Board 8 > transience's top 60 games - 2018 edition

(+) Yeah! (+)

super intriguing top ten so far!

- DQ8 and FFT are also on my list of "games I should really play one day" (FFT was never released in Europe for some reason, or else I'd have definitely played it in my PS1 RPG phase)

- Spelunky looks great! will definitely at that to the list too.

- and T&T is obviously brilliant, probably a top ten game for me too. 3-5 is my pick for best AA case as well. alignment!
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90s Europe is so weird. maybe better than 2000s Europe which got Xenosaga 2 but not Xenosaga 1 or 3
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yeah, no FF I-VI, Chrono Trigger/Cross, Earthbound, Mario RPG, FFT, Xenogears is just nuts (there's probably others too, that's just off the top of my head). 2000s omissions might seem more inexplicable at times, but that's still way better than getting almost nothing.
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At least they got U-four-ia, Terranigma, and Freshly-Picked Tingles Rosy Rupeeland.
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yeah that seems like it would make up for 90s Square!
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Applekidrose posted...

HaRRicH posted...

Offhand: Undertale, FFX, FF7, LISA, SMRPG...about that order.

you're a good person

I thought having LISA and like half of Undertale would exclude me from that kind of label...!
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TheRock1525 posted...

More Godot love please.

I have 30 Godot spirtes and 10 of Diego and yelled his coffee quote at somebody a few hours ago
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What is LISA? Am I blanking on something I should know, or is relatively obscure? At some point Undertake will make itself available to me.

I played through the first three AA games recently. I think I hit my limit during the first trial of AA3, but I would like to get back to it. That is the one where you do a Mia trial for the first case, yeah? AA1 will always be my favorite, and have a special place in my heart for having played it on the DS, but I enjoyed my time with the others, too.

yeah. you have to see AA3 past the first trial to get into it, but I also think playing the trilogy as part of one package gets exhausting by the time you get to aa3.

gotta see aa3 through though. with some space between them.
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Yeah, that was my problem. It wasnt anything wrong with AA3 itself, I just had a burnout from playing the other two back to back. I would like to see it through, because it has always been the highest regarded AA game. Gotta see the hype with Godot!

oh man yeah you and Godot are going to be in sync. god, I want that playthrough topic so bad. best one since Shadow Hearts. if you do play it, start over. you need to see 3-1 again.
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heroicmario posted...

What is LISA? Am I blanking on something I should know, or is relatively obscure? At some point Undertake will make itself available to me.

It's pretty obscure, yeah -- LISA the Painful is an RPG Maker game sold on Steam nowadays, often on sale for $5. Incoming spiel:

I can't talk about how much I love the game without addressing its flaws first. You're gonna need to set up its controls when you first turn on the game and that's annoying. You WILL also die a few times by simply walking off a ledge, and save points are not as common as you'll wish so this is doubly annoying. Simple graphics too, but whatever on that point.

The game's built rough and unpolished on the surface to be sure...and yet, somehow, considering the cruelty of the game, it somehow works and I don't know how to explain it. If you can get past that.....

LISA the Painful is mechanically a status-based RPG made to look like a 2D side-scroller, with a focus on getting lots of party members. Story-wise, a man who grew up in an abusive home finds a baby who turns out to be the last girl on an apocalyptic earth; this is his journey to protect her. The tone's wild too -- a bipolar mix of hilarious light-hearted humor with pop references and daaaaark philosophical exploration of drug addiction, sexual abuse, and difficult choices. Its music is awesome and as bipolar as the game's script -- for example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fA8OeBltZw

I left this game thinking two things: LISA will inspire a more polished masterpiece one day, and its developer might be suicidal. It's brilliant and brutal, absolutely brutal. You've not played Undertale, but for those who have: what Undertale made you feel, LISA makes you feel the opposite.

It's unforgiving and unforgettable.
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I feel like Lisa might be for the kind of person who likes Undertale. just a guess though, haven't played it.

