Lurker > transience

69.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoXXIgPRMos

Theres a lot you can say about the Etrian Odyssey series. On the surface, its the dungeon crawler series where you draw a map on the touch screen, but the real sneaky appeal is in its character builds and how they can best help you survive what is a pretty challenging game. Growing a set of characters is much better here than other games of its ilk.

The challenge here is key - if the dungeons werent hard, you wouldnt be so focused on building out your characters, and you quite honestly wouldnt care that much about mapping out a dungeon. But you need every advantage you can get in this game and so you draw a goddamn perfect map. You remember enemy weaknesses and you learn how to use your guys together. You can spend more time making a decision about which classes and skills to go with than playing entire floors.

All of this so far exists in just about every Etrian Odyssey game. EO5 brings a ton of quality of life improvements that bump it over earlier games in the series. For once, the game seems to be working with you. You move faster, fight faster, map faster and more accurately, can come and go from each floor entrance, etc. The game is streamlining all of the hassle and giving you the real challenge 100% of the time.

EO5 decides to scale back and stick to the basics rather than introducing quirky new gimmicks, which 3 and 4 certainly had. Its also the hardest of those games. When it comes strictly to player vs. dungeon, its tough to get much better than EO5.


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xyzzy

no, feel free! I can't go down the snowboarding path with you. that minigame is awful. FF7 goes way out of its way to add minigames to spice up its combat and almost all of them are just bad. I could do a ranking topic of FF7 minigames but dolphin jumping, the shinra stealth sequence, the sub, snowboarding, squats, chocobo racing -- it's so bad. I do like ft. condor but I'm a sucker for that stuff.

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xyzzy

I actually saw the small worlds as both a backhanded positive and a negative in Automata (I only played a few minutes of the original Nier). I was glad it wasn't too big because exploring it was painful due to the really poor map, but I also disliked it because humanity has packed up and gone to the moon and machines have taken over the planet but you only explore like a city block and a desert and a forest and that's kind of it.

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xyzzy

71.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SoKbKOa6rg

1996
PS1

I love the first Suikodens simplicity and pace. Everything in Suikoden 1 moves quickly: fights, cutscenes and dungeons. Youre never stuck doing any one thing for more than a few minutes. This is an early PS1 JRPG that feels more like a SNES game with how brisk it feels. Some people might think this game feels a little immature thanks to how light everything is, but not me.

Thats because youre always building towards something. In Suikoden, you start out as a relative nobody, slowly building a resistance army, and by the end of it you feel super powerful as your army is mature and ready to crush the Empire. You get stronger, add new characters, your base gets bigger and everything reinforces each other in one giant happy feedback loop.

Its really fun to recruit guys. Well, it can be maddening because some guys have really specific requirements, and if youre going for 100% you can always find a way to screw something up. Dont accidentally step on Blackmans crops or you can kiss him goodbye. But overall, this is so much fun. Youll only use a very small percentage of them in battle, but sometimes you can use them in army fights for specific purposes, sometimes you can play minigames, or build an elevator in your base, or just any number of things.

That progression is what keeps me coming back to Suikoden 1. Later games have more nuanced plots and bigger moments, but the simplicity of the original along with the ease of play makes this game my clear favorite in the series.

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xyzzy

Automata is probably 30-40 hours to see all the content? there's more there if you do sidequests, but I didn't really enjoy exploring the game world very much so I avoided a lot of that. that game is all about the narrative and atmosphere.

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xyzzy

yeah AA7 is a real question mark thanks to the 3DS going away. I feel a strong sense of loss when it comes to dedicated sub-HD platforms because a lot of games were able to get by with low development budgets that kinda can't do that anymore, especially ones that took advantage of two screens. one game I'm getting to today is going to feel that particularly hard.

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xyzzy

72.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DWu_BVeg5E

1990
NES

It doesnt matter that much 30 years later, but Crystalis was way ahead of its time back when it came out. In the NES days, you had either a small-medium game world for an action game or a big overworld for an RPG. Crystalis goes big on both. The world sprawls while youre leveling up and getting better armor like an RPG, but youre also playing a top down, Zelda-like action system.

But being ahead of your time doesnt make you a good game. Crystalis still holds up outside of having to jump through some menus more often than youd like thanks to NES button limitations. The simple sword and shield gameplay works and the world feels expansive, but not so big that you get lost. Its fun to get new abilities and new swords that can deal different kinds of damage. Bosses can be pretty challenging and feel rewarding to defeat. Crystaliss progression is fun to trigger since the towns are ultra simple and the gameplay carries everything.

