Board 8 > Leonhart Ranks 124 User Nominated Games: Part 2

(+) Yeah! (+)

Best soundtrack probably changes depending on the day but I think its FF8 more days than the other.

Although it might be XIII-2.
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Mobilezoid posted...

I'm legally obligated to post that Eiko is great

Yeah I mean if you appreciate little girls walking in nude-color leggings.
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I usually waver back and forth between VIII and IX for best soundtrack myself. It's pretty close between those two.
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is there a difference between nude color and skin color
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unless you're nude in something other than your skin I'd say no
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LeonhartFour posted...

unless you're nude in something other than your skin I'd say no

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39. Assassins Creed II (Johnbobb)


While I enjoyed Assassin's Creed from a gameplay perspective, I didn't think it was very strong in terms of narrative or characters. The sequel really surprised me in both of those departments. I think that's why I still like this one the best out of the trilogy. It has my favorite version of Ezio. I enjoyed his hotbloodedness and his single-minded determination to avenge his family. Understandably, he matures and mellows out with age in the sequels, but I liked his youthful impetuousness the best. One of the most memorable parts of the game is early on when he just charges into the crowd after his father and brothers are put to death and kills the man responsible. Then he turns to the crowd and yells, "The Auditore are not dead! I'm still here!" I think that was the moment that sold me on this game.

Assassin's Creed II also made a lot of gameplay improvements, most notably the dual hidden blades. They also revamped the combat system to where it was virtually impossible to die as long as you got the timing of counterattacks down. I guess that could be seen as a positive or a negative depending on who you are, but the less dying, the better, I say. The ability to use Eagle Vision in third-person was a big improvement, too, since it made navigation and tailing targets much smoother. I really liked Italy as the setting for the game, too. It looks beautiful, and the Renaissance era is a really cool time in history, so meeting fictional depictions of figures like Leonardo da Vinci and experiencing a lot of the history through Ezio's eyes was a blast. The best addition was the inclusion of Assassin's Tombs, where you essentially had to parkour through an area Uncharted-style to reach a seal at the end. I'd have done these things for no reward at all because they were so much fun.

I suppose no writeup of Assassin's Creed II would be complete without mentioning the endgame. Unfortunately, it's pretty hard to discuss it at all without delving into spoilers, so I won't spend a lot of time on it. Suffice it to say that the final stretch of this game is certifiably insane, whether it's the last boss fight or the out of nowhere wham one-liner afterward. Games that finish strong tend to leave a more favorable impression on me, and this game definitely succeeds in that department.

Bonus Question: Who is your favorite Assassin's Creed character?
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AC2 best AC game.

Favorite character is I guess Ezio? I never found myself particularly attached to any of the characters in the games.
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38. Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals (Drakeryn)


To me, Lufia II feels like what The Legend of Zelda would be if it were a traditional JRPG (at least in terms of its dungeons), which only makes me wish that's what the Zelda series actually was. It's a really charming experience with a solid cast of characters. The story is pretty good, especially for an SNES era RPG, with a grand sense of scale and a great ending. It's got a fantastic soundtrack, particularly its battle themes. The battle system is a typical turn-based one, although it's reminiscent of Final Fantasy IX (or I suppose it'd be the other way around since Lufia II came first) in that your equipment determines what skills and abilities you have access to at any given time. I don't think it's a particularly difficult game (aside from the optional Ancient Cave, which is a 100-floor randomly generated dungeon where you can get some of the best equipment and fight the hardest bosses in the game), but the atmosphere during its biggest moments adequately compensates for that, in my opinion.

I mentioned Lufia II's dungeons at the very beginning, but the way the game handled them was really cool, especially for a SNES game. All enemies are on the screen at all times, so there are no random encounters. The enemies move in discernible patterns and only when the player moves, and there are items you can use to "stun" enemies so you can get around them. In other words, you don't have to fight regular enemies unless you want to here. Those special items are also used to interact with other objects and solve puzzles to get through dungeons. It's all pretty fun.

