Lurker > plasmabeam

Nominate:

Banjo-Kazooie

I'll preface this by saying I've only watched an LP of the game on YouTube, so feel free to disregard this vote if that's not enough.

3 points for the finger scene, nothing else.

The story, characters and the dialogue. It was like peak tv drama in video game form. While I liked the combat I admit it wasn't anything special (however do note that it is a huge step up from the rest of the series which may be a deal breaker for you).

Kiwami 1 is a much more polished version of the original but it is not anywhere near the quality of Yakuza 0. But this is where it all starts and even with its shortcomings in gameplay, the story is well worth it if you liked Yakuza 0's.

It is insane how I used to think Yakuza was a bad Shenmue/GTA wannabe hybrid when I first played the original on the PS2.

Fast forward to 2017, played Yakuza 0 (the first one I touched after the original PS2 game) and it blew me away. Thought it was a flash in the pan for the series. Didn't play another game in the series until late 2020, then played the entire series from Kiwami 1 to Yakuza: Like a Dragon and now it is one of favorite video game series of all time.

4/10. Bad just like all P4 story content in anything outside of the original game.

Character Battle. 20 year anniversary.

And Then There Were None

Frankenstein
Dracula
Pride and Prejudice
To Kill a Mockingbird
Catcher in the Rye
The Alchemist
The Great Gatsby
Jane Eyre
The Call of The Wild
Carmilla
The Turn of the Screw

Most people aren't buying a PS5 for exclusives, they're doing it for better performance. Same reason you'd buy a new graphics card for your computer.

Dunban is good but he's no RPG Bowser. I'll have to withhold judgment on Path of Radiance (perhaps forever because it might be stuck in purgatory for the rest of time).

I'm just going to wait for a slim version to come out tbh, although at this pace I don't expect it before like 2024 lol.

It's a game starring Nintendo's best character

Snake5555555555 posted... @plasmabeam

And as always I appreciate the compliment!

I think the train station represents a few different things. I think you are somewhat right in saying that potential is there for many destinations into an unknown future. But by the same token it could easily be the opposite: Heather might feel rail-roaded in her life by an unknown force of destiny she can't control. Notice how the subway station fights back against her with psychological tricks, or how she can play into her own fear of the paranormal by reading that article on ghosts and then getting pushed down on the tracks. Or when she finally gets on the train and it feels like an endless loop.

On the mansion... I actually think it's intended just as a joke really. Like obviously the voice takes digs and shots at Heather, especially taunting her with thoughts of suicide, but I always thought it was sort of a shot at Resident Evil's cheesiness. The typical haunted mansion setting with the trap doors and falling ceilings like what you usually expect from a horror game or movie, etc, and hell one of the rooms is even a dining room which is the first room you explore in the original RE.

In some ways, I find SH3 scarier than SH2. But they are two very different experiences. SH2 is an inwards journey into the soul and mind, while SH3 focuses more on external threats due to its far more vulnerable protagonist. SH3's true core is that of the specific female teenage experience - stalkers, (such as Douglas Cartland in the game's opening sequence), sex and teen pregnancy (this one's obvious, but one other aspect of this is how many monsters have phallic attacks or even in the case of the Slurper straight up sexually assault Heather in their attacks), finding your identity (confronting yourself in the Memory of Alessa), the very idea and nature of what it means to be "feminine" (Heather's tomboyish appearance is constantly confronted by idealized mannequins & sexualized nurses, the first area is a shopping mall and shopping is typically stereotyped as a feminine activity, the game even gives you perfume to wear which attracts more "attention" to you).

This can also be seen a lot in the game's main antagonist, Claudia. I like how she isn't a foil for Heather, but more of a kindred spirit. Claudia is a lot like Heather and rejects the notions of conformity stereotyping society places on the individual. However, Claudia is a hypocrite and places her own hatred on to Heather's shoulders ironically becoming the very thing she hates in the process. A key concept of this is how they raised: Heather had the loving Harry, while Claudia was abused and belittled by her father. It's an important distinction that shows differing masculine influences on each of their lives and how it defined them as they grey and mature.

That's just some reasons why this game is so incredible to me, but there's so much more I can get into.

3/10

Welp, guess I'm the outlier here, I didn't realise this was so well-regarded but I personally didn't care for it at all! The occult stuff was a big miss for me, and the attempts at a personal story with Heather didn't resonate half as much as James' did in 2. The game is trying to balance two very differing tones and I don't think it succeeds at either- much of the setting feels like it's retreading 2's grounds for no good reason, and then the actual plot and dialogue is just absurd.

Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood for this or it wasn't what I was looking for, but I found very little to enjoy here. There's a couple of very memorable gross moments, I'll give it that.

The world building in this first half of the duology is really good and they established some memorable characters. I remember being all kinds of hyped for the conclusion to the story in the second game. The mystery behind the lost civilization of Lemuria is one of the most intriguing plot elements an RPG of its time had. However all of these epic things are saved for the second game.

How does one get a 20 years old game for Christmas?

Edit: FFVIII's dominance in 99 was ridiculous, wow: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/38-the-best-of-1999-game-of-the-year

1994 - Final Fantasy VI
1995 - Chrono Trigger
1996 - Super Mario RPG
1997 - Final Fantasy VII
1998 - Final Fantasy Tactics
1999 - Final Fantasy VIII
2000 - Final Fantasy IX
2001 - Final Fantasy X
2002 - Kingdom Hearts
2003 - Final Fantasy XI (an MMO, but still well-received)

Hell of a run. Took them three years after that to come out with KH2 and FF12, and FF12's mixed reception was the beginning of the decline.

And I'll concede Dread is likely closer to MP1 than I was first considering. Still not convinced MK8D is a gimme-match, but MD can likely find itself as the Switch's fourth biggest game at the moment.

Separately, I can't imagine another Metroid game besides MP1 and SM beating MD.