Oh, and lets not forget the music. Crystaliss overworld music is catchy as all hell and its got one of the best soundtracks on the NES. This game doesnt reach super high heights but its fun to jump back in and play just about any time.


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xyzzy

73.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sz0mI_6tLQ

Super Hexagon is so pure. Its the most player vs. self game that I can think of, even moreso than other ultra-pure experiences like Tetris. Its because of how precise it is and how brief the experience is. The first time you jump in, you die so fast. Nobody survives for more than 10 seconds. A great run from a good player lasts maybe two minutes.

This game is an audiovisual assault. Its not the craziest thing youll ever see, but it spins and bumps enough to mess with you and it feels good when youre able to handle it.

Super Hexagon is the absolute perfect mobile game because the controls are so simple and the play sessions are so short. You can turn this thing on, get 5 games in 5-6 minutes, and most importantly, feel satisfied. Its easy to come back to Super Hexagon because you never forget how to handle those patterns once you figure it out. 10 minutes of playing and youre back where you were, trying to conquer this pure as hell game.


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xyzzy

the one that comes to my mind is the one where you equip a water ring or whatever and auto-win the fight, and the five form one at the end that isn't much fun at all. this is one of the 8 games I didn't replay in 2019 (waiting for the remake) so I'm not as up as FF7 right now.

I think my favourite fight in FF7 is probably the guy on mt. nibel - materia keeper, I think it was called? I couldn't tell you why I liked it, I just remember it being a good, interesting fight, and you get some monster skill that's good afterwards.

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xyzzy

74.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrmfrWhyTAY

FF7s setting is pretty incredible. I cant say enough positive things about the oppressive tone that permeates Midgar. Even when you get to the overworld, it still manages to hold you down through its great sound design (audio quality notwithstanding, and its not something I hold against the game) and great world design.

Unfortunately, the game playing part of FF7 is actually pretty mediocre. This isnt a shot at ATB because I love me some ATB. The battles just arent very fun and the bosses are surprisingly underwhelming. For a game that features such an interesting cast of characters, this game doesnt really have a standout boss fight, at least not in a good way. When I think of standout FF7 fights, I think of the Midgar Zolom and I think of Supernova. Everything inbetween just doesnt work that well.

This is why Im so damn enthralled by the upcoming FF7 remake. That game takes the best aspects of FF7 and amplifies them, especially on the cinematic side, and then rethinks all of the battle mechanics to make them seem more interesting. I might not love FF7 like others do, but the story beats, even the quiet little moments, are absolutely iconic in every way and I cant wait to see what they do with it. It is without a doubt my most anticipated game even though there are sequels to top 25 games coming out in the next 3 months.

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xyzzy

75.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiZ6mMlOF7c

2011
PC, Vita, Switch, PS4, XB1

Theres an alternate reality where I go all in on Binding of Isaacs insane smorgosboard of random items and powerups and get to know each one intimately. I would have thousands of hours on my Steam profile and would probably hate that I loved this game. You see, in Binding of Isaac, enjoyment = knowledge x time. The more you play, the better you get to know everything and the more addicted you get. It is a vicious loop. If you put enough time into this game, you start to learn all these insane powerup combos and it just makes you want to try out more things.

In our reality, I pick this game up every now and then and play a few runs and then put it back down before I start to feel dirty. Im never away for more than a year or two. Each time I come back, its like a new game: that item knowledge that makes this game so crazy is so easy to lose given how esoteric it is, and by the time you come back you just hope to make it as far as you can.

Heres the thing: theres no real feeling of reward to this game. You get a cheap thrill every time you pick up a new item and then keep going until you get the next one. The gameplay itself isnt very fun, but man, the lottery of items keeps you coming back, and back, and back. Its kind of like a Diablo or some other loot based game. Isaac is a fascinating experiment but it feels more like a mad scientist poured every potion into a cauldron and something really gross crawled out of it. This game is fascinating as hell.

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xyzzy

okay, one quarter done! also, another tier complete.

