Looks like I screwed up and the topic purged. Whoops. Luckily, the entire topic is archived so I'll be able to repost all the write-ups over the course of today, and get #4 out tomorrow night (at the latest).
The list so far: HMs: Pushmo (3DS), Dungeons of Dredmor (Steam), Sequence (Steam), Solatorobo: Red the Hunter (DS) 10. Corpse Party (PSP) 9. Mario Kart 7 (3DS) 8. Pokemon Black / White (DS) 7. Professor Layton and the Last Specter (DS) 6. Catherine (PS3) 5. Fate/Extra (PSP)
Original OP: I'm only a month late, it's not too bad. Planned to do this after Icehawk posted the entire games committee thing but he's taking way too long at this (I blame the people who can't do a simple paragraph writeup >_>), so I'm going to start this now.
As well as the top 10, I'll do a few other writeups of games that I played for the first time in 2011, including some amazing titles as I finally decided to buy a PS3 in 2011, giving me a lot of new games to play.
Even if you are watching Icehawk's topic, the list I gave him then is not the same as the top 10 list now, as one game I played near the end of the year has risen in rank considerably. Also, he only asked for a top 5, which limited the list a bit.
Also, unfortunately, I have not played (or played enough of) many of the big games that came out this year, even if I own the game. This includes Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Saints Row 3, and Deus Ex: Human Revolution, among others.
I'll post the honorable mentions to the list by the end of the day.
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Pushmo (3DS Downloads) Release Date: December 8, 2011
For a game that 's only $7 on the Nintendo eShop, Pushmo is a block puzzler that is worth everyone's time. The basic goal of the game is to reach the top of each puzzle by pushing and pulling the various blocks to create a path that your character can jump to. There's over 200 puzzles built in to the game already, plus a way to create your own puzzles that can be shared via codes to other players. These puzzles can be even designed after Nintendo characters, as this screenshot clearly shows: http://i.imgur.com/HBWvF.jpg. It looks simple at first, but they continually add new tricks to the puzzles to keep interest.
Dungeons of Dredmor (Steam) Release Date: July 13, 2011
The roguelike for people who don't like them. If you needed a simple roguelike to ease yourself into the genre, this is probably a good place to start. I've played over 11 hours of this game and still only have half of the dungeon completed (but then again I explore everything I can). It's really good, though it's very easy to get addicted to it. The humor in the game is also a nice touch, as the monsters frequently yell insults at your character.
Sequence (Steam) Release Date: October 20, 2011
Bought this game for a small price for one of the Steam gift things (which turned out to be completely useless in the end), and it was well worth it. If you've played DDR on a computer with WASD or the arrow keys, just think that in a RPG setting, where the arrows represent damage you take, mana you replenish, and the spells you can cast. Of course, without a good soundtrack, the game wouldn't be worth playing, and this game has an amazing soundtrack to complement its RPG battle system. If you like rhythm games, you can't go wrong here.
Solatorobo: Red the Hunter (Nintendo DS) Release Date: September 27, 2011
I never played Tail Concerto so I can't comment on the spiritual sequel part of this game, unfortunately. However, it's an interesting action RPG that takes place in a world of beast people. The game is extremely easy at times, which kind of hurts how good the game actually is, but the translated dialogue by XSeed is great and really adds to the charm of the game. There's a lot of sidequests and minigames as well to keep the game going.
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#10: Corpse Party PlayStation Portable Team GrisGris / XSEED Games Released November 22, 2011
Visual novels have suddenly gained popularity outside of Japan thanks to releases such as 999 (and another game on this list). With the rise of these games we finally get a chance to experience this interesting horror visual novel from Team GrisGris.
First released in Japan in 1996, Corpse Party is about a group of students and one