Lurker > Evillordexdeath

No rating for Cassette Beasts

Xenogears: 7

Like all the Xeno games, the keyword with this one is ambitious. The expansive lore and influences from Jung and Gnostic tradition make for a game that's fascinating to read about, but the game was made by an team of Square's most inexperienced devs and it shows. The combat gets extremely repetitive, with boss fights that mostly just function as long random battles, the encounter rate is devilishly high, and they combine random battles with vertical 3D platforming where it's easy to fall to an area below and lose progress - and the map layouts, camera, and jumping physics don't help matters. The scene to scene dialog also tends to be either flat or cheesy and the characterization leaves a lot to be desired, with even major figures like Elly or Ramsus just not being very charismatic. It is definitely a game that seems better in memory than it does when being played, but I have a soft spot for it.

10

9

Probably a bit *too* long, but this is still a great work of art

Computer

8

Good game

Bayonetta is mommy

1/30

Out of this list the only ones I had seen before were The Room and The Wicker Man, both back in my teens.

7.5

Funny game with surprisingly lively characters considering it was the same team as KH

Soundtrack was pretty lit

Tag

I will try to participate this time, I meant to join the last list but I wasn't functioning enough as a human being at the time.

I feel it was a dereliction of duty for me to allow that disgraceful film Baby Driver into the top 10. I must atone for this error in the coming lists.

10

8

8

Well designed for what it is

Rumble is cute

6

2.5

A terrible game both conceptually and in execution but at least it's kind of funny

pezzicle posted...

How the f is baby driver still in this

yeah I find the inclusion of that film in the top 10 somewhat befuddling

9

3

I do not care for this game at all

7.5

I loved this game when I was 16. I've never replayed it, but I think a lot of the flaws of Telltale's game model have become apparent both to me and the gaming community at large since it came out. I think that if I did revisit it my score would probably go down even further.

Deez

Robot Jones was lit

10

greatest soundtrack in gaming

5

We can probably all guess how I feel about this one ;)

10

8

Taxi

10

Yes he is funny

I think rating Life is Strange from having seen a Let's Play is fine. I would be very surprised if someone were to watch the game, then play it themselves and have their opinion significantly change from experiencing the interactive aspect.

I don't see whether it was a commentary or no commentary LP as being a super important distinction either, at least definitely not one to base a ruling around in a topic series like this. Every person's experience with any piece of media will be influenced by the context in which that experience takes place and it would quickly become silly to try and exclude ratings from people who didn't play the game in some "ideal" context. I played Life is Strange entirely at a friend's house so the conversations we had during the game probably took focus away from the story at least as much as a Let's Play would. I did this with Oxenfree as well and then re-played the game on my own and the second playthrough definitely wouldn't have changed my rating of the game in a topic like this.

7

It's alright, but I was definitely hoping for more depth from the characters and overall narrative.

Throwing the man's beans on the floor was the best scene

Job

10

Perfectly made game. So much creativity went into every level.

KamikazePotato posted...

You just don't like western game art styles.

Sure that's part of it, I think summing it up like that is a bit reductive/dismissive though lol. To give another example Skyrim is a game I'd call bland corporate entertainment but Morrowind is not, I think the difference is that a lot of the more challenging (both artistically and mechanically) aspects of the series got sandpapered off over time. Same for New Vegas vs. Fallout 3 and 4 actually.

Leonhart4 posted...

Bland Corporate Entertainment, brought to you by Rockstar and Naughty Dog

Yeah those are absolutely the corporations that exemplify it the most in gaming for me, (also Bethesda, I mean Starfield is probably the most Bland Corporate Entertainment game of all time). I feel like Naughty Dog forgot they were supposed to be a game developer when Uncharted came out and just dedicated themselves to being a worse version of HBO and Rockstar just hasn't really innovated their game design much in like 20 years.

However to be fair to Naughty Dog TLOU2 is significantly less of a bland corporate entertainment game than TLOU1 because there are choices made in there that heavily fly in the face of what gamers wanted/expected of it.

LightningStrikes posted...

8.5/10.

I am genuinely curious, Evil, what are some examples of AAA games that you would say are not bland corporate entertainment?

Hmm well admittedly I haven't played a ton of recent AAA games, but I don't think Baldur's Gate 3 or even Witcher 3 seem to be, I'd say that Ratchet & Clank and Marvel's Spider Man narrowly escape from being bland corporate entertainment, most Nintendo games aren't (especially Breath of the Wild because of its willingness to gut many aspects of the Zelda formula), and Astro Bot doesn't seem like it is. Doom Eternal definitely isn't. Persona 5 and the Souls games also aren't and if Nier: Automata qualifies as AAA then that is probably about as far from B.C.E. as you can get.