100. hacknet
99. braid
98. batman: arkham asylum
97. super meat boy
96. portal
95. world of goo
94. hollow knight
93. super mario world
92. mega man maker
91. ace attorney 2
90. zelda: majora's mask
89. xenoblade chronicles x

88. monument valley
87. dragon warrior
86. mega man 3
85. castlevania: dawn of sorrow
84. nier: automata
83. we love katamari
82. zelda: link to the past
81. lethal league
80. half-minute hero 2
79. mike tyson's punch out!!
78. god of war 2
77. wolfenstein 2: the new colossus
76. super smash bros ultimate

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xyzzy

76.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WShCN-AYHqA

2018
Switch

I like the actual fighting in Smash, but thats not really why I come to these games. I mean, kicking people with Kirbys foot is fun but is almost separate to the core appeal of Smash Brothers.

Smash Brothers Ultimate has gone so far into the content side that its a straight up celebration of video games at this point. Its not celebrating *all* video games because it very much sticks to mascot type characters and content thats mostly suited for all ages, but its the closest thing youll find in video game form.

This is the most complete single game that you can show to a person who just wants to know what video games are. That celebration, that curation, is what makes this collection great. Ultimate specifically has a single player mode (World of Light) that strengthens this museum-like quality. This game really is a virtual tour of video games packed with hundreds of characters and thousands of songs and the most careful attention to detail possible. Even the third party characters are treated with surgical care, protecting their moves and simulating the feeling of playing their games.

Sometimes you just want to see through the looking glass at all the things that make games great. I think I like seeing this games trailers and presentations more than picking up the controller. The 2 or 3 characters that get added to the game every year is an internet event and while that fandom can get more than a little weird, the Smash creators worship at the altar of video games is such a reverent way that I look forward to it anyway.

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xyzzy

77.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCFTLQcA0ZQ

2017
PC, PS4, XB1

Look, I am very much not a shooter guy, but the new Wolfenstein games are 100% up my alley. The scenarios are off the wall bonkers and the characters are strange enough to be really likable. It tells a story thats pretty dumb, but also hilarious and perfect. It doesnt hurt that I hold Wolfenstein 3D in super high regard. I played the hell out of that when it came out and can still go back to it today somehow.

I suck at shooters so I just put this game on easy and go in guns blazing. It works perfectly with the style of game that Wolfenstein purports to be. Normally, putting a game on easy kind of nerfs the interest in the gameplay sections, but the levels themselves are so interesting and weird in Wolfenstein 2 that its actually better off for it, and the main character being an absolute monster fits the narrative,

If I were to make a list of top scenes from video games, Wolfenstein 2 would be all over that list. The first level has you fighting off dozens of nazis while rolling around in a wheelchair and another one has you dressed up in a firefighter costume, talking to the nazi-loving KKK while carrying a nuke in your bag. What a game.

You wouldnt think that a dumb game like Wolfenstein would be in full-on spoiler territory but it is. I really love the bizarre cast of characters that this series has developed over the course of this reboot and there are at least 6 moments in this game that are jaw-dropping.

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xyzzy

78.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uycTT_S2nH8

2007
PS2

This might seem stupid but I really enjoy this games narrative. The game obviously looks and sounds great but the revenge story is what keeps me moving. You can reduce it to being just Kratos killing everyone, and that would be correct, but its cool to see what will happen next and the games final hours really wrap up in an exciting way. These production values were off the charts in 2007 compared to whatever JRPG was on the market.

The gameplay is simple but I like that. I dont want to do stylish action. With God of War, I like just hitting a few buttons and things die in front of me. Theres some amount of depth here but you dont need to go SSSSSS++++ in order to succeed and have fun. Sometimes its okay to just hit square-square-triangle a lot.

The in-fight cutscenes are of course fun to watch play out. QTE is a relic of the past now but its still fun to press the button prompts and watch gods get destroyed. The visuals dont pop now like they did in 2007 when this game pushed the PS2 to its absolute limits, but I kinda like that its not all HD and beautiful. God of War got unnecessarily gory and brutal following this game and its actually the last God of War that Ive played (well, besides the PSP games). GOW2 is still brutal but it feels justified through the narrative. This is a game that I can get a ways into and then just get sucked in until I finish it. Its fun and thats all I need.

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xyzzy

79.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_iVHVGqMIU

1987
NES

Theres a rhythm to a Punch Out fight. Ive long pushed back on the idea that this is a sports game, instead calling it a puzzle game with some action elements. But I think theres another level you can reach with Punch-Out, when you know the answers to the puzzle and it all becomes about timing and execution.

