Lurker > plasmabeam

Safer_777 posted...

Metroid, the original game, has huge playrate for such an old title.

Keep in mind it's been re-released on GCN (through a Metroid Prime/Fusion link), GBA twice (NES Classic cart and Zero Mission unlockable), Virtual Console releases, and Switch Online.

Lot of opportunities to play it. Now whether people enjoy it...that's another question altogether. I'm a big Metroid guy, and personally I think it's the worst 2D Metroid by a mile. Metroid II for Gameboy s***s all over M1.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Hated it. Without a doubt my least favorite post-NES FF.

The only character I liked was Prompto, and even he was tropey as hell. Noctis is Squall without a soul (or a compelling character arc). The other two are completely forgettable. All I remember about Gladio is him being a protective tough guy. Ignis had a British accent.

Worst character: Lunafreya because she was heavily underdeveloped to the point that I felt absolutely nothing when she died.

Story was abysmal. Pacing was laughably uneven. Battle system was decent. Open world was half-baked and bland (though to be fair, I dislike most open world games). Music/graphics were great.


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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Thanks for this! Always enjoy the NFL Primetime references among other things.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Epyo posted...

Plot is an interesting category, I think both series are mostly games with little plot throughout, but good late-game twists. Metroid 2, Super Metroid, yep, good late-game twists. Aria of Sorrow, SotN, OoE, also all have good late-game twists.

That's a good point. The games do a lot of their storytelling through subtext (especially Metroid with its ruined sections of planets, damaged Chozo statues, etc.) and always save the twists and payoffs for the end. I also loved the False Save Room in SotN where Alucard faces the succubus mimicking his mother. Great character moment.

But as a whole, these games are better off telling their stories through action and exploration. Like you said about Fusion, too much text gets in the way. Ideally, you could have a Metroidvania with someone speaking over a loudspeaker like the Joker does in Arkham Asylum, but too much text can wreck the momentum.

Grimlyn posted...

Aria way too low

Aria never impressed me. It was way too easy, especially if you make any effort to collect soul abilities (and thus gobble up more EXP). IMO Dawn is a better game that functions in roughly the same way, thus pushing Aria down my list.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Wait till the kiddies wake up

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Kirby

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

I've beaten every 2D Metroid and Metroid-Style Castlevania. Here are my thoughts.

• BASIC GAMEPLAY: METROID. Samus' abilities are more fun to use (Morph Ball, Space Jump, Grapple Beam, I could go on), and they allow her to interact with environments in fun ways. She's basically "Spider-man in space." Aside from SotN, CVs are grounded in basic platforming/attack abilities--although I do enjoy their RPG and "Soul Ability" concepts.
• BOSSES: METROID. Metroid bosses are generally more creative in terms of design and battle tactics. CV bosses are typically oversized monsters that need to be hit anywhere on their bodies until they die.
• LEVEL DESIGN: METROID. Again, Samus' unique abilities allow for more dynamic level design. Metroid tends to have considerably better platforming variety and environmental hazards.
• MUSIC: CASTLEVANIA. This is where Castlevania wins decisively, although Metroid is no slouch in this area.
• ATMOSPHERE: METROID. Not even close. Super Metroid and Samus Returns both create an amazing sense of dread and claustrophobia through their visuals, music, and level design. Even the original Metroid II has a keen sense of loneliness. SotN is the only CV that feels truly immersive, along with maaaybe CotM.
• DIFFICULTY: CASTLEVANIA. Metroids tend to be cakewalks (aside from Samus Returns and the NES original), whereas Castlevanias offer more of a challenge, especially Order of Ecclesia and Circle of the Moon.
• STORY: METROID. Neither series excels here, but I give the nod to Metroid because Samus' journey always feels like it has ongoing purpose, not to mention the occasional emotional moment (finding the baby Metroid, the Mother Brain battle in Super). Castlevania is almost always, "Whelp, gotta kill Dracula again."

So yeah, Metroid wins in most categories. That said, I love the Iga-made Castlevanias. Here's my biased ranking/tier list of every game:

Super Metroid
Symphony of the Night
-
Samus Returns (3DS)
Zero Mission
Order of Eccelsia
Circle of the Moon
-
Dawn of Sorrow
AM2R
Fusion
Portrait of Ruin
-
Return of Samus (GB)
Aria of Sorrow
Harmony of Dissonance
-
Metroid (NES)


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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Safer_777 posted...

@plasmabeam He has said he is a reborn Christian so that is.

Gotcha.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

PostContestUlti posted...

Why bring this up in round 3 of a contest? Well not long after this contest ended, Shad Gaspard died while swimming. A riptide carried him and his son out to sea, and we later learned that as this happened and a lifeguard showed up, he told the lifeguard to save his son first. Gaspard's body was found on the beach a few days later.

