Board 8 > KP's Top 100 Games (Win $5 For Guessing Right)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Kenri posted...

If you're an "endings matter" person then oh man are video games not the right media for you

They're still generally better at it than, say, anime/manga.

Up

Leonhart4 posted...

They're still generally better at it than, say, anime/manga.

I haven't watched/read very much anime/manga by comparison but I think this is actually a relative strength they have compared to other media. I can easily name 10 anime that I really liked the ending of and that's hard for me to do with... anything else...

I'll end the round and post updates on the 27th. Long round, but want to give people extra time due to Christmas.

Anti-purge

Hope you all had a fun holiday! Just to be clear, the round will officially end in 6 hours.

Round 9 Results

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9 people submitted guesses.
The most common score was 10 / 10.
The average score was 7.6 / 10.

Scores were all over the place here, trending high. While the most common score was 10, only three people actually got that.

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Hint:
11. An isometric, dialogue-centric game where a good chunk of it is spent arguing with yourself.

Answers:
Disco Elysium 8

Expected one or two false positives, but everyone I guess Disco Elysium has gotten popular in recent years.

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Hint:
12. This game inspired my least-favorite critic review of all time, where the reviewer gave up because they kept fishing at the wrong spot.

Answers:
Nier 8
Stardew Valley 1

https://www.engadget.com/2010-05-03-nier-review-fail.html?guccounter=1

I remain salty to this day.

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Hint:
13. A PS3-era game that started a new genre. Multiple games in my Top 10 are in that genre, actually.

Answers:
Demon's Souls 8
Dark Souls 1

The person who guessed Dark Souls said they would kick themselves if it was Demon's Souls. Sorry!

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Hint:
14. A JRPG where you build up a reputation through battles and dialogue choices, resulting in the game giving you changing titles that look like: [Main Character Name] the [Adjective]

Answers:
Skies of Arcadia 5
Suikoden III 1
Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth 1
Undertale 1

Skies of Arcadia Legends, specifically.

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Hint:
15. My favorite Bioware game. So far, Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Inquisition have appeared on this list.

Answers:
Dragon Age: Origins 5
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 4

The two obvious frontrunners. Based on Inquisition's appearance earlier on the list, I figured the majority would assume that DA:O would be here as well, and I was just barely right.

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Hint:
16. A PC game released in the late 90s where the main character constantly updates their journal. Seriously, you'll hear that voice line a million times.

Answers:
Planescape: Torment 7
Grim Fandango 1

Updated my journal. Grim Fandango is a fun game, but it soft-locked me halfway through.

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Hint:
17. A strategy game duology. Can't think of anything else that wouldn't immediately give away the answer, so that's all you get. No, that last sentence wasn't a secret hint, and neither is this one.

Answers:
Fire Emblem Path of Radiance / Radiant Dawn 5
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 1
XCOM: Enemy Unknown 1
Starcraft 1

Devil Survivor, XCOM, and Starcraft were all mentioned elsewhere on this list (or at least in the topic).

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Hint:
18. A PS2 game that received controversy on release for its misleading trailers, which hid a major character entirely.

Answers:
Metal Gear Solid 2 9

Yeah, I guess this one was pretty obvious.

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Hint:
19. Was released to moderate success about a decade ago, but got a recent resurgence of popularity due to memes. In fact, memes are referenced fairly often in the game itself.

Answers:
Metal Gear Rising 8

Guess you're all up-to-date on your MEMES...THE DNA OF THE SOUL....

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Hint:
20. A game with choices and multiple endings, where your yes-man advisor encourages you to screw all the other factions and take over.

Answers:
Fallout: New Vegas 6
Triangle Strategy 1
Fallout 1
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together 1

Side-eyeing my unopened copy of Triangle Strategy pretty hard now! The key part of this hint was the phrase 'yes-man', which is a character name from New Vegas.

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That makes the winners of Round 9: AxemRedRanger, Thorn, and Kenri! Thorn is a topic lurker who specifically said they were just entering for fun, so we won't need a lightning round to thin the herd.

Next five writeups will be posted tomorrow.

I actually plan to start Disco Elysium imminently.

As in, I meant to for like the last five days but life and the holidays keep getting in the way of video gaming time.