That anxious anticipation of waiting for the enemy to throw their punch so you can counter turns Punch-Out into a sort of rhythm game, as you wait for the right note to come at you and then execute the right buttons to pull it off. Im good enough at Punch-Out to beat it without too much trouble, but Im not great, meaning I can easily screw up and get worked by a Bald Bull or a Sandman if Im not on top of my timing.

I think thats the best place to be with this game: good enough to dominate the opponents but vulnerable enough to get a rush when everything lines up your way. Any worse and this game could be frustrating, and any better and it would be trivial.

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xyzzy

80.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2PhdVwBkto

2014
PC

The original HMH was a lot more fresh, but HMH2 is straight up better in every aspect. Its deeper, the scenarios are more fun and theres an overworld that ties things together in a cool way.

Its also just the hero 30 mode here, just 30 seconds of the world about to end over and over and over again. This is a good thing because the other modes of HMH1 werent very fun.

But on the other hand, they somehow managed to make a game about saving the world in 30 seconds a full 20 hours long. This game should be 6-8 hours long, not 20, and the game suffers for it having so much padding. Its good that theres lots of missions but after a while you just get game fatigue.

One last note: this games soundtrack is the craziest thing ever put together. Its a whos who of notable japanese composers. MItsuda, Shimomura, Sakuraba, Hirota, Hamauzu, Iwata, Naruke, and the list goes on. Youd expect some major game to get this kind of treatment and not a quirky little joke RPG. But here we are!

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xyzzy

81.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO8GaQekLkA

2014
PC, PS4, XB1

Lethal League is basically competitive racquetball reimagined as a pseudo-fighting game. This game is super accessible. The controls are simple and the learning curve is maybe five minutes until you get down every basic skill you can do.

Its the speed that makes Lethal League tick. Get a few hits in and the ball gets to impossible speeds. Trying to hit the ball feels like pure luck when its moving a million miles an hour, but after a while you learn to deal with it surprisingly well.

Theres no game that can produce instant adrenaline quite like Lethal League. This game was made for hype moments and its a killer couch co-op game. It also works well with online multiplayer if youve got friends that want to jump in.

Theres a sequel to this that came out in 2019. I only played the demo but I wasnt as big of a fan because you have a life meter and can survive a hit in the early goings of a round. Thats not pure enough for me. Give me the basic version that punishes you hard if you screw up.

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xyzzy

https://twitter.com/necta_rines/status/1172998076904046592

yeah I die a whole lot in Celeste

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xyzzy

82.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg1MXUZC2_E

1992
SNES

LTTP is one of gamings smoothest progression curves. This is one of the easiest games to like in the world. Im pretty sure LTTP has the highest approval rating of any Zelda game because its just so damn easy to play.

Easy doesnt mean that the game is for babies though. LTTP strikes the balance between easy and hard, between overworld and dungeon, and even between light and dark world.

On the other hand, I don't find it to be super interesting. Its very easy to pick up and play but it rarely excites me. Early Nintendo SNES games like Mario World and LTTP just dont move the needle for me all that much - but its hard to deny the quality. I can pick this up and find it boring if I only play it for a few minutes, but if I let myself get taken in, I can lose hours.

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xyzzy

83.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LDzO4-GC_k

We Love Katamari was the very short period between proof that the Katamari concept worked and was great, and before it all felt rehashed and same-y. The levels pop here, especially the final one where you roll up the King, and the controls actually work, unlike the first game.

Even today, I get a real kick out of rolling up the world. I would love to see someone take a real, honest shot at Katamari again given how far the open world concept has come since 2004-2005, but I also kind of like how Katamari exists as part of an era. Play Katamari and you can feel the mid-2000s loud and clear. It just feels right belonging to that pre-indie boom time when games like this just didnt exist. Katamari has inspired countless games, things like Tokyo Jungle and Donut County and even the Goose Game, and thats pretty cool to see the lineage.


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xyzzy

there are damage upgrades in Ori but they're not totally obvious. for example, a ground pound anywhere near an enemy does a lot of damage and can be chained. bashing shots back at the enemy hurts, or just bashing them into spikes or off the board entirely is another way. I never use the charge flame but there's that too. the lack of a melee attack doesn't really bother me because it just removes the busywork of shooting enemies precisely, and avoiding shots later in the game lets me use my great movement abilities which I really enjoy.

anyway, if you want direct damage, I would point you to Ori 2, in stores March 11th 2020. can't wait.