Who is Shad Gaspard, you may ask. He's a former pro wrestler, and he was the guy who did the motion capture for Kratos in God of War 2018. Meaning the dude who Kratos is now modeled after died because he was being a great father. I know a lot of people on the internet aren't religious, but God really does work in mysterious ways. You cannot make up a story like this.

I just looked this up. Heartbreaking.

Also, surprised to learn you're a religious person. I've followed your topics since the early 00s and never would've guessed. Genuinely curious now...did you recently find faith or has this been a long-standing thing? If it's highly personal and you don't want to share, no worries.


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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

NowItsAngeTime posted...

Personally I think the problem with Galaxy games is they look pretty graphics but overall have pretty boring level designs

This. Particularly Galaxy 1, which felt like it was on-rails most of the time. Galaxy 2 corrected this and ended up being excellent IMO.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Hot take: Twin Snakes s***s all over the PS1 version, which has aged almost as badly as Goldeneye.

Sniper Wolf 1 always stood out to me because of the narrative impact surrounding it. Wolf shooting Meryl, then Snake having to abandon the poor girl brought out some great emotion in his character. Prior to that, he states that he only feels truly alive on the battlefield, and that he's been conditioned to not care about anyone.

That moment where Meryl's lying wounded is a great dilemma where "the battlefield" and his personal feelings overlap.

Then coming back to duel Wolf in that sniper corridor is flat-out awesome.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Sonic

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Dead last. The game aged terribly.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

OTHER: RE2 vs Bloodborne

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

(1) Mario
(9) Yakuza
(5) God of War
(4) Mass Effect
(3) Kingdom Hearts
(6) The Witcher
(10) Mega Man X
(2) The Elder Scrolls

(1) Persona
(9) Chrono Trigger
(5) Sonic the Hedgehog
(13) Final Fantasy Tactics
(3) Grand Theft Auto
(6) Mega Man
(10) EarthBound / Mother
(2) Metal Gear

(1) Pokemon
(9) Donkey Kong Country
(5) Dark Souls
(4) Fallout
(3) Castlevania
(6) Monster Hunter
(7) DOOM
(2) Metroid

(1) Final Fantasy
(9) Animal Crossing
(5) Dragon Quest / Warrior
(4) Xenoblade
(3) Fire Emblem
(11) Portal
(10) Halo
(2) Smash Bros.

=-=-=

(1) Mario
(4) Mass Effect
(6) The Witcher
(10) Mega Man X

(1) Persona
(5) Sonic the Hedgehog
(6) Mega Man
(2) Metal Gear

(1) Pokemon
(5) Dark Souls
(3) Castlevania
(2) Metroid

(1) Final Fantasy
(4) Xenoblade
(3) Fire Emblem
(2) Smash Bros.

=-=-=

(1) Mario
(6) The Witcher

(1) Persona
(2) Metal Gear

(1) Pokemon
(3) Castlevania

(1) Final Fantasy
(2) Smash Bros.

=-=-=

(1) Mario

(2) Metal Gear

(1) Pokemon

(2) Smash Bros.

=-=-=
Mario > Smash in the Finals

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Missed it by 3 points this time.

In '05 i was tied for 1st going into the final...but picked Crono.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

UltimaterializerX posted...

Game of the 90s would be an insane contest. You people are on crack. Allen would simply have to not have the silly 2 games per series rule.

Like you CANNOT have that contest only have two of Mario 3, Super Mario World, Yoshis Island, and Mario 64 in it. That is just criminal negligence.

Which is to say nothing of the five notable Final Fantasy titles. 4, 6, 7, 8, and Tactics.

Agreed. Voted 90s contest. Lot of star-power in the major franchises, and we've had some recent remakes that could drive some extra hype (RE2/3, Zelda LA, FF7R, etc.)

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Looks ridiculously fun.

Hope it plays like PM/TTYD

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

BOTW
ME2
Xenoblade
Smash Ultimate
Persona 5
Witcher 3

So six.

P5 > Smash > Xenoblade > ME2 > BOTW > W3

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

PostContestUlti posted...

That's it. That's the entire list. Tales fans (and I include myself here) will tell you all day how good these games are, but they never get nominated enough to matter outside of one game that existed on a system with 10 good games on it total -- Melee, Tales of Symphonia, Metroid Prime, Metroid Prime 2, Resident Evil 4, Eternal Darkness, REmake, Paper Mario: TTYD, Fire Emblem 9, and Pikmin. Don't even try with Twilight Princess or Wind Waker. I don't want to hear it.