H, there's an rpg maker horror rpg from Japan called Mad Father that you might like. look it up if you're interested. I know it ended up on steam recently but I originally found it elsewhere on the internet.
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Hmm. OK, I figured I would have heard about it if it were a bigger indie game, but seeing as I never use Steam, I wouldnt have any chance of seeing this. Im not sure this would be in my wheelhouse of games I would play, but the tone certainly sounds more intense than what Ive heard about Undertale. I havent ever played an RPG Maker game before, but does it actually play well? I have it in my head that it would be rough with that being the source.

FF X above IX?? Madness!
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I'm way past fighting over final fantasy!
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True story: the best Final Fantasy game isnt on this list. Sizzle, crackle, pop.

not you too !!
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Haha. That is truthfully about as far down the FF argument rabbit hole as I am willing to go. Snide remarks about which one is TRULY best, but no further. We all know everyones heels have been so dug in that they are now one with the ground. All I know is that post-PS1 FF games are trouble!

And if that last sentence seemed incendiary, you would be right, haha! Not that I want to argue about it, but I have a hot take on the PS2 in 2018 that would cause fires.

do it!
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LeonhartFour posted...

once a B8er always a B8er

Psssh.
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I bring all the boys to the yard
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transience posted...

oh man you're a zelda 1 randomizer-er too, huh? heck yeah. someday we should all play a seed together. not a race or anything because screw that.

I would totally be down for that, it would be fun to have people to talk to about it and see if we end up doing stuff in dramatically different orders.
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I'll check out Mad Father, thanks!

I think LISA plays fine, yeah. It's all about figuring out what your enemies are weak to (burns, sickness, dizziness, knocked out, etc.) and what attacks you have that'll bring the pain to hurt and stun them the most in those ways (headbutts, fireballs, arrows, bodyslams, etc). It has a simple combo system so it's more than just mashing X, but once you know some combos you'll know what your bread and butter is.

It's the traversal that sucks. Doesn't usually suck! But that first time you walk off a ledge in LISA, you might yell 'cuz that's an insta-death. I think this was intended because of all the ledges by ladders and the occasional ledge right in front of you when the screen switches...you learn to adjust and it's not so bad when you know to be careful, but you'll get comfortable and then it happens and it's immediately the worst feeling.
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okay, it's go time! maybe 1 or 2 now, then the rest this evening.

6.



This is the best controlling Metroid game by a mile. As everyone knows, I really love the Metroid formula - the powerups that you find, the way that you move, the atmosphere, all that stuff. Zero Mission really simplifies the Super Metroid formula from 6 buttons down to 4 and makes it a lot easier to handle. Missiles, space jump, bomb jumping, single wall jumps -- all handled better here than in Super Metroid. Traversing a room is a lot more empowering because you can perform advanced tricks without too much trouble - you're not fighting the game. Zero Mission is built with multiple pathways in mind which means that you can scale the game's difficulty to the route that you want to take. I really admire the design of this game because there's something for anyone.

Because of that control, I've spent a gigantic amount of time fine tuning my skills in each room. I love just moving around quickly. I'm pretty much better at this game than any other one - as evidenced by holding the any% speed run record (28:50, 29:54 single segment) for a number of years. I played through this game last week - and I suck compared to how I used to be, but I did get an any% time of 36:09. I have a lot of work to do to get back to where I was!

This game feels like a necessary play for anyone interested in knowing how a 2d action or metroidvania game should handle. It's so damn easy to like. It's kind of flawless.
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Okay, finally caught up.

- Tactics is awesome. Definitely makes my top 10 list as well, and I've settled on it being the best Final Fantasy - it's the only one where the gameplay itself is the really interesting part and not just the barrier to getting more story. (Well, there's Crisis Core, but...). HM, which FF are you calling the best one? My list goes Tactics, 6, 4, 9.