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xyzzy

oh, I just meant DW1 only, not the whole series. the classic dq themes are definitely the most memorable part of the series if you take it as a whole.

interesting that you bring up ori since I see ori vs. hollow knight as fundamental opposites in terms of design within the same genre. both are hard 'vanias but one really prioritizes combat over traversal while the other almost completely neglects combat and lets you fly like the wind. I obviously fall into the latter camp.

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xyzzy

84.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StXRi5zPPjk

2017
PS4, XB1, PC

I have a lot of feelings -- including some fairly negative ones -- about Nier: Automata. I could ramble for a while about them but this isnt really the right place for that. Id be diving into spoilers abound and honestly, the player is better off just not knowing anything about this games narrative.

What I *do* really like about Automata is the way it plays with structure. The game parses out information to the player in a very deliberate way over several playthroughs. I actually think your first playthrough is the worst part of the game which is a weird thing to say. The main character from your first playthrough, the most popular one, probably isnt even the main character of the game. Its fascinating to see the ways in which the game plays with expectations and preconceptions, and it makes you want to keep playing just to see how it can pull the rug out from under you.

Those structural layers is what makes Automata really good. By the time you get through your third playthrough -- yeah, its mandatory that you see it through -- this game gets legitimately awesome. It just takes so much investment to get to the good stuff. Automata has a killer atmosphere thanks in large part to top tier sound design, but sometimes the game design side of things lets it down a little bit.

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xyzzy

I really didn't like what I played of Bloodstained but I hear that it gets real crazy later on so I might need to go back. it's on game pass so I can maybe sidestep the awful Switch version which I have and feels borderline unplayable.

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xyzzy

there's some debug modes or whatever, but really it's just for your own satisfaction. chapter 7 and 8 are rough.

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xyzzy

the last screen of chapter 9 is on another level when it comes to length. the rest doesn't approach the nastiness of the C sides, though you'll probably get stuck in a couple of parts. it is really hard though overall.

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xyzzy

85.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78FE5koTst8

2005
DS

Dawn is my favourite of the traditional Symphony-likes, by which I mean one big interconnected maze-y castle. It checks every box that you want out of those games: exploration, fun combat, good monster variety, tons of equippable abilities, etc. Its pretty much the classic metroidvania, one that sets the standards for the rest of the genre.

Unfortunately it also has other stuff tacked on that makes it less appealing. The most obvious extraneous feature here is the sealing of bosses, a goofy touchscreen gimmick that seems even more unnecessary 15 years after the fact, and it felt unnecessary in 2005. Seals get all of the attention, but theres also totally unnecessary stuff like breaking ice with a touchscreen thats equally dumb.

That stuff is relatively harmless though. Getting the good ending (and seeing the last ~30% of the game) can be very grindy if youre unlucky because you have to get specific monster souls in order to even fight the correct bosses. Dawn has a really good pace to it and you can move through the map pretty quick. Drawing on a touch screen is whatever, but having to loop back across the game to get the correct souls sucks.

It especially sucks because this game is kind of amazing. When you get moving on it, its really hard to put down. The soul system really is fun to play around with and the game has a good compliment of bosses. Every bad aspect is totally forgivable with enough time and patience, but the drawbacks are enough to keep me from putting it much higher than this.

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xyzzy

I have it! also the NES cart!

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xyzzy

86.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCRhZVA5nQc

1990
NES, many others

Ill just say it: this game isnt very good!

MM3 suffers from nigh-unplayable slowdown if theres more than 2 or 3 enemies on the screen. The game balance is really off, with some levels and bosses being a pushover and some being pretty tough. All of them are somehow harder than the end of the game where the game just gifts you energy tanks every couple of screens for no real reason.

But MM3 has a fun factor to it thats kind of undefinable. The music or the levels or, I dont know, something makes this game really work. Its such a breezy playthrough thats really easy to come back to. Its not a good game, but its a fun one, and I play it all the time.

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xyzzy

87.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5U5gnCG0AUI

1989
NES, GBC, many others

The original JRPG is exceedingly simple, but its got a ton of charm to it. Wandering around the overworld and getting slowly more powerful has a strange pull over me, even if there isnt a whole lot to it.

Theres a feeling of accomplishment that you get for being able to take on a new monster in this game. Monsters are the single most memorable aspect of DQ and these ~20 designs are as classic as you get.

Im a NES RPG player to the death but NES DW1 is too grindy even for me. Fortunately, theres the GBC version that cuts the leveling tables in half and makes this game tolerable to a modern age. Its still archaic, but theres a charm to the anachronism that people of my age can appreciate. Im guessing younger folks cant, and thats okay.