The story takes some interesting turns in more ways than one. The basic premise is that a race of giants (called the Sinistrals, as you may have guessed) invades the earth in an attempt to conquer it, and it's up to Maxim (the main character, as you may have guessed) and his companions to stop them. The fact that the Sinistrals are giants makes all the boss fights appropriately tense because they fill up the screen. The game also randomly briefly becomes a slice of life simulator in the middle as Maxim takes some time off to get married and have a child. No, seriously, that happens. The ending also has a twist that it pulled off really well, and I didn't see it coming until they revealed it. This is another one of those unsung games that needs more people to hype it up, so that's what I'm here for today!

Bonus Question: What is your favorite SNES RPG?
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FFIX does have my favorite soundtrack as well. I love that game a lot.
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Yeah, FFIX probably #1? FF4-10 all had pretty amazing soundtracks though, other than 5.
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Chrono Trigger still, with SMRPG or FFV after
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Secret of Mana

shocker
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Dragon Quest VI
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FFV might be the most underrated soundtrack in the series.
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FFs with worse soundtracks than 5: 2, 3, 11, 12, maybe 15? Haven't had the chance to listen to 15's OST on its own yet.
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3s soundtrack is underrated imo
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37. Bomberman 64 (Janus5k)


Out of all the multiplayer games I've played in my life, Bomberman 64 is probably in the top ten in most time spent on them. Nearly every time my friends would come over during my teenage years, we would inevitably end up playing this game more often than not. It's just a blast (bad pun fully intended). Supposedly, the single player is really good, but I didn't spend very much time on that. This was the first Bomberman game to eschew the 2-D grid style in favor of an open 3-D style, and a lot of the multiplayer stages had areas at differing elevations and inclines to take advantage of that. Some stages even had high grass or snow that would hide where the bombs were, which was beneficial if you kicked it because the other players would have to guess where it was before it exploded. There were ten multiplayer stages in all, and nearly every one of them was fun.

Because of the new 3-D style, the multiplayer handles differently than the other Bomberman games. This version favors long-distance kicking, pumping up bombs (especially if you got the Cherry Bomb powerup, which made your explosions even bigger), and generally just being aggressive and launching bombs like crazy. As such, individual rounds usually don't last that long, and it didn't get to sudden death mode (where bombs just fall from the sky all over the field) that often. At that point, you're just trying to survive, and it was cool when multiple players managed to make it all the way to the end of the round without dying, especially since it didn't happen often. This is the kind of game I miss being able to play now that I'm an adult who almost never has people over in person to play games anymore. At the same time, it makes me glad my teenage years were during the N64 era because, while the console didn't have a huge library overall, it had one of the best collections of multiplayer games anywhere. I don't think Bomberman 64 is my favorite of them (I'd probably give the edge to Mario Kart 64), but it's right up there with the best of them.

Bonus Question: What is your favorite multiplayer N64 game?
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My favorite episode is still most reliably Episode 3.
I liked Episode 8 a lot though, it wraps everything rather nicely (for Umineko standards anyway, where there are levels of interpretation).
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Gotta be between the original SSB and Mario Party 3.

Gun to my head, I'd probably say MP3.
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I was more of a Mario Party 2 guy over 3.
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36. Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair (Raka_Putra)


I thought the first game was good, but I was so blown away by how much better the sequel was that I think I'd find it hard to go back to the original now. The characters, the story, and the cases are all better. The original had the better setting because the island setting could be kinda silly at times, but they made up for it in the last case. They added some new gameplay mechanics to the trial segments, which were generally better than the ones they had in the first game, except for (ironically enough) the so-called "Improved" Hangman's Gambit. I haven't played V3 yet, but I can only hope there isn't a "Better Than Ever" Hangman's Gambit.

