Lurker > andylt

10. Beat a game made by a director/composer/artist/etc that you like
Virtue's Last Reward

13. Beat a game made by an indie developer
Guacamelee! 2

11. Beat a game made by a developer you like
Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings
Just counting this as Square >_> I really wasn't keen on this game at first but it grew on me, it's nothing spectacular but the gameplay becomes more interesting as it goes and the writing for the back half is actually pretty decent.

24. Beat a game with romance as a central theme
Super Meat Boy
I was turned off by the aesthetic at first but this is a really solid game. I managed to get 100% in the end but screw Skyscraper.

26. Beat a game with revenge as a central theme
Rogue Legacy
It's clear the rogueli*e genre has evolved a lot since this game, but it's very fun and that's what matters. I look forward to seeing how the sequel brings things to modern day. (I probably won't beat all the superbosses)

Oh this actually finished, I stopped checking!

Thanks for the list and for the detailed and personal write-ups, I hope you got something out of this topic yourself! I guess I should play Chicory sometime, the colouring aspect doesn't appeal to me massively but I have to admit that world map with personalised colours looks rad.

NFUN posted...

If a game can be broken into segments, the rule of thumb for whether you can use songs from any part or if you have to choose one is that if a part of the game can be played standalone, it cannot be put into a main setlist. For example, songs from World of Warcraft expansions can be put into a "World of Warcraft" set, while songs from Shovel Knight campaigns can only be put into sets specific to that campaign.

So Final Fantasy XIV expansions all count under the main game? Cool.

Having multiple alts is nice too, that way if it's impossible to narrow things to 7 we can just keep however many extras as alts.

For those not on the discord yet, we now have a forum there where people can post games they're considering and we can workshop the lists of tracks together.

Chicory is a good shout, Wandersong didn't make the 2010s list so I didn't think to include it but it makes sense. Can't think what else would be there, I doubt it's something like Psychonauts 2.

Edit: Oh I see now the list of games she hasn't played includes both Unpacking and Psycho2 >_> Yeah it must be Chicory then. I suggest checking out Unpacking though if it's ever on sale Para, not sure if you'd enjoy the gameplay but I think you'd appreciate the narrative and the way the narrative is delivered. And it's packed full of '90s+'00s nostalgia (including video games)! Very short tho.

Paratroopa1 posted...

SpyParty is a game where one player has to pretend to be an AI-controlled guest at a fancy party while the other person has to try to find them; the 'spy' has to sneakily complete a list of objectives while blending in with the AI guests, while the other player watches from afar with a sniper rifle and gets one shot to kill them. It's incredibly brilliantly designed, but it's also kind of hard to get into, especially since it's strictly a 1v1 competitive game with no real single player, so it's the sort of thing you have to be really into to play.

oh this sounds awesome, but yeah probably difficult to get into, I don't play many multiplayer games these days anyway. Pretending to be an AI is a great premise though, I used to do stuff like that in games as a kid for fun.

For #1 I'm guessing Unpacking. It's not a roguelite or a speedrun game but it is colourful and 90s and I think it can probably be called, uh, 'gender', as the kids would say, in a way that I imagine would appeal to you.

That's a lot of spoiler bars! I like your Witness/Obra Dinn/OW analysis, personally Tunic also scratched the same itch as those for me but I will eagerly check out any game that gets favourably compared to any of them.

I'm always a bit disappointed when (basegame Outer Wilds spoilers) the time loop is used to advertise the game. I understand it as it's a core conceit you discover very early on but I loved knowing absolutely nothing going into that game. Though of course it helps that I played it in 2019 before I'd seen it hyped up at all so my expectations were pretty nonexistent. God what a game though. I'm glad Echoes pretty much lives up to the original for you as I've heard some be a bit less enthusiastic about it, I'll definitely play it sometime.

Can we get a rundown of 50-2 pls, I want to predict 1 but I forget what's already appeared >_>

Also glancing at your 2010s list I guess I should check out whatever SpyParty is, as we share a lot of other favs (unless it's a Jackbox kinda thing).

Finally got around to watching @azuarc 's video, thanks a lot for putting together such an informative and thorough explanation!

Paratroopa1 posted...

You can get tens, hundreds, or thousands of hours out of Spire and be completely satisfied; picking up another game just like it probably isn't that appealing if you're not addicted to the genre like I am.

Yeah this is the boat I'm in. I like Spire, I've put a fair amount of time into it (tens rather than hundreds of hours), and that was enough for me. I'm intrigued by the unique parts of Monster Train you mention like the tower defence, but it doesn't sound different enough to get my attention, I have little desire to play a Spire-like all over again. Oh well!

And the events which can range from game-breaking to game-losing completely at random in Spire are toned down a lot here, which is good, I think; events are still sometimes game-breaking in Spire but they're always at least positive, and you get a bunch of rewards all at once too which is nice; the choice of WHICH batch of rewards to take, again, is much nicer than just praying to get somtehing good in Spire.

I assume the second Spire here is supposed to say Train? I had to read it a few times to make sense of it lol.

Guessing Outer Wilds Echoes again for like the seventh time.