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xyzzy

88.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbfO0oGXXP0

2015
Mobile

Monument Valley is a light puzzler that rarely challenges you, and thats a good thing.

This game intelligently meshes minimalist art, the clockwork of a level that unfolds as you progress, and ambient soundscapes to great effect. The art and the feel of this game is really strong, especially for a mobile game. It looks so cool and the levels unwind in such cool ways. Even if you know the solutions, standing on the switches and watching the minimalism play out is always a satisfying experience that works super well on mobile devices.


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xyzzy

yeah, a lot of people really love Hollow Knight. you know how everyone has those one or two games that irrationally bugs them because they get overhyped? that's me with Hollow Knight because I love me a good metroidvania and I just don't think it's on that level. it's good, but it's not better than Super Metroid good and I see that sentiment all the time.

(speaking of X, another one like that for me is Xenoblade 2. Hollow Knight is at least a good game. I think XB2 is kinda bad.)

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xyzzy

no, but I was looking at videos of it yesterday since I've been hearing so much about it lately. like most people, I haven't been able to keep that and outer worlds separate to the point that I didn't even know what outer wilds was.

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xyzzy

89.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_uODiwbJWc

2015
Wii U

X is all about exploration and not really about anything else. If youre coming to this for what youd typically come to a JRPG for, its very easy to be disillusioned by what X offers. The story here is paper thin outside of the beginning and the end.

Instead, youre basically playing this like a strategy game almost, farming resources and exploring the vast very vast land of Mira. The highlights of this game are usually trying to sneak in and plant a probe so you can see more of the map. Its not thrilling narratively, but it can be enthralling to just exist in this fantastic, gigantic unexplored land.

The best part about X is how fast you run and how high you jump. You haul ass in this game as you try to scale mountains and peek into the worlds cracks.

The rest of the game isnt very good and Im okay with that. This game probably gets forgotten over time because it basically cant exist without the Wii Us two-screen setup and all the online features are dead now. But Ill always like just exploring the fascinating world of Mira.

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xyzzy

90.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N--8ff2cbmU

2000
N64/3DS

The opening minutes of this game - skull kid laughing at you while you turn into deku link, with really bizarre sound to match the visuals - is legitimately terrifying. But the most terrifying is that this is the followup to Ocarina of Time, the great game brought to us from on high.

Majoras Mask is the strangest rom hack ever. It feels like something that a hacking community came together and made out of the broken remains of a classic, yet its somehow an official thing.

Theres a lot of emotion to take from the desperation that is omnipresent and unfixable in this game. Everyone is always terrified because the moon never stops despite your best efforts. That feeling of inevitability within the game world is a really key moment of what makes this game work.

But more than that, I just love the machinery. The clock ticks, always, and the world runs in slow motion while you zip around it trying to get ahead of the inevitable. That groundhog day feeling and the daily, minutely minutia of the townspeople that you get to explore and know is unique, and it feels weirdly intimate to intrude on lives and change them by knowing what will happen. This game feels like someone made a new game plus mode for Zelda and gave you a ton of variables to play with.

Ultimately, I love how much this weird game trusts the player to explore the world and offers no olive branches to carry you along. Most Zelda games arent like that. There wouldnt really be another one like that until, well, probably Breath of the Wild.

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xyzzy

91.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPcIDmgz4d8

This game punches way above its weight due to being in the original PW trilogy. Characters feel fresh and scenarios still feel novel. That accounts for a lot with this series because the original trilogy is really special.

Unfortunately, this game isnt really all that good until you get to the last case. That last case alone carries AA2 from being a disappointment to being pretty good. It might not be on the level of the first or third games, but it manages to hang with them, or at least not feel out of place, based on the emotional strength of case 4.


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xyzzy

92.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpCarkGGoxI

2017
PC

Heres a stupid thing that I made in Mega Maker:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1PTXwtYc5Q

Mario Maker is very well designed but it doesnt really move the needle for me because I think that 2d Mario, while technically excellent, is fairly boring. Mega Man, though? That game design palette is much more my thing.

This fan game has so much effort put into it that it feels official. It certainly feels authentic. Put this thing on Switch and it's a huge hit. Theres content from Mega Man 1 all the way to 11 with the devs continuing to add new content more than two years after release.