So far I think the only games I've dubbed Bland Corporate Entertainment are Last of Us, Uncharted 2, and God of War 2018, though I suspect I would add RDR2 and Cyberpunk if I had played them (possibly Pokemon Sword/Shield too though I think it has bigger problems.) So I think part of what I'm trying to convey with the label is a frustration with games that try to bring a "cinematic" style of narrative to video games, especially if they borrow from Hollywood films. Amusingly the old God of War games are not bland corporate entertainment despite being way worse than the new ones because their overwhelming vibe of teen angst is more specific than the tepid redemption story of 2018. Likewise Borderlands which I hate isn't really bland corporate entertainment because the embarrassing attempts at comedy at least feel like something that gives it its own style. I think the games I'm really talking about when I say this are the ones with these middlebrow Hollywood blockbuster stories and where the game design is sort of this hodge-podge of mechanics and genres from other popular AAA games, like TLOU being a little bit stealth, a little bit shooty, a little bit survival, etc. or God of War alternating between dialog while following an objective marker, hack and slash combat with some Dark Souls stuff thrown in, and a bit of simplistic exploration and puzzle solving.

5

all together now

bland corporate entertainment

7

I do think this is the game where Rare starts to lose that lustre of seeming like a world-class game developer they built with the DKC games and Banjo-Kazooie, but it's not as bad as Star Fox Adventures or anything. The moment to moment gameplay isn't sleep inducing like that game, it's just that trying to 100% DK64 is a road to madness

6

Definitely has originality and energy going for it, but it's also just way too cheesy and could have used a little more nuance and subtlety with its themes

Beach Life-in-Death
Twin Fantasy (Those Boys)
Sober to Death
High to Death
My Boy - Twin Fantasy
Cute Thing
Nervous Young Inhumans
Bodys
Stop Smoking
Famous Prophets

Car Seat Headrest is a band I discovered recently and felt a great deal of connection with, and Twin Fantasy is my favorite album from them. I highly value art that conveys the creator's deeply personal emotions and this album in particular does a great job portraying the confusion of a fraught first relationship. The release of this album was a big win for gay furries everywhere and it is also a possible contender for greatest bandcamp album of all time. I am in the minority for preferring the original 2011 release because I like the original spoken word section in Nervous Young Inhumans more, feel some of 2018's additions drag out the album on subsequent listens, and most importantly find that the lo-fi presentation and Will's 19-year-old vocals suit the subject matter better, but ideally people would listen to both versions and then give the similarly excellent How To Leave Town a spin too :). 4.5/5

8

10

FFVII absolutely redefined what console game storytelling could be, particularly by delving deeper into its protagonist's psyche than almost any game had done before, and would even be a major inspiration for PC RPGs like Planescape: Torment and Baldur's Gate 2. It also has orbital strike satellite dragons, jokes about naked guys on a train, hours of animal breeding, and a main story quest about cross dressing as effectively as possible. A big, weird, wonderful game.

This was my nomination and I had the 2011 version specifically in mind (which I personally prefer,) but I said during the voting topic that I was alright with people choosing their preferred version if that was the host's preference and I expect most people will go for the 2018 version.

8

I feel like the shooting isn't that great and the shine has come off some of the artistic and narrative aspects of this game over the years, for me. It is still an impressive achievement in terms of how much creativity went into the setting though.

Hard Times
Caught in the Middle
Tell Me How
Fake Happy
Forgiveness
Grudges
Rose-Colored Boy
No Friend
26
Told You So
Idle Worship
Pool

Pretty enjoyable pop album :)

azuarc posted...

No, not Borderlands 3. The original.

I hate the Borderlands franchise

If it were 2 it would be a 1/10 for me, or I guess a 0 since that is apparently allowed

I just find the Diablo-style equipment management extremely tedious and the shooting + AI weak, and then 2 has extremely cringey writing for me

3 I haven't played

3

7

Revisiting Kanto is one of the most memorable parts of any Pokemon game, and I love both the GBC aesthetic and the batch of critters it introduced, but this is probably the most jank 2D Pokemon game, especially as a singleplayer experience where it is super restrictive in terms of options until the post game

7

Toxel

White Chalk
When Under Ether
The Devil
The Mountain
To Talk to You
The Piano
Dear Darkness
Grow Grow Grow
Before Departure
Silence
Broken Harp

PJ Harvey is one of my favorite artists. In a vacuum I would've preferred to nominate Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea or Let England Shake but this is one of the few albums I like that could fit the theme for this cycle. I think this project is admirable both for how much of a departure from Harvey's previous work it is and how thoroughly it commits to bringing out this haunted, gothic aesthetic. 4/5

7.5

Definitely an inspired game that the creator was passionate about, but I was underwhelmed by the narrative compared to how much hype it gets and Yoko Taro still hasn't figured out how to design a game well

9.5

A perfectly made game, but it doesn't really take any big risks or do anything amazingly original.

Hector