Also props to them for including a massive variety of pokemon and seeming to choose ones that would work the best in the environments instead of just picking the most popular.

He also personally killed Cissnei one year

Yep good write-up, New Snap is great. By the end I was overly frustrated with how difficult/obtuse some of the puzzles were, after I snapped all species of pokemon I lost motivation for continuing and I never got close to finishing all the quests. But better to be too hard than too easy for that kind of game, and I got dozens of hours of fun out of this anyway so I can't complain too much.

I only wish they let you rewind or drop into a course at different spots so you didn't have to replay 5 minutes to get that one attempt at a rare shot again every time.

Martin I'd like to remind you that you rooted against Aeris in last year's final

Leonhart4 posted...

or just bring back Doomtrain

Doomtrain is already on the roster!

Also I forgot to note Diablos. I know summons usually do poorly but VIII has some very memorable standouts.

I believe there's some playable moogles that haven't been in yet.

Some potential VIII newbies: Angelo, Watts, Zone, Xu, Ward, Ellone, Queen of Cards, Julia, Raine, King Tonberry, Jumbo Cactuar, Sacred, Minotaur, Pupu, Griever, Cerberus, Ma Dincht.

23. Beat a sports game
Golf Story

Good game! Great script, fun gameplay. There's areas it could be improved so I'm very excited for the sequel should it ever come out.

Paratroopa1 posted...

kind of like Into the Breach

I'm sold!

For real that sounds like a lot of fun, I hope it picks up support I don't like seeing good things get ignored like that. And maybe it'll eventually release on consoles and I can give it a go!

Pdix Outer Wilds Echoes

I like Unsighted but the plot didn't particularly grab me beyond the initial premise and the time mechanic was... alright. Once I got past the initial 'oh god i have to do everything asap' fear I fell into a comfortable rhythm, but losing time on death always pissed me off and at a certain point I realised there was another town with duplicates for every NPC service that had a much longer lifespan so there was really no danger and I feel like that lost a bit of tension for the game. It was a really fun time though, speaking as someone who loves to explore and take my time the game wasn't too rough. The optional superboss in particular was one heck of a challenge tho.

MacArrowny posted...

Always made me sad that Death's Door got way more attention than Unsighted when Unsighted's similar but much better. Cool game.

Unsighted reminded me more of an action-based CrossCode than it did Death's Door, and maybe I'm the only person in the world who thinks this but I really like CC's ridiculously precise puzzles and missed their absence in a more actiony game >_>

MartinFF7 posted...

how did you get minappearances excluded on the stats site, specifically the append code for the url? (the min/max box won't work and I forgot to ask GMUN before now). Also two top 20 appearances for Ghido, his position is only natural!

?cfilts=clear;smsb;kmtcb;smcb;smns;smt;smfffc2;svfffc&mode=5

Ghido reaching top 20 again was a massive surprise for me, he was on his way out in the 50s/40s but other characters fell at the right time so I could afford to main him without risking Rinoa (and Raiden came back). Also the Year of FFV helped. Doubt it'll be 3 in a row but we'll see!

MartinFF7 posted...

hey, so I don't know if this was settled, but in the nominations topic there were discussions on switching Days 1-10 to be 1/1 rather than 2/2? Was this further discussed over the course of the contest/was a final lefty declaration made? Any chance Days 1-10 could be Day 21-50 1/2 style instead, gimme those 4 hour rounds...

20 rounds of FoG does sound pretty terrifying if that's where it ends up going, though certainly easier to administer and less overall time expenditure. Lot more holding though. All the more reason to nominate in TEN NARSHE MOOGLES, ah I need to format and post that at some point.

I don't recall if lefty made a final decision but he really didn't want the hassle of tracking two different save times for everyone etc so I assume it's changing in some form. Hopefully he'll come post in this topic at some point!

A run of the mill final result but a fun contest with lots of great movies, thanks for running it TC!

i am not

Here's how the top of stats would look now without appearance restrictions. I didn't expect Ghido to still be up here after two years but what a sight it is to see!
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/3/5/AANyLIAADu8v.jpg

yellowwolley posted...

When were Porom and Lenna last in the contest?

Porom in XVI with 10 contests total (and a 7th place finish in there somehow), Lenna in XIV with 12 appearances.

GenesisSaga posted...

Shuyin and Lenne got a raw deal in raytan's era...

...did they? I feel like they'd do badly in any era.

Farnsworth
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Scarecrow
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Final Fantasy VII

Good stuffer getting rid of the non-Cid

Thanks for posting stats, lefty! But where is leftystats??!

captaincanadian posted...

when's the yang redemption tour

I'm down.

Dancing Mad is the most overrated FF theme imo

And I expect Quisty to make it back fine.

yellowwolley posted...

I really disliked like Peeymore Guano or TrAshelia BinBargain Basement or someone like that.

These are Moonroof calibre nicknames, I approve.

tag i guess

Not sure how this works but i will watch the video and read the rules accordingly! I have some games in mind. When is noms?

Delita >> Ramza but Ramza being the main protagonist and a more known name would make him stronger in a final I'm sure.