Let's start with the new protagonist, Hajime Hinata, who's a major upgrade over Makoto (who I still liked but wasn't anything special). He tends to be cynical and untrusting of those around him, which is unusual for visual novel protagonists (at least of the ones I've played). He's more open with what he thinks and isn't afraid to tell people (usually Nagito, always deservedly) to shut up and go away. The twists in his character development were really good, too. Along with him, the best characters in Danganronpa 2 were Chiaki, Sonia, and GUNDHAM TANAKAAAAAAAAAAAA. Sorry, Ibuki's pretty overrated. The game also goes a solid job of turning a character who is completely unlikable early on into someone very likable by the end with Fuyuhiko. Even someone who's terrible and utterly annoying like Nagito ends up serving an important purpose in helping to make the game as good as it is. I've gotta give the game a lot of credit for being able to turn bad things into good things. It's an impressive skill.

As far as the cases go, the last two are definitely the best. Case 5 is just all sorts of crazy in the right ways, and the atmosphere is spot on, especially when you get close to the end. They do some really cool things with the direction and presentation that stood out to me. I'm having to speak very generically since I don't want to spoil anything, but it's great. I think the last case is sort of hit or miss with the fanbase, but I loved it. If you can go over the top and pull it off well, I'm all for it. It was a total change in tone from the way Danganronpa usually is, but I thought it was awesome. I thought Danganronpa 2 ended on a very satisfying note, and that's part of the reason I like it so much. There were so many things hanging in the air going into that last case, and it managed to resolve them in a way that made me happy.

Bonus Question: Who is your favorite Danganronpa 2 character?
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Chiaki Nanami

Gundham and the Four Dark Devas of Destruction.
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Either Chiaki or Sonia
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35. Persona 5 (greengravy294)


If there's one thing I can say about Persona 5, it's that the game radiates style in every way. It's got the snazziest looking menus, interfaces, loading screens, and transitions into and out of battle that I've ever seen. The character designs, especially for the Phantom Thieves costumes, are suave. Good presentation goes a long way for me, and Persona 5 nails it. It's the biggest game in the series just in terms of the sheer volume of things to do and how big the city is. It's almost overwhelming how much content it has. I'm pretty sure there were some things I didn't ever get around to doing on my first playthrough just because there's no shortage of activities to fill your time. It's just a massive game, even in a series that usually runs long. My Persona 3 and 4 playthroughs were somewhere in the neighborhood of 70-80 hours, while my Persona 5 one easily surpassed 100 hours.

The basic premise of Persona 5 at its core is a simple "Right vs. Wrong" story. The Phantom Thieves are presented as rebels against authority, but those authority figures are utterly corrupt and operate under the "Might makes right" principle. Joker and crew are criminals in legal terms, but are their actions just? That's the conflict that pervades the plot (represented by an opinion poll gauge that rises or falls as events play out), and it's an intriguing one. It's even shown in the fact that Social Links are called "Confidants" this time around, and they're considered to be conspirators with him. I think the game handles it really well most of the time, although it falls a little flat at the end. The resolution isn't as strong as the previous two games (especially 3's, which I've already discussed), which hurts it a bit in my eyes. A couple of the big plot twists were pretty cool, but it was a little underwhelming as a whole.

As far as the characters go, Persona 5 has a pretty strong cast. Joker's a good protagonist, and the female party members are all pretty good, with Makoto being the best of the bunch. The guys are hit or miss. I like Yusuke, but Ryuji and Morgana are the weak links, especially in their interactions with one another (which results in unquestionably the worst arc in the game). The game does have a great set of Confidants though. Out of the non-party member ones, Kawakami, Sojiro, Chihaya, Iwai, Takemi, Hifumi, and Yoshida are all really solid. There are more "auto-level up" S. Links than in previous games, which is a little disappointing, but it also makes it much easier to max all of them in a single playthrough than in the other two. Each Confidant also has abilities that you can unlock the further you progress, which gives you extra incentive to try to do them all.