Yeah, this was a tough one so I didn't bother submitting guesses.

I totally thought 13 was Journey though! I'm pretty isolated from the Soulsborne games, so I'm not too surprised.

KamikazePotato posted...

Hint:
17. A strategy game duology. Can't think of anything else that wouldn't immediately give away the answer, so that's all you get. No, that last sentence wasn't a secret hint, and neither is this one.

The secret hint here was pretty clever btw, I figured it out just yesterday and it was killing me to not post about it.

Also yay, and congrats to the other two winners!

What was the hint?
I just knew he really liked Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn and there was no way they'd just dropped all the way off the top 125.

The hint is that immediately giving away an answer is a thing that happens in Radiant Dawn, when a character just randomly tells you the identity of the Black Knight.

Unless that hint was unintentional, in which case it's even funnier.

I bought Disco Elysium about a year ago, and I played a few hours of it, but man that game is slow. I guess the thorough nature is part of the appeal but it felt like I'd barely done anything.

Also I didn't think you'd played Triangle Strategy yet, but I figured I'd throw it out there!

Kenri posted...

Unless that hint was unintentional, in which case it's even funnier.

Completely unintentional. You were playing chess while I was playing checkers.

Leonhart4 posted...

I bought Disco Elysium about a year ago, and I played a few hours of it, but man that game is slow. I guess the thorough nature is part of the appeal but it felt like I'd barely done anything.

Disco Elysium is 95% a study of various characters and their philosophies in life. The main plot definitely takes a backseat. For me the slowness is a feature, but I get why it wouldn't appeal to everyone.

KamikazePotato posted...

Completely unintentional. You were playing chess while I was playing checkers.

Yeah. I figured it'd be those two just because there's a bunch of people who think the Tellius FEs are the best. I was tempted to submit a prediction just so I could put Blazing Sword and Sword of Seals there out of spite.

Damn, Skies of Arcadia got me! There's a game I've gotta get around to playing sometime. It's a shame Sega's never remastered it.

MacArrowny posted...

Damn, Skies of Arcadia got me! There's a game I've gotta get around to playing sometime. It's a shame Sega's never remastered it.

Tell me about it :(

Sega please

KamikazePotato posted...

The most common score was 10 / 10.

Didn't know Nier.
Thought Demon's Souls vs Dark Souls was a fake-out.
Didn't know Skies of Arcadia.
Picked KotOR.
Had no idea on Fire Emblem.

Welp.

20. Fallout: New Vegas
There's a lot that could be said about Fallout New Vegas. It's the only Bethesda game to combine their unique style of exploration gameplay with actual strong writing, and shocker of shocker, the end result is really damn good. The Mojave desert feels like a fully-realized society without sacrificing the wacky novelty that categorizes Fallout. You get your faction intrigue in some quests and 'what the heck did I just see' in others best of both worlds.

I've talked about multiple Bethesda games on this list, so I won't rehash what makes those kinds of games fun. Instead, I'd like to focus on the one part of New Vegas that has stood out to me even years later: the Yes Man ending. Modern WRPGs that offer branching choices have a habit of tying your choices to pre-existing factions. You can be a Specter or an Inquisitor or a Witcher, but in the end you're still just furthering the interests of whoever you happen to agree with the most. Is it realistic? Sure, but these are video games, damnit. Why am I letting myself be led around by the nose when I'm the most important person in the universe?

Then there's New Vegas. In a game that has probably the best-written factions out of any WRPG I've played, in a game where I'd actually be fine with being forced to pick one...you're given an out. Yes Man comes rolling in and offers you the option that I always hope a game has, but almost never does: betray everyone and take over.

It's the best. So what if you don't know the first thing about governance? So what if Mr. House or the NCR would do a better job at leading the Mojave than you? Screw them. You're the one with quicksave and reload, so you get to make the rules. This desert belonged to you the moment you survived a gunshot to the head and woke up with a (platinum) chip on your shoulder.

19. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
In the tutorial stage of Metal Gear Rising, you will:

-Jump on top of missiles flying through the air
-Parry a Metal Gear and toss it up while RULES OF NATURE's vocals kick in
-Get monologued at by a Brazilian samurai who cuts off your arm
-Fail to avert a presidential assassination, leading to major geopolitical ramifications

And that's honestly a good summary of the tonal experience you'll get from then on. MGR is an insane fusion of character action gameplay and Metal Gear batshit political writing, and it somehow works. One minute you're pulling someone's spine out to heal; the next you're learning about how the world is struggling to recover from the events of MGS4. Actually, I like Rising's codec conversations more than some numbered Metal Gear games. Turns out you can have some of the best combat in the business AND still tell a decent story! All the other action games were just fucking it up.

Outside of combat and the general story, Rising has three things worth pointing out as noteworthy. The first is the music, which is fantastic, especially in-game where the vocals are timed to kick in at the hypest possible moments. The second is Senator Armstrong, who would probably top a Best Bosses list if I felt like making one. Genuinely uses his limited screentime better than any other character I've ever seen.

The third is a bit more of a 'me' thing, but despite Raiden being one of my favorite characters after MGS2, I didn't like him much in MGS4. He came across like Kojima trying too hard to make him cool after the MGS2 backlash. Rising manages to reconcile Raiden's MGS2 and MGS4 portrayals while simultaneously advancing his character arc and giving it a fitting conclusion. Legitimately impressed at how they handled that.

18. Metal Gear Solid 2
Few games have proven more timeless than MGS2. That Colonel AI monologue lives rent-free in my head to this day.

MGS2's mindfuck of a final stretch is largely why it's so high up on this list. Don't get me wrong; the rest of the game is great as well. It revolutionized stealth in a way that can't be understated. The jump from MGS1 gameplay MGS2 gameplay was insane, and it definitely stands the test of time. There are major games coming out in 2023 with a fraction of MGS2's complexity and depth. However, the story for most of the game is just...decent? Outside of some standout moments, it feels like a less memorable retread of MGS1's conspiracy spy thriller.

Then you get to the ending parts, and you learn why it was a retread. Why the game has been putting in more and more references to information control as it went on. Why Raiden exists at all. MGS2 invests a lot of story capital in its key message. A lesser narrative would have fumbled the bag. Instead, we got what feels like a predictive manifesto of the modern era, something that people decried as overly-complicated when it came out but have increasingly looked back on with renewed appreciation. Not me, though, cause that shit already hit hard as a teenager! Out of every game on this list, few have shaped my personal philosophies more than MGS2.

With that said, MGS2 suffers from being a 2001 game in the way that most 2001 games do. Despite its exceptional level of presentation for its time period, some of the voice acting delivery feels...iffy by modern standards. The pacing is also suspect as well. Having an insane last 10% is great and all, but some of the codec conversations to get to that point could've used an editor. Looking at you, Rose.

17. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance / Radiant Dawn
Do you have any idea how frustrating it is to be a Fire Emblem fan when these ones are your favorites?

"Yes, I do agree that most games in the series have major flaws. You should play the Tellius duology. Those two are a cut above the rest."
"Oh, sure. How?"
"Easy! Just shell out hundreds of dollars for used copies, because Nintendo refuses to re-release the best games their entire company has ever made."

Anyway, Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn more or less ruined the rest of Fire Emblem for me. I can't take Three Houses or Awakening seriously when I know the heights the series can reach, and don't even get me started on Fates or Engage. Are PoR and RD perfect? No, but they hit every note they should. You've got smartly-designed strategy gameplay, medieval fantasy politics, banger music, an appealing art style, and a shocking lack of embarrassing anime weirdness. While neither game reaches the crazy heights of most other games in my Top 20, they're so consistently great that I hold them in just as high regard.

Radiant Dawn being a direct sequel to Path of Radiance also works to both games' benefit. PoR focuses on one group, introducing you to the world through the Greil Mercenaries, giving that narrative a stronger singular focus. Because of this, Radiant Dawn gets to spread its wings, cycling between multiple different factions and sometimes pitting you against characters you've come to know and care about. Its narrative is more disjointed by design, but more unique and memorable as well although some plot elements (like the blood pacts) are kinda dumb.

Lastly, I can't end this writeup without mentioning Ike, who functions as a fantastic protagonist for the duology. While he's not the deepest character ever, something about him is just inherently likable.