Personally, Ramza > Aeris > Tifa > Edgar > Kefka. Swapping the 7 girls in the finals would not change my votes. I really doubt Tifa would be notably stronger than Aeris in a final but I heavily underestimated Ramza so what do I know >_>

I voted for Squall over Delita, but now that I've played T I would switch that choice up in a heartbeat.

GenesisSaga posted...

As we've seen before runner-up winners stand a better chance of making it back to eventually become real winners.

I think it's just that some characters are so popular they'll eventually get to the top regardless. But characters like Tifa and Terra have waited 18/17 contests since their finals and they've never sniffed it again! I doubt Seph would be a guaranteed run back if he lost at the finals once.

Also FFVII is now down to 3 wins out of 8 finals! (Reno, Zack, Cloud / Tifa, Yuffie, Cloud, Aeris, Aeris)

I had some vague idea that they were a Buzzfeed thing, couldn't tell you who they are or what they do though.

Yang doesn't deserve to be bottom 10. Next year let's get his wife to whack him out of the top ten with her trusty frying pan :)

If we're lucky lefty will post full stats at some point (and new stats and maybe leftystats!)

And yeah I forgot Leon hosted too. Wow this contest had two FF8 fans as hosts and Squall didn't win until years into lefty's tenure lol.

why do the first three elims say FF and the others don't

MartinFF7 posted...

But also Yuffie's going to be in that fav character mix for Roba, I just know it.

Roba has pretty good taste, I doubt he'd join the Yuffie train. (Also Eiko has decent theme music)

Spirited Away

From that list I expect you'd be an Aeris fan, but you never know. You should play it (and V and T) anyway!

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Dr. Bob Kelso (Scrubs)
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-

Bobby Corwen is my IX newbie choice.

Thanks for the stats Martin! Rinoa has gotten 8th before but this is her best contest percentagewise so I'll happily take you greenifying her. I'm loling at how badly XII has done after its initial three top 10s. Notable mistakes we need to fix from there: get Quistis higher (but not at the expense of Rinoa >_>), get Prompto into top half, push some VI crew outside the usual suspects, and get some of the old IV folks back in.

...and how on earth did Irvine get 16th once?? Must've been in the FFD era.

Aaand second run done! This time I walk away from the fire and several serpents are there to worship me as we usher in the Age of Dark. Gotta say this doesn't feel like a 'good' ending with the focus on reverence here, I'm disappointed there's no secret third option which doesn't involve a world with a ruler or gods. But I suppose it's true to the game to have the endings be kinda vague and not cathartic.

The only achievs I haven't got now are the ones for all miracles and all rare weapons (and one for getting all other achievements). I've looked at the requirements and I don't think I'm gonna bother doing a third run to grind out all these rare drops and enemy tails, not right now anyway. I'll be taking a break from Souls for a bit, but I'll definitely move on to DS2 at some point. Still undecided which version to go for- according to you all the 360 version has better enemy placement etc but I'd have to shell out extra cash for the DLCs, and the remaster has everything included but is apparently an inferior version of the game. Ah well, plenty of time to think.

Thanks once again for tuning in to this topic, it went on a bit longer than I expected!

PLAYTHROUGH COMPLETED

pjbasis posted...

Forgetting a HUGE one. Both his predecessors are now champions, a new FFT main character will rise

I don't have the slightest clue who the TA2 protagonist is!

In terms of XV I'm all for a Prompto run myself, Noct/Ig have both had top 20s at this point and Gladio sucks.

I have listened to these now. Very curious how one of these in particular managed to win >_>

With all this talk about main character victories, who still hasn't won?

Warrior of Light, Firion, whoever 3's lead is, Bartz, Terra, Vaan, Noctis, the online games, and then for spinoffs we have Yuna, Serah, Ceodore, Layle, Mira, Jack... anyone else? I feel like Yuna and maybe Terra are the only ones that could have a path to victory. And maybe it's too late for Terra.

If there's an argument for someone other than Lightning to be the main character of XIII, I'd easily pick Vanille over the rest.

Ah, Quelana was definitely mentioned by name in the descriptions of the outfit you pick off that corpse, so I assumed it was her.

Painted World takes about 5 minutes, thankfully I can avoid the skeleton wheel hell down below. The dragon is no bother and poor Priscilla doesn't have a big enough health bar to make her invisibility gimmick a real threat. Kinda like Pinwheel. I stab blindly in her general direction and it doesn't take me long to connect, and she goes down before laying a finger on me.

We speed through the Archives too, but I take the time to free Logan from his cell along the way. Watching him slowly lose his mind here is both neat and upsetting, I wish there was something I could do to help... But he gets buried in his books and I guess loses his sense of purpose once I kill Seath (ez this time), this is a more intricate depiction of going hollow than most of the other NPCs get. Poor guy.

I do manage to save Solaire and Siegmeyer this time, they're both kinda miserable but at least they're alive! I thought losing your sense of purpose is what turned you hollow, but they're both depressed and still cognisant so idk.

I should be able to pop over to the Kiln and finish my second run next time I play, but I'm holding off for now in case there's other things I should do that I missed first time round. Hopefully Kaathe has some more info for me when we next speak.