Like Mario Maker, the mixing and matching of mechanics across Mega Man games, along with the infinite content that you could play, makes this an easy one to come back to every few months to see what new has been added and what crazy levels are out there.

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xyzzy

I wouldn't. I mean, it does, but it's not anything that I find interesting.

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xyzzy

93.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCEOBlyUdqY

Mario World is a classic when it comes to standard platformers. The moves at your disposal, the types of enemies and the simple way that you accelerate and decelerate feels right. Mario World is deeply ingrained into the gaming world's collective DNA. Its platforming 101 and everyone knows every level intimately.

The flipside of platforming 101 is that I kind of dont think this game, or really 2d Mario, is very interesting from a level design perspective. I like my 2d platformers to be either hard or fast and Mario World isnt really either.

The game is super competent in every way, and I obviously respect the craft. But indie games may have exposed this game because it felt like the gold standard for a long time but now it just feels classic -- and by classic, I mean just kind of old. Good, but old.

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xyzzy

94.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAO2urG23S4

2017
PC, PS4, Switch

I struggle with Hollow Knight because its a game of high highs and low lows. For example, the games movement and combat systems, the two most important pieces of a metroidvania, are great, maybe even exceptional. It feels great to just move around and the give and take of recharging your life is completely unique for a game like this. The audio design of this game is strong and theres an isolation to it that even Metroid cant hang with.

But then theres the other stuff. The easiest flaw to point out is the map system. The game seems to be begging you to be lost, and if you have a sense of direction like I do, you need to be looking at a map. Hollow Knight pretty much gives you the finger until you find a map dude somewhere deep into the level and the game even makes you spend currency in order to unlock an upgrade to pinpoint where you are on the map.

The character upgrades are few and far between, and dont add a whole lot in terms of movement abilities which is a big thing for me and metroidvanias. The game is heavily focused on the combat, which makes sense given how damn good it is, but I come to the genre for traversing a big world and Hollow Knight keeps the movement basic throughout most of the game. This isnt necessarily bad because the core movement is so good, but it does feel a little stale going back and forth between hub areas.

Hollow Knight really commits to its black and white aesthetic but it ends up making every area feel the same, enhancing the feeling that youre always lost. I think this is a design decision by the team to make you feel like youre fighting against the game, but its not my favorite thing.

And yet, despite all its flaws, Im really looking forward to the sequel.

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xyzzy

95.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiCm88Me_3U

2008
Wii/PC

There are very few games in this world on World of Goos level when it comes to sound design. The sound effects that play when youre building a goo stack are as good as it gets. The sound is so good that it makes what could be a simple flash game feel truly momentous. There's a level early on where you can fly off the main island and it's always amazing every time.

This game has one of the greatest oh god oh man feelings because youre always teetering on the brink and one mistake can be so painful. But when you nail it, man, it feels great.

World of Goo works so long as you dont get stuck on a single level because doing them over and over isnt fun at all. If youre almost failing at every level then its amazing, but if youre actually having to start over and rebuild after 5-10 minutes of effort over and over then the whole illusion of fun breaks. You're better off playing this one with a mouse than a Wii Remote.


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xyzzy

merry christmas everyone. my kids woke me up at 5am because of course

RoseChevalier posted...

portal still holds up huh? Im surprised it doesnt give you motion sickness. Its just on the border of doing it to me (and like you, I cant do Metroid prime).

my struggle mostly comes with whipping the camera around in action games. Portal's momentum might be bad for a second as you fly, but a lot of it is just walking around. I can handle that.

one game that was on the last list but missed this one is mirror's edge, and I really like that one's movement despite it being a nightmare once you get moving at high speed. I just didn't try to fight any of the guards and beat it pacifist.

LadyVyxx posted...

I've stumbled upon some of your own lists and we have very similar taste so I'm curious to discover something new here.

An old list of yours is the only reason I ever discovered Bleed & Bleed 2.

heck yeah. both of those will be on here, and won't show up today


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xyzzy

96.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cO_DIVuSyQ

2007
PC, 360, PS3

This was a triumph. No game feels more stuck in the 2000s than this one. Every Glados line that once felt at least halfway clever now feels super forced and awkward. Games writing has come a long way in the last 10 years, in large part due to the original Portal.

Despite that, the game holds up. Very few video game mechanics are as satisfying as momentum flinging in the original Portal. Like Braid, Portal makes you continually feel smart as you figure out obtuse solutions to simple puzzles.

