Lurker > plasmabeam

10/10

I could rave about Berseria for days. It's a bold JRPG story that takes risks (!) and actually commits to them (!).

When I started this game I fully expected the cast of antiheroes to get soft or give up their revenge quest in favor of some tacky noble goal. But this story stayed committed to its dark path, and I respect the hell out of the writers for it.

Velvet is a standout character, probably my favorite original game character in the past 10 years. Her relationship with Laphicet is both heart-warming and heart-breaking, and it sets up for a powerful ending that legitimately got me choked up.

Throw in a solid supporting cast, a devious villain (that intro where Artorious sacrifices Velvet's brother--damn!), a vivid semi-post-apocalyptic setting, and some great pirate/adventuring vibes, and you've got an easy 10 from Plasma.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Excellent final. Well done, Board 8.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Best: Kraid
Worst: Botwoon

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Anagram posted...

CotM is the only metroidvania I havent played.

That needs to change.

Excellent game. Probably the most challenging of the Metroid-style Vanias.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

WazzupGenius00 posted...

Sin & Punishment

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

5 will win this whole thing

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

LeonhartFour posted...

Hmm...This is tough.

7/10, I actually do love what's there. Unfortunately, there isn't enough of it and it was abandoned before it could be finished. I did really enjoy the brotherhood theme and the road trip banter though. Episode Ignis was also fantastic.

I'm curious, Leon. What did you love about FF15 other than the brotherhood/banter?

For me, the story was dead-on-arrival because I found no reason to get invested in the characters. Noctis was a plank of wood. His three bodyguards were walking stereotypes with the depth of an FFX NPC. And Lunafreya? Yikes.

This IMO is the main problem with post-merger FFs. Whereas FF7-10 did the legwork to get you invested in their protagonists early on by building intrigue around their pasts and depicting them as heavily flawed (and human) characters, FF15 expects you to care abut Noctis just because he walks when you tilt the control stick.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

1/10

Could not wait to uncork this 1/10 rating. What a horrendous story.

A moronic cast of characters, a half-baked world, a senseless plot, and one of the most empty death scenes I've ever seen are just a few of the things that contributed to my rock-bottom rating.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

5/10

Had to force myself to (almost) finish Suikoden II.

The internet overhyped this game for me until I finally played it in 2015. Nothing about it gripped me. Yes, it tells a different type of JRPG story, but it was one I ultimately didn't care about.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Cardinals

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Never played. Seeing these scores...yeeesh, I think I'll keep it in my backlog.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

KamikazePotato posted...

It's not perfect. A 'fair' rating would give it a 9, maybe an 8.5

Giving it a 10. Just one of those stories that resonated with me.

No need to apologize.

The purpose of story isn't to create something technically flawless--it's to create something that matters to an audience. If a story resonates with you, go crazy with a high rating.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

@UshiromiyaEva

Is the VA English or Japanese?

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Thanks to everyone who clued me in on what this game is.

Is this the version I want:

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/709/Higurashi_When_They_Cry_Hou/

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

6/10

Lost interest after a few hours when I played it on an emulator back in the mid-2000s.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Never heard of it. What would you guys compare this game to?

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Happy to see FF6 get elim'd. Never saw the appeal of that game.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Nominate Silent Hill 2

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

6.5/10

I remember the beginning with Skyloft being pretty solid, then my mind goes fuzzy after that.

Groose, Zelda, and Ghirahim stood out to me, but I'm drawing a blank on any more characters other than Fi, who sucked.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

3/10

The story is...well, there. A couple dialogue quotes from Ex-Death have stuck with me. That's about all I can say.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

FF4 aside, I'm fine with these elims.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Need to play this one.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Haven't played, but love that you're having fun with the Day #'s.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Broncos

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Crescent-Moon posted...

I almost super locked Houston like someone else did but I was a coward.

Denver is a good bet next week too.

Definitely. The Jags are a mess, and the problem is coaching. They could easily remain winless until late November.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

andel posted...

welp my strategy of fading houston failed miserably in week one.

Jags fan here.

I had money on Houston yesterday. I have money on Denver next week.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

These byes...cmon man. FF11 needs to go.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Leonhart4 posted...

Which is also unfortunate

Nah, TLOU is the PS3's crown jewel, and it has one of the best stories in gaming (not to mention one of the best endings in any medium).

I'd rank it 5th in its division behind MGS3, SM64, SMW, and SSBU.

That said, it has no business thumping MGS3. None at all.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

WTF @ these seedings.

OoT vs Skyrim in Round 1?
Super Metroid a #1 seed? (and I'm a HUGE Metroid fan!)
Smash Ultimate a 16 seed?