16. Planescape: Torment
"What can change the nature of a man?"

That one sentence drives the entire core of Planescape: Torment. In my writeup on Tides of Numenara, I mentioned how it was a game with strong writing that otherwise failed to have a compelling main narrative. In contrast, from the moment that The Nameless One wakes up in a mortuary without his memories and a message carved onto his back, almost every part of Planescape's writing feeds back into its central themes. What can change the nature of a man? How bound to our choices are we? Are you responsible for the choices that others make because of your influence? Can good deeds of the present make up for sins of the past? What does it mean to be good, anyway? At what point does supposed altruism become self-serving?

There were like a dozen moments in Planescape that made me genuinely stop and self-reflect on what kind of person I was. Other games are lucky if they can get one of those. I don't think I'll ever forget when Torment sat me down and asked me to answer THE question it's been asking over and over, offering up literally 15 dialogue choice options to make sure all bases were covered.

It's worth noting that Planescape: Torment came out in 1999, and I played it in the early 2000s. This damn game proceeded to have a stranglehold on my personal standards for nearly two decades. While Planescape doesn't have the bombastic charm of say, a good JRPG, nothing else I played in any genre managed to match up to its sheer quality of writing. It was getting to the point where I was worried nostalgia had blinded me! Thankfully the rest of gaming finally caught up in recent years, and this archaic pre-2000 CRPG now has some stiff competition in the writing department.

Specifically in the writing department. Its actual gameplay was a relic even on release. Planescape isn't something I can recommend to modern-day gamers, and I don't think I'd even be able to replay it myself without heavy mod alterations. The combat just...isn't fun. You can avoid most of it, but it's still there, like an albatross weighing down the otherwise excellent narrative. Also, the narrative itself loses momentum about 3/4 of the way through after a fantastic segment where lots of buildup is paid off. Doesn't turn bad or anything, but it's just less interesting than what came before.

WE'VE MANAGED TO AVOID DROWNING

My favorite cheesy line delivery from MGS2

KamikazePotato posted...

It's the only Bethesda game to combine their unique style of exploration gameplay with actual strong writing, and shocker of shocker, the end result is really damn good.

Probably because Bethesda was the publisher and Obsidian/Black Isle was the dev for New Vegas - as opposed to Betheseda themselves being the devs for 3, 4, and 76.

Leonhart4 posted...

WE'VE MANAGED TO AVOID DROWNING

My favorite cheesy line delivery from MGS2

Some of the stuff they made Quinton Flynn say in that game...

Thorn posted...

Probably because Bethesda was the publisher and Obsidian/Black Isle was the dev for New Vegas - as opposed to Betheseda themselves being the devs for 3, 4, and 76.

Yeah, I should've mentioned that in the writeup. I think Obsidian also wanted to continue working with them after NV but were denied by Bethesda. Legitimate shame, as Bethesda's writing has gotten slightly worse with every release, and they didn't exactly start out great in that department to begin with.

KamikazePotato posted...

"Yes, I do agree that most games in the series have major flaws. You should play the Tellius duology. Those two are a cut above the rest."
"Oh, sure. How?"
"Easy! Just shell out hundreds of dollars for used copies, because Nintendo refuses to re-release the best games their entire company has ever made."

my biggest real-life fire emblem friend has never played Radiant Dawn. I keep offering to literally mail him my copy (we live very far apart these days, and keep not lining up our visits back home), but he refuses to take me up on it.

Something about the phrase "real-life fire emblem friend" strikes me as really funny.

I love Metal Gear Rising because it has these absurd villainous caricatures who scream about how much they fucking love war and then you read some 20th century American history and you're just like "oh never mind this is just what people from the CIA and the state department are like"

Four great games and Fallout New Vegas, which I could not get into at all. The story seemed cool, but I hated the gameplay.

Meanwhile, New Vegas is the only one I've played, and MGRR is the only other one there I could realistically ever see myself picking up.

Swamped with work, but will post the last 5 writeups + hints when I wake up later.

Kenri posted...