I much prefer Portal 1 to its sequel due to its limited scope. Portal 1s focus on test chambers is very simple, but I really prefer the simplicity than what Portal 2 tried to do with more natural FPS environments.

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xyzzy

97.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ohjyhICYco

2010
360, PC, Wii U, Switch

Super Meat Boy is manic platforming distilled into the purest possible form. Theres no enemies and the gameplay is stripped down to the most basic elements: youre just running and jumping through hundreds of levels, usually at warp speed since Meat Boy plays super fast.

The game also has this everyones here feel from the indie perspective since they packed it full of cutesy references from other games of its time. It actually feels kinda funny to go back to it and see platforming mascots from the 2000s since so many have come along since then. An updated Meat Boy would be interesting to see given how many thousands of notable indie games have come out since then. Notable indie games werent as plentiful in 2010.

This game is completely up my alley. Unfortunately, I also kinda dont like the weight with which Meat Boy moves. Theres so much gravity and inertia working against you here. Meat Boy ends up feeling kinda like Sonic, a game where you can go fast but never really have a lot of control over what your character is doing. Well, I shouldnt say that. You *do* have complete control over Meat Boy. Its just not the kind of movement that I want. I still like this game despite it, but it limits my enjoyment.


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xyzzy

98.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edaLZ5zs3J4

2009
360/PS3/PC

Arkham Asylum really defined one-vs-many combat for the rest of the 2010s. The way that you flow from enemy to enemy has a rhythm to it that feels real good when you master the combat and get chains going.

That combat feeling is actually secondary to the literal stalking that you do as Batman in the rooms where the enemies have guns. Arkham Asylum takes the stealth genre, a genre that centers around your character being weak in order to create gameplay balance and tension, and turns it into an empowering experience. Arkham games give you so many fabulous toys to play with, down to the heart rate monitoring of criminals, that makes the whole thing an absolute delight.

On the flipside, theres a lot of story and dialogue that quite honestly gets in the way of the fun unless youre a DC nerd. Joker and Harley Quinn are taunting you the whole time and it adds nothing but a bunch of pointless banter that has kind of crushed the atmosphere of big budget games in the last 10 years.

Asylums the best of the Batman games because it gives you a sense of place that the open world ones lacked. The almost metroid-like map is pretty cool for a big budget 3d game like this.

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xyzzy

Braid could be played on a phone and you'd probably get the same thing out of it. it isn't at all complicated mechanically.

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xyzzy

99.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqtSKkyJgFM

2008
360/PS3/PC

A decade after its original release, I think I actually like Braids tone and feel moreso than Braids puzzles. Theres an eerie sort of silence to the game as it shows off its various bonkers mechanics. Its soundtrack doesnt feel very typical, probably because its all licensed music. It works really well in establishing the kind of place that youre trying to comprehend.

Speaking of those puzzles, theyre pretty good at tricking you, and I largely feel that theyre intentionally designed to deceive and/or troll you. Theyre clever, but sometimes the solution is a lot simpler than what you might invent in your head. Thats really interesting, and some of them can produce genuine eureka type of moments, but there are some mechanics in Braid that just arent that fun to deal with. Its interesting that the puzzles are obtuse enough that I can come back years later and just have no idea how to solve any of them. Kudos to the game for that, I guess!

One thing that I struggle with when I replay Braid is that Tim cannot jump to save his life. Nothing reminds you that this is not a platformer like trying to get his ass over a two pixel gap. It can be so frustrating to just miss jumps over and over. On the other hand, the games climactic moment is an action sequence and thats handled about as well as any game can handle an ending. Braid soars at the end, but isnt always 100% smooth getting there. Its a damn memorable game though.

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xyzzy

100.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgDmU7Pb96Y

2015
PC

I love me a good command line. I grew up with them and still use them regularly, be it at home or at work.

Hacknet doesnt go as far into the command line game as I would like its far too simple but it has the look and feel to make up for it. All it takes is a good presentation layer to get me all in. When you start pumping in electronic music and gives me all sorts of x-server themes, Im all in.

Theres also a few really interesting fourth wall breaking mechanics in this game and the DLC that hit me in just the right way. Hacknet is at its best when the game fights back against you and, well, literally hacks the game.


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xyzzy

I think it's more a me thing than a 2019 thing. there were a few games that I liked that made the list, but I usually play a bunch of games and a lot of the ones I was looking forward to got pushed to 2020.

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xyzzy