- AA3 is so good. Wouldn't be in my top 10 but man is that final case a ride. From the moment the Kurain Village music starts in the case intro it's an emotional rollercoaster.

Anyway, a couple months back I was thinking of doing my own top 50 and I started some notes but I got lazy. Last time I posted a top 50 list here was I think 2006. I might post a top 10 after Luke finishes his list.
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Disappointed I missed this until now; tag.

Zero Mission is a technically good game but never really grabbed me the way Super or Fusion did. The latter two are all-time favourites while ZM just came and went for me.
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Zero Mission was awesome too. Been ages since I played it, I should give it another run through.
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What VC's offer Zero Mission?
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Aww yeah Zero Mission. Such a good game. I'm a weirdo and played Zero Mission before I ever got around to playing Super Metroid and the latter actually felt a bit overhyped by comparison. Zero Mission just plays so damn well.
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Wii U.
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I think (?) I played ZM before Super too, can't remember for sure at this point. The one thing about ZM compared to Super is that the Zero Suit section felt really cool and original when I first saw it, but on replays it feels kinda annoying and gimmicky to me. Everything before that is awesome though.
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ZM was fun as hell. At least top 2 for me in the Metroid series, it's neck and neck between that and Super.
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the zero suit section has a lot to offer. it's a cool shakeup of the formula - turns you vulnerable instead of being able to kill everything in your path.
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5.



Holy crap do I love the movement in N++. The game's movement is based around momentum. This can seem like a negative because it might seem like you're not in total control, but trust me, you're in control in N++ maybe more than any other platformer. You can control your jump here with so much more precision than a Mario or a Sonic or whatever. The result is a platformer with a near-limitless skill ceiling and a difficulty level that's up to the task. Pretty impressive for a game that only features three inputs - left, right and jump.

N++ moves well but the other appeal is that it's quite literally limitless in its content. N++ Ultimate Edition came out recently which brought the number of levels in the game to 4,340. Yeah. That doesn't even count the level sharing or the level editor. This game ends up feeling procedurally generated because of the sheer amount of content but authored because each level is individually designed and considered. This is my third, and best, desert island game.

I kind of don't need to play another pure platformer again. I haven't even finished the content in this one. Competing with online leaderboards, downloading and creating levels, seeing what free updates they're going to put out -- the only thing this game lacks is online multiplayer and that's just because of how precise the platforming is. I can't recommend this game enough.
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I sunk a ludicrous amount of time in to N when I was in high school. On every computer in the computer lab, you could count on someone having installed Starcraft, Doom and N. Never touched any of the updated versions but the amount of content in N++ sounds completely baffling. Might need to grab it in an upcoming sale!
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oh man. N++ is going to blow your mind. I'm not that big on vanilla N - it's fine but doesn't feel refined. N++ is.
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4340 levels? It's like a modern Lode Runner!!
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modern lode runner is actually way more apt than you'd think!

after writing this, I threw n++ on. my daughter came downstairs, then grabbed her DS and started playing n+. I've raised her well. (n+ on DS isn't very good, but hey!)
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Okay, Im going to play n++ after Celeste. That sounds right up my alley. Im curious - did you play Slime-San? Thats an all-timer for me. Ive never played super meat boy or vvvvv, though. I will eventually
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heroicmario posted...

True story: the best Final Fantasy game isnt on this list. Sizzle, crackle, pop.

I mean I knew before this list started that would be true
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I haven't played Slime-San. speaking of Celeste, though -- Jumper is 61.
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So I watched a few hours of Xenogears in the background...man it is weird to see a PS1 RPG like it's new.

No real comments on it yet other than Dan needs to get a hold of his life and NO KOS-MOS YET?!
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KOS-MOS is Xenosaga, not Xenogears.
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Whoops!
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just didn't want you to get your hopes up
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did you get to doc's house yet?
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Not sure, Big Joe's drinking at a bar right now.
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sounds like this playthrough does everything!
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