I love Metal Gear Rising because it has these absurd villainous caricatures who scream about how much they fucking love war and then you read some 20th century American history and you're just like "oh never mind this is just what people from the CIA and the state department are like"

Armstrong would be considered a moderate if he ran for office right now.

15. Dragon Age: Origins
In many respects, Dragon Age: Origins is a midway point between old-school CRPGs and modernized WRPGs. Its writing is strong, with plenty of detailed choices that will affect the plot and characters. DA:O has more dialogue variation that the majority of games being released today, and the Origins system is a fantastic way of making you feel personally immersed in the world. Those are all traits I more associate with CRPGs. Most modern WRPGs have the advantage of presentation and voice acting at the expense of nuance...except for Origins, which does it all. I'm sure there are examples I'm missing (even Inquisition does a decent job at this), but it's something I compare every WRPG I play versus Origins, and they almost always come out lacking, New Vegas notwithstanding.

Baldur's Gate 3 probably fits that bill as well. Really looking forward to playing it when it finishes patching.

Anyway, dialogue nuance wouldn't matter if the writing wasn't good. Thankfully it's fantastic albeit not especially unique. Dragon Age's world is a mix-and-stir of dark fantasy tropes. The final big bad is basically a zombie dragon, which is kind of hilarious. It does an excellent job of mixing those tropes though, resulting in a setting and characters that feel believably grounded despite their fantastical circumstances. The core party remains one of my favorites in any game I've played. Also, I'm an absolutely sucker for dark fantasy tropes, so sign me the fuck up.

Where Dragon Age could have borrowed a bit more from modern gaming standards is the combat. Like most old-school CRPGs, it goes for strategic, slow-paced Real Time With Pause, which is...fine. I usually dislike that system, but at least DA:O has my favorite variation of it. Mostly because it generally ignores D&D rules and does its own thing. Setting up rogue backstabs and mage killing fields is fun here, for once.

Overall, Dragon Age 1 is similar to the Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn in that it's not a game that reaches crazy heights at any point. There's no one moment that made my jaw drop. However, I really enjoyed playing it from start to finish and have, multiple times. My appreciation for DA:O and its world only grows every time I re-visit it.

14. Skies of Arcadia: Legends
To this day, Skies of Arcadia feels like what JRPGs should have become.

That's not to say I think it's the best one ever. It's not even the highest on my list. But to me, this genre is at its best when its games inspire a feeling of adventure. A JRPG can still have a serious story, dark elements, and nuanced characters, but if it's missing out on that ability to inspire a modicum of childlike awe within my grizzled soul...then what's the point? As a counterexample, I played Octopath 2 recently, and it felt entirely empty. Flashy visuals/music/combat mean nothing when I don't care about what's happening on-screen. That's just going through the motions.

Then there's Skies of Arcadia, which oozes ~ADVENTURE~ from top to bottom. Sky pirates! Flying ships! Floating islands! Evil empires! Hidden treasure! Bounty hunters! Ancient secrets! While small by modern-day standards, the world of Arcadia never feels that way. Its atmosphere really is something special. In fact, I'd say that Skies of Arcadia does the open-world experience better than the vast majority of actual open-world games. For my money, exactly one JRPG and one non-JRPG have surpassed its feeling of ~ADVENTURE~, and both are higher on up the list.

Aside from all that...the characters are extremely charming, and the narrative is perfectly paced to provide a constant feeling of escalation. I also like how Skies has an anime aesthetic without being bogged down by typical anime weirdness. Unfortunately, the march of time makes this game a bit tougher to play each year. Random battles with a high encounter rate weren't fun back on release, and they're even less tolerable now. Also, while Skies of Arcadia's world is still special, it's a bit less special now that there's way more options for explorative game worlds.

Where's the goddamn remaster, SEGA?

13. Demons Souls
The one that started it all.

By 2023 standards, Demon's Souls is really starting to show some age wrinkles. It's been outdone both in and outside of its home series. Literally everything it established has been iterated upon and improved. You'll still enjoy it, especially if you're new to the genre, but people familiar with soulslikes will probably come away a bit unimpressed.