Whoa. WHOA. Don't disrespect Skies of Arcadia: Legends and F-Zero GX.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Vlado posted...

Breath of the Wild vs. Ocarina of Time.

No, let's save this for 2025

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

LinkMarioSamus posted...

Stupid question: How many games in this field beat Shadow of the Colossus?

DEFINITELY:
BOTW, Mario Odyssey, Smash Ultimate
Witcher 3, Skyrim

LIKELY:
Persona 5, Dark Souls, Pokemon HGSS

OUTSIDE SHOT:
God of War, ME2, RE2, SMG2


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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Voxwik posted...

Tidus always surprises me in topics like this, since it's kind of the point that he starts out as an annoying brat. I suppose that doesn't mean people have to like it though.

Tidus has a GREAT character arc, but people don't understand that sometimes a great arc requires a character to be off-putting in Act 1.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Sora. Definitely Sora. Cannot stand any aspect of his character, from his design to his personality to his predictablity.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

OrangeCrush980 posted...

What's the over-under on the number of writeups where Ulti blames a game losing on people hating its series/franchise/company and anti-voting the game to "send a message"

Both Fire Emblem losses will likely be blamed. Undertale, definitely.

Last of Us, Dragon Age, Fortnite, and Minecraft are also possibilities.

I'm sure there are others. Let's set the O/U at 12.5

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Heroic_TuRtLe posted...

I actually think Kylo being a shithead edgelord is the only genuine character moment of the entire trilogy. Rey/Finn/Poe were just so flat and emotionless, whereas I think we can all relate to Kylo on some level. It helps that Adam Driver is by far the best actor of the bunch.

Anyone who liked TFA should really watch the RedLetterMedia teardown

Kylo is by FAR the best character in the sequel trilogy. He's the only one who's genuinely conflicted and unpredictable.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

7 > Solo > 9 > Rogue One > 8

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Tag for the Chris Berman and Lee Corso references.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

332 here. *sigh*

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Best Level Ever.

SMB 1-1 vs Final Destination (Melee), anyone?

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Awesome final!

Vote: VLR

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Mario.

ALBW was a huge disappointment to me. Way too easy.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

1 is fantastic. It would get my vote.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

UshiromiyaEva posted...

Umineko cost me under $40 earlier this year and was over 100 hours of playtime that surpassed most games ever made in enjoyment.

"Overpriced" is a pretty ridiculous statement. RE3 make was a full priced game and was a 5 hour rehash of the game from a year ago.

This. AI: The Somnium Files was worth every cent of the $40 I spent on it. Better than 90% of the games I've played in the past decade, as well.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Tough call. Easily my two favorite games on the system.

Awakening.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

P5 > W3 would be the sweetest thing ever.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Phoenix

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Not sure if it's been said, but Ultimate/Odyssey is the new Mario/Samus '05.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Imagine if P4 were playable on ANY current gen console.


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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Phoenix

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

max on RE2

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Both games have been in my backlog for 4+ years and I'm trying to decide which I should dig into first.

Talk me into one of them. No spoilers, gentlemen.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

WTF Awakening lost?!

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

VLR

I'm playing AI: The Somnium Files right now, and I have to saw the writer of these games is a total genius.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

I started Witcher 3 two months ago and wasn't impressed.

The story and characters are awesome, but there are too many fetch quests and the combat is boring. Also, just not a fan of what I call "Chase the Map Marker" games.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Leonhart4 posted...

Seriously though, Persona 5 is probably the most popular JRPG made in the last 15 years.

FFVII Remake and Kingdom Hearts II would easily beat P5 in terms of popularity. Other than that the only thing that jumps to mind is Xenoblade.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Safer_777 posted...

Nostalgia? I mean come on. This is a series that keeps evolving but the core remains the same. You can't say for example that Mario Kart 1 is the best when ALL Mario Kart games that have come after keep adding stuff. I mean really.

THANK YOU! Super Mario Kart is the worst Mario Kart, I've been saying it forever.

And, yes, even Super Circuit is better.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

6/10

R1 was a complete snoozefest aside from Celeste/Rayman
R2 had Shovel Knight/Octopath, and P4G/RDR
R3 had the excellent RE2/Bloodborne match and the satisfying PG4 > GTAV result.

R4 and beyond are super predictable, barring rallies. Smash/Odyssey and RE2/ME2 are the only true head-scratchers.

Too much fodder hurt the bracket IMO, and the abysmal votals are disappointing.


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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

KIU

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~

Underleveled posted...

Odyssey looked stronger in the first three rounds. But we could get a case of rSFF.

Smash faced harder competition. 64% on Zelda ALBW is far more impressive than 72% on DMC5 and Shovel Knight.

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~Jacksonville Jaguars~