This why I use GameFAQs.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Mac Arrowny posted...

what a thing to say despite some people preferring WoR in this very topic

LeonhartFour posted...

nah this is not true, a lot of people love WoR

Fair points. I posted my rating before looking at the responses.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

2/10

On both of my playthroughs, I found the first half of the story to be a slog. Too many characters, too many storylines, and the plot-hopping killed it for me. It felt like the writers were trying to tell a JRPG-version of Stephen King's The Stand, but they reached too far beyond their grasp.

For me the most frustrating part was the ensemble cast. Some characters are likable and well characterized, but whenever I started getting invested in someone like Locke or the Figaro brothers, I'd get thrown into another snoozer plotline with Cyan or Terra. The constant disruptions prevented me from building any meaningful attachments, and as a result the entire playable cast feels like a dozen Kimahris to me--passable, but who cares.

Kefka was a solid villain and the only real bright spot of the story. His backstory is excellent, and it's the only thing that stopped me from handing out a 1 here.

I'll refrain from beating up on the World of Ruin. Even the game's biggest fans admit that the story takes a nosedive here, and I have nothing to add to that. FF6 is a half of a story, and that first half never impressed me.


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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Leonhart4 posted...

I have literally never seen or heard of Old Snake's glowing buttcheeks

Same. I feel like this would be a massively overused meme if it existed.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

3/10

The first three games do a phenomenal job introducing one new cast of characters after another while delivering wild, imaginative plots and unforgettable moments that matter.

MGS4, on the other hand, revisits everything and everyone from the prior three games while trying to cram everything into a poorly paced/balanced plot that I stopped caring about well before I reached the supposedly epic conclusion.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Change Falcons to 49ers

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Cool. Now to wait for it to hit $20

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Lightning Strikes posted...

Metal Gear Solid 3 does not get an 8.67 but it would have if the last one to score the game had been plasmabeam.

Haha should've closed to the topic after my post.

5/10 for Brawl

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Also, please bump my Tales of Symphonia score up from 8.5/10 to 9/10. Was thinking about it today, and it's definitely a 9 in my book.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

10/10

MGS1 is the thrilling one
MGS2 is the mind-bending one
MGS3 is the emotional one

All all masterpieces of videogame storytelling. The final two hours of MGS3 (everything from the Shagohad battle onward) might be my favorite two hours in any game.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Mac Arrowny posted...

What are some games where the story would still be good if you took out all the characters?

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Leonhart4 posted...

Yeah, character development is an important part of the story. It's why I'd give FFVIII a high score because I love Squall's character arc even though I think the sorceress plotline has some issues.

FF8's story will get a glowing review from me too. Like you said the other day... sometimes the highs are high enough to justify overlooking technical flaws.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Leonhart4 posted...

Well, it stops being an FFX ripoff about a third of the way through!

True. I definitely oversimplified things with that FFX-ripoff comment.

Thanks for keeping me in line, Leon!

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

NBIceman posted...

It's interesting to see so many people considering characters as part of the score; I've always kind of considered a game's cast and its story to be somewhat distinct even if they obviously affect each other.

Character + Plot + Worldbuilding/Setting/Atmosphere + Theme = Story

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

8.5/10

The characters more than make up for the cliched plot (which is highly enjoyable despite being an FFX ripoff).

Collette aside, this might be my favorite JRPG cast.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

2/10

While I loved the idea of returning to Spira after the events of FFX, X-2's story turned out to be a heap of wasted potential. None of the new characters stuck with me, and the plot's quality wavered between embarrassing and average.

Hey, at least it's not FFXV.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

2/10

Absolutely could not stand playing this game. The tone/humor/atmosphere didn't click with me at all.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

LinkMarioSamus posted...

The Critical Drinker is an okay critic when not bringing politics in and beyond awful when he does.

Politics aside, his writing-related insights are sharp.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Never played.

Nominate Metal Gear

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

@Safer_777

Check this out. I think you'll love this dude:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qif2Zylr13Q

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

pjbasis posted...

I can watch a youtube video analyzing the sexism and racism of the 007 franchise, basically agree with it, and then still have fun watching a James Bond movie or video game.

That's because you have the ability to compartmentalize. Sadly, a lot of outspoken people can't enjoy anything unless it's been completely sanitized to satisfy their political views.


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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Leonhart4 posted...

I dunno. I think I tend to judge a story by its highs more than its lows. I get all the complaints about UC3, but there are enough good moments in it to offset them for me.

This. Rocky 4 is one of my all-time favorite movies for this reason


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~Jacksonville Jaguars~