In 2009? Demon's Souls was a phenomenon. There's a reason the formula it established went on to become a cornerstone of modern gaming. The backbone of all future From Software titles started here. Dark fantasy architecture, dodge/stamina combat, winding interconnected environments, giant grotesque monsters, invasions, bloodstains, messages, etc. A lot of that was technically started by King's Quest, but Demon's Souls was the one to put it on 3rd-person on new consoles with a BUNCH of design improvements.

My strongest memory from Demon's Souls comes from exploring the Tower of Latria's starting area. It's the closest DS gets to a true horror experience. I snuck around, exploring dark corridors and cramped cells, avoiding mind flayers and traps and god knows what else, when suddenly...

You have been invaded.

It wasn't one of the scripted AI encounters. For some serendipitous reason, this was the first time any player chose to invade my game world.

The game really did become survival horror then. I went from exploring to creeping. Each corner turned was a potential threat laying in wait. Eventually, slowly, I made my way into a fairly spacious room and investigated the back part of it. There was nothing inside. Relieved, I panned my camera around, preparing to leave.

And the invader was just standing in the entrance like a freaking movie monster. Silent, unmoving, staring. He probably could have backstabbed me, yet he didn't. This monster in the shape of a man wanted to see the fear in my eyes before he snuffed the life from me.

Then we fought and I kicked his pansy ass, but god damn was that a thrill ride of a level until then. Souls games kick ass.

12. Nier
It's absolutely baffling to me that Nier isn't that obscure anymore. The only reason I got this game was because I enjoyed TheDarkId's Something Awful LPs of Drakengard, and figured that it might be fun to experience the janky weirdness in-person for once. I wasn't expecting something *good*. Automata is what pushed the series to new heights, but I like to think that me shilling Nier 1 on B8 when it came out played some miniscule part in it having enough notoriety for Automata to exist in the first place.

Anyway Nier. The Gestalt version specifically, with ugly-ass Papa Nier. In a time before 'dad games' became trendy, before Joel and Booker Dewitt and reboot Kratos, we had Gary Busey's face stapled onto a buff anime protagonist. In all seriousness, Papa Nier is a big part of why the game felt special to me. He was a fresh change of pace from the typical JRPG standard, and his voice actor did a fantastic job. The other main characters are excellent too, with Kaine, Emil, Weiss, and the twins never disappointing whenever they're on-screen.

However, no JRPG in my Top 20 could get by just on the strength of its characters alone, so let's look at the rest. While Nier 1's combat and graphics are...serviceable, it knocks everything else out of the park. The story is simple but engrossing, consistently surprising you and backended with numerous memorable gut punches. The atmosphere feels like something straight out of a fairy tale, imbuing the bizarre setting with a sense of dreamlike wonder. And perhaps most importantly, the music is godlike; probably my favorite game OST of all time. Whenever Nier falters, its soundtrack lifts it up.

I think all that text still doesn't do experiencing Nier 1 justice, though. This game grabs you the moment you see the an unexplainable 1000-year long time skip. It gives off the same vibes as your favorite arthouse movie that not everyone 'gets', but that means something intrinsically special to you personally. I don't think I ever want to replay Nier, as I'm a different person now and probably wouldn't be affected in the same ways, but I'm very glad it left its mark on me.

11. Disco Elysium
Despite having nothing to do with D&D or western fantasy, Disco Elysium feels like the long-awaited successor to Planescape: Torment. Other CRPGs have tried to reach its depth of writing, but none succeeded until this game. It achieves that by alternating between several different styles, being either hilarious, insightful, or tragic, and executing each of those aspects flawlessly.

Disco Elysium doesn't have much of a main 'plot', per se. The game's surface-level conflict is a murder mystery in a waning, ramshackle, town, but that pales in comparison to its examination of characters and politics. Everyone in Disco Elysium is a flawed person influenced heavily by their surroundings and hangups. Some try to be good people regardless of their tough circumstances. Some end up as raving racists. Even the worst people don't feel fake, though. Disco Elysium's characters are exaggerated, but never unrealistic. Its little world is so colorful and well-realized that the game would have been good even with a bland silent protagonist.