Persona has been really smart in evolving its gameplay mechanics with each game (such as the aforementioned new skills unlocked from all your Confidants, which didn't happen at all in Persona 3 and was restricted to party members in Persona 4). The gameplay here is as smooth as it's ever been, both in its dungeons and out in the "real world." In particular, Persona 5 vastly improved its dungeons. They were a weak point in the other two, but they're so much better here. They're not perfect, of course, but they're vastly improved. I can only imagine what sorts of tweaks they come up with for Persona 6 because of how consistent they've been in this department, although who knows how long it'll be before we see it!

Bonus Question: What is the most stylish game you've ever played?

Define "stylish" however you wish.
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Persona 5

To some extent Rebel Galaxy
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Playing P5 is in my bucket list.

Currently though, the most stylish game I played is probably either No More Heroes or TWEWY.
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Stylish is Dragon quest 7.

Because it has an in game Style stat. It has a class that can make the enemies stare at your outfit for being Stylish. (DQ6 also has style but DQ7 is better)

(yes I took your question quite literal)
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Most stylish games
1. Persona 5
2. Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening
3. Yakuza 0 (currently playing)

Also regarding your list, P5 and P3 way too low.

nah they're right where they should be
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34. Super Smash Bros. Melee (Anagram)


Super Smash Bros. Melee is probably my most played GameCube game, and I doubt it's even close. I've owned every Nintendo console except for the Wii U, and the GameCube might be my least played other than maybe the NES (simply because I was so little during its heyday). It didn't have a super great library, but Melee almost single-handedly salvaged it for me. It's just an outstanding game that's a ton of fun to play. I'm not going to get into any of the technical aspects of the gameplay like wave dashing because I don't care about that. I don't play Smash competitively. It's a party game for me. I talked a lot about the general appeal and mechanics of the series in my writeup of the first game, so I'll avoid being redundant here.

Naturally, Melee expanded the roster, more than doubling in size from 12 to 25 (or 26 if you count Zelda and Sheik separately, I suppose). People complain about some of the newcomers being clones, but I didn't mind that too much since they're not completely identical. I've been a Street Fighter fan all my life, and the Shoto-clone thing never bothered me there either. I played enough Melee that I spent a decent amount of time with all the characters. When I played with friends, I'd usually rotate between them all just to mix it up since I was good enough to beat them with anyone. Melee also boasted a large number of stages, with my personal favorites being Fountain of Dreams (largely due to the music, which was excellent) and Pokemon Stadium, although I think the only stage that was off-limits was Icicle Mountain because none of us liked the fact that it scrolled up and down.

Melee even added a good bit to its single-player content. I liked the addition of Crazy Hand to the Classic Mode because it made that last fight even more intense. Adventure Mode was really cool, too, since it was like a combination of sidescrolling platforming levels and scripted fights. Then there was All-Star Mode, where you had to beat every single character with only one stock and limited healing. I think I beat all of those with every character. Event Match was a really neat idea where you had to win a specialized match with certain conditions. Melee just had so many neat new ideas that sucked you into the game for hours on end, whether you were playing alone or with friends. I haven't touched the game in years since I mostly moved on from it after Brawl came out, but I have so many fond memories attached to it.

Bonus Question: What is your favorite GameCube game?
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Melee or Kirby Air Ride, depending on my mood

Fountain of Dreams is such a good song, and it's in both games!
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Oh, a ton of choices for that. The first Metroid Prime, probably.
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Wind Waker, unless Resident Evil 4 counts.
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Metroid Prime
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NFUN posted...

Kirby Air Ride

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LeonhartFour posted...

Bonus Question: What is your favorite GameCube game?

Probably still just Melee.
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LOL Kirby's Air Ride
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My favorite Gamecube games
1. Resident Evil 4
2. Metroid Prime
3. Skies of Arcadia Legends
4. Tales of Symphonia
5. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
6. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
7. Resident Evil (REmake)
8. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
9. Super Smash Bros. Melee
10. Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem

Either Wind Waker or Path of Radiance for me.
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33. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice (Dragon66116)


Spirit of Justice is an oddly structured game for the series. It doesn't strive for balance between all of its cases the way its predecessor, Dual Destinies, did, which has four high quality cases out of six (or even four out of five if you're one of those weirdos who combines 5-4 and 5-5 into a single case). Spirit of Justice clearly puts all of its eggs in two baskets, with two of the other cases building up to them and the remaining two essentially being filler and having no relation to the rest of the game at all (which isn't necessarily a bad thing, so don't get me wrong). At first, it doesn't totally feel like it's trying to tell a single cohesive story like Dual Destinies or the Edgeworth games do, since the game is split between two entirely different locations and legal systems. Then they manage to bring it all together in the finale in an amazing way in perhaps the biggest epic case ever, both in terms of size and scale.

Speaking of size and scale, Ace Attorney has steadily been growing in both of those departments. The first game was short and simple, and it was mostly the story of Phoenix trying to save Edgeworth from what was tormenting him. Fast forward ahead to Spirit of Justice, and you have Phoenix spearheading an entire legal system overhaul in a foreign country. I almost sort of get why they had to do that with him. By the time you get to this point in the series, the best way to use Phoenix is to put him in the craziest situations imaginable and see how he gets out of them, and in that regard, they succeeded. He's essentially a fully formed and developed character, so there's not much else you can do with him on that front. Most of the character development is reserved for Apollo (and it was about time, by the way). His first case in Spirit of Justice is used to prove he's capable of standing on his own as a lawyer without Phoenix's help, and his role in the epic case is nothing short of incredible. I still don't know if anything will ever be able to assail Ace Attorney's long-standing triumvirate of epic cases (1-4, 2-4, and 3-5), but 6-5 made a valiant effort. It belongs in the conversation with them, if nothing else.

The basic format of Ace Attorney is still largely unchanged, since you still have investigation segments and trial segments. In Spirit of Justice, you have a different legal system in the Kingdom of Khura'in, where defense attorneys have practically become defunct and court proceedings in murder cases are almost entirely decided by communing with the deceased, so unlike in Japanifornia, spiritual powers are unquestioned and are considered the most valid way of reaching a verdict. As such, there's a new wrinkle in the gameplay during Khura'in cases called the Divination Seance, where the player has to use what they see from the victim's final moments to overturn suspicion against the accused and arrive at the truth. It's usually pretty fun and a good challenge. They use it in some interesting ways, but they did the smart thing by usually just reserving the Divination Seance for the opening act instead of making it the primary focus.

In terms of the characters, perhaps the thing they promoted the most was the return of Maya Fey, who made her first mainline appearance since the third game. It was definitely great to have her back, although I think they could have used her a little better than they did. The two new characters I liked the most were Dhurke and Rayfa. It's hard to discuss what makes Dhurke so good without delving into spoilers, but Rayfa is the series' first good tsundere, which is quite the accomplishment. Her evolving relationship with Phoenix over the course of the game is really interesting to watch, and she develops a lot on her own as well. I think they took a big risk with this game, and it paid off for me.

Bonus Question: What is your favorite Ace Attorney epic case?
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Someday I will play SoJ.

Favorite case is still 2-4.
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The Mana Sword posted...

Either Wind Waker or Path of Radiance for me.

Same here.

And 3-5 for my favorite epic case. Even if it did give rise to misguided Phoenix/Iris shippers.
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How many tsunderes has the series even had? I guess Ema and Gumshoe kinda count?
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Mac Arrowny posted...

How many tsunderes has the series even had? I guess Ema and Gumshoe kinda count?

Franziska is the biggest one.
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NBIceman posted...

The Mana Sword posted...

Either Wind Waker or Path of Radiance for me.

Same here.

And 3-5 for my favorite epic case. Even if it did give rise to misguided Phoenix/Iris shippers.

yeah I could understand why people would get confused by Takumi actually putting them together
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3-5

Side note: I'm almost done replaying 5-2 and I still don't get what you guys see in it...!
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Apollo vs. Blackquill is so good

Damian Tenma great defendant
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3-5 the best
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