to play it these days, and if I do, I end up playing Super Turbo which is not my favourite (hyper fighting forever). These days, playing modern SF makes me feel like the oldest person in the world, so playing a game like 2 is pure comfort food. I just need someone at the same skill level and that's just never gonna happen.

#71. Hades

The combat mechanics are a dream in Hades. It's a lot of fun to build out your character and see the weapons pop off, and these devs have always been amazing at game feel, especially that roll. I never got deep into this game like I probably should have after I hit credits, but it's really good. Looking forward to Hades 2.

I've been using my Vita a lot lately -- my favourite system, period -- and went back to the Switch and man it is a bad portable console. It's just too big. I've always worried that the steam deck was the same kind of thing because it's more powerful than the switch. not sure about the physical dimensions but I can't imagine it's that sweet spot that the Vita is.

oh and I don't have a steam deck yet. they're expensive and I can already play all the games I'd want to play on it. one day though.

it looks okay, kinda like Momodora or something like that. your 3 character switching writeup reminds me of Greak: Memories of Azur, though, and I really really didn't like the demo of that game.

#80. Final Fantasy VII

I think the Remake has let me appreciate OG FF7 a little more. It hasn't moved up my list or anything but the bloated nature of Remake reminds me to appreciate FF7's relative brevity. I don't think this game plays especially well from a 90s JRPG perspective (most FFs around this time are more enjoyable in battle), but the tone and feeling of it is amazing, especially considering what they had to work with aesthetically. The soundtrack really carries this game, even with the sound quality being subpar.

#79. Shadow Complex

Give me a highly competent metroidvania and it'll make its way onto my list. (unless you're Hollow Knight, I guess.) Shadow Complex is a drab mess in the aesthetics department but this game is so easy to just run around and lose yourself in. Before you know it, 2 hours have passed and you're always a couple of rooms away from the next interesting thing.

#78. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

I just appreciate this game from a distance more than anything else. It's fun to play, sure, but it's seeing all the stuff shoved into this game that opens my eyes. I always refer to this game as a virtual museum and it's definitely its best quality.

#77. Persona 5

It's better than Persona 4 is pretty much every way -- the style, the music, the gameplay -- and yet it's pretty much the same quality, with this game being ever so slightly better across the board. This game is stuffed with content (sometimes to its detriment) and the atmosphere is good. I would like this one a lot more if it was on a portable system. Persona's day structure always made it feel like it belonged on a handheld. Too bad the cutscenes drone on. Anyway I'm being too negative on Persona. This game is really good!

#76. Gorogoa

This game is literally just moving around four picture frames to solve some weird esoteric puzzles. But, man... this thing is enchanting, seeing the kid drop fruit into a basket or climb up a ladder or whatever. I can't explain it. Some games just grab you and this one does that to me. I even go back to it and do it all over again. It makes me happy.

#85. Vampire Survivors

Now here's a dumb game. You barely even play this thing -- it feels more in line with old idle RPGs or clickers than an honest interactive video game, and that's coming from someone with several Ace Attorney games on the list. But Vampire Survivors has this ja ne seis quoi to it where things just pop off and it's cool to watch all the weapon effects overlap until your eyes hurt and don't even have to touch the controller for the entire screen to melt. What a game. Does this still make the list in 5 years? Probably not, and that's okay!

#84. Super Hexagon

This might be the only action game that thrives on mobile. Super Hexagon runs last a minute if you're doing well and a lot less than that if you're not. It's perfect for getting in and out without having to sit down and boot up a game. I rarely play this game for more than 6 minutes at a time and it works perfectly for that.

#83. Crystalis

A classic NES RPG, and the prototype for action RPGs to come. This game would have been better if it was released on a system that was more capable than the two-button NES, but probably wouldn't have felt as special without seeming like this incredible achievement that was years ahead of its time.

#82. Bleed

One of those annoying games that's really good, but the sequel just outclasses it in every way. It's hard to be super excited about Bleed when Bleed 2 exists, but also, this game is damn incredible, an amazing achievement that was one of those Xbox Live Indie Games, if anyone remembers that platform. Not even XBLA.

#81. Nobody Saves the World

Hey, speaking of Bleed. This game is Ian Campbell's love child after he joined a studio, basically the follow up to Bleed 2. Nobody Saves the World is this amazing mashup of like, Final Fantasy Tactics and 2d Zelda, where you're leveling classes and completing all these mini progressions within each class while also wandering around a world that feels straight out of Zelda. The powerups work really well in tandem and each form is super unique. It's also easy to forget about it once you've let it pass for a few months - I expected it to end up a lot higher than 81, but a year afterwards I'm not sure when I'll actually go back to it. Ah well.

#90. Monument Valley

It's kind of obvious by looking at it, but this game is so picturesque and serene. The mechanical structures unwind in the most delightful ways and you just feel good. I come back to this every few years and forget how all of it works and get to experience the joy once again.

#89. Into the Breach

This run-based strategy RPG hit mobile this year (by way of Netflix??) and reminded me of just how good it is. I spend so much time trying to plan out my moves and wonder how it's even possible to handle battles without taking damage. I have to assume that there's a way but my dumb brain isn't good enough for it. Most SRPGs feel like, well, RPGs but this thing feels like chess, and there's no better game in the world than chess. It also makes me feel dumb sometimes. Oh well.

#88. Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!

It wouldn't be one of my lists without this game sneaking into the back half. Punch Out is the most playable damn game and I can take out Tyson even without playing it for years. The muscle memory is just part of my being and it feels good to do it each time.

#87. Etrian Odyssey 5

I kind of hate the Switch because it killed the concept of the DS game. Ace Attorney is pretty close to dead and Etrian Odyssey never had a chance. This game is where they added a lot of quality of life changes to the franchise. It isn't as good as 4, but it's a really good game. Someday I'm going to pull out my DS and grind my way back through again.

#86. Persona 4 Golden

I dunno. It's good? Maybe really good? P4's in this weird spot where it probably deserves to be a lot higher but there are other Persona games I could play. I don't know when I'll say "hey, what if I played the third best Persona game again?" since, y'know, they're all pretty much the same thing but with different scenes (and yet they feel somehow still the same). I bet I'll get there in like 10 years when I'm feeling nostalgic for... lots of yellow? Sure!

#95. P1 Select

Michael Brough makes these lovely minimal little grid-like strategy games -- think chess -- and my favourite of them is P1 Select, a mobile game that sorta plays like the most minimal strategy RPG you can find. It's a fun little high score run type of game where every run lasts like 3 minutes and your high score is averaged across your last 16 runs. I'm apparently 6th in the world. Love this stupid thing.

#94. Dragon Warrior 3

A classic! The best of the NES games and the blueprint by which NES RPGs are defined. I've played this so many times and the DQ series is one big nostalgia trip so I don't come back to it much these days, but it's a damn fun game.

#93. Half-Minute Hero: The Second Coming

The original is certainly more charming but this game expands on the only good game mode -- Hero 30 -- and somehow turns it into this 20 hour mega RPG with a branching story and tons of world building. It's crazy, it's stupid, it's overkill and it works.

#92. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow

There's a long list of metroidvanias that are right around this spot but miss the list. This one stays on because it's a classic DS game in the heyday when the DS was brand new, and a game that would be better if it ever got ported to another platform and removed all of the touch screen nonsense.

#91. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

It's just a good damn game all the way throughout. It's never great in my eyes, but super playable any time and is the blueprint for other, better games. Yeah, I never got too enthralled with this one like others did but it's definitely a stellar game, especially for the time.

it's true for big games, yeah. I can play a shooter or big budget RPG and know what I'm getting into. it's a good argument for moving away from that stuff.

I think I'll skip pictures this year since I'm doing multiple games in one post, but if people want them I can bring 'em back.

#100. Golf Story

Just a lovely, twee little dumb game about hitting a golf ball and sometimes solving a murder mystery. I will always play video game golf and this game's charm really hits home. It's too bad the long awaited sequel (Sports Story) is apparently a buggy mess, and even if it weren't buggy it just wouldn't be that fun. Not that I've played it, but yknow.

#99. Dragon Warrior Monsters 2

This game expands on the excellent first game but more isn't really better than it comes to the Monsters games. Give me the classics and I'm good. I love the Monsters games and DWM2 is still a really fun, addictive game but I prefer the simplicity of the original.

#98. Holedown

A lovely little breakout clone on mobile devices. This game is dopamine central and the progression makes it really addictive. You can lose hours on this thing, or if you're like me, just throw on a podcast and play endless mode until suddenly it's an hour past your bedtime.

#97. Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus

I'm not an FPS guy at all but this game's storyline is enough to get me in. Wolfenstein 2 is so ballsy with its narrative decisions and it's so fun to see what utter nonsense these guys will write. This is a game you can enjoy by just watching the cutscenes and cackling at the stuff that's on the screen. I'm still mad 5 years later that they basically ended the continuity that they set up with Wolfenstein 1/2 and never gave this game a proper sequel.

#96. We Love Katamari

That lovely little sweet spot between when the game was fresh and fun, and when the game actually controlled properly. I wish they'd rerelease this game instead of the original, a game that's easily the most nostalgic but controls like absolute doo doo. I'm not even sure if this game still plays some 18 years later but I'll always think about it fondly in my memory.

It's that time again.

No fancy intro this year. I'm going to do this pretty quickly this time -- most people here have read my lists that I do every couple of years and know my thoughts on most of these games. I'll probably keep my writeups short, just a few sentences about each game, and do them in groups of 5 or something like that. That way I can wrap this up in a couple of days rather than dragging it out.

As always, if anyone wants a longer writeup or curious about my thoughts on something, I'm always happy to do that. There's just only so many things you can say about Final Fantasy 6 or whatever when you're writing about it for the 17th time!

the sky armors are a lot more xenoblade x than xenogears, right down to unlocking them many hours into the game. I like them but it does turn into a pixel hunt to figure out where you can land in some spots. it's basically an airship that travels with you somehow.

sky armor fights are totally fine. I didn't struggle with them at all, but then, I scoured the game world and found all the upgrades. I don't think I died once in the game outside of optional superbosses, trying to unlock reward board challenges, or walking into sky armor battles on foot.

I beat this yesterday and it's extremely good. it's just so impressive that this was made by one guy. I expected something short and this game is anything but.

I play pretty slow too. Reward Board is crack.

yeah I don't care for the gems either. I feel like they're a rare resource and I don't want to waste them, and then whenever I slot the I find a new sword a few minutes later. feels like it should have used a Suikoden-ish weapon upgrade system so you never have to juggle crystals.

its random cursing is pretty hilarious (and bad). it reminds me of the 90s SNES JRPG fan translations where they just threw in f bombs because they could.

I just got to the start of act 2. the game keeps layering on more stuff and it's way more expansive than I originally thought. the first 2 hours kinda do the game a disservice.

this game is honestly shocking. I would never expect that one person could make a full on JRPG and do it as well as anything that's come out in the last several years, but here we are.

Xenogears
Final Fantasy
Shadow Hearts
Tactics Ogre: Let us Cling Together