Thankfully, the protagonist is anything but bland or silent. Known initially as The Detective, your player character quickly establishes himself as an amnesiac mess of a human being, and I love him for it. The Detective struggles to talk to anyone without sounding insane, picks up neuroses and addictions like trading cards, and constantly argues with his own instinctual emotions. Far moreso than the actual murder mystery, the real mystery of Disco Elysium is about uncovering why the Detective is the way he is.

It really doubles-down on being a character study, too. The Detective can equip some pieces of clothing for minor stat boosts, but they're much less impactful than the thoughts and worldviews he can choose to internalize. For example: do you want to believe you're an Apocalypse Cop, harbinger of the end times? Sure. What benefits does it offer? A sense of belonging and purpose that absolves you of responsibility, mostly. You could internalize a healthy worldview instead, but...then you'd have to take a deep, long look at yourself, and that's just not possible.

Looking in the mirror is difficult enough.

Yep, you nailed why Skies of Arcadia is so great. I'm generally not one of those guys who wants to find everything and do everything, especially in an RPG, but SoA's sense of adventure pulled me all the way in.

Nier's soundtrack is still a top tier video game OST. Honestly the game shouldn't be special. It didn't have a big budget and it's painfully obvious in many ways, but the crazy moments keep you invested all the way to the end.

I personally thought DE was overrated. Not bad by any means, but not as amazing as people made it out to be. Then again, my first experience with the game was making a character who had one point in mental strength, walked out of the Whirling-in-Rags, got into an argument with myself...and died from it.

I'll let you decide if that's awesome or awful.

Disco Elysium rocks. I didn't enjoy the last hour or two that much, but everything else in the game is sublime. Amazing writing. Would love to replay it someday and try different choices. The rave was my favorite part of the game.

MacArrowny posted...

Disco Elysium rocks. I didn't enjoy the last hour or two that much, but everything else in the game is sublime. Amazing writing. Would love to replay it someday and try different choices. The rave was my favorite part of the game.

That's my favorite part too. It's kinda wild that it's completely optional and even possible to fully miss it.

I love DE. It's kind of a perfect game for the moment I'm in of my life, similar to TOTA and my teenage years. Thankfully, I'm not in the same situation as the protagonist, but I definitely feel a sense of ennui about the world. I really enjoyed my time playing DE and it'll probably stick with me for a long time.

Planescape is hard to sell to people used to modern gaming standards, but I would recommend Disco Elysium to anyone who likes reading.

Like I said, I was planning to start Disco Elysium a few posts back and I have since then. Only at the end of Day 1 right now (Kim left the party to sleep but there are a few dialogue prompts that feel like sidequests that also felt like he'd side-eye me for so I took one of the loading screen tips of waiting until he left but that's all I have left)

It's been really fun so far. Inland Empire the MVP so far, LOL some of the dialogue from that. But yeah, it leaves an immediate impression on you on what kind of experience you're in for in the first room between the mirror and the fan/tie and has so far kept that energy up.

For the final round, the winnings will be DOUBLED. That's right, you heard it, folks - DOUBLED. A whopping $10 to whoever the final winner is.

Round 10 Hints

1. Dark Souls, Elden Ring, or Bloodborne.
2. The game that launched a thousand cosplays.
3. My favorite JRPG. Hint: It belongs to a series that hasn't been represented on this list yet.
4. Dark Souls, Elden Ring, or Bloodborne.
5. Dark Souls, Elden Ring, or Bloodborne.
6. Could be considered five different games if you squint. Maybe six if you count the one that got removed by the developers.
7. An RPG where 'LV' doesn't stand for 'Level'.
8. You fight the final boss three times throughout the game. When it's raining, his hair looks the same as yours.
9. Blink (or just look away) and you'll miss it. That's an actual game mechanic.
10. The Haunted Mansion: Depression Edition

I'm sensing a theme...

And here I thought I was so smart, predicting Bloodborne, Dark Souls, and Elden Ring would be in the top 10...

Mental note: actually submit.

I compiled guesses on my laptop, but I had two I wanted to look into more.

up

https://pastebin.com/Yzw3fYrF

Included the 125-101 games and the honorable mentions.

UltimaterializerX posted...

You put DDLC at 69 on purpose <_<

Can neither confirm nor deny.

(I didn't actually do it on purpose, but when I saw where it ended up it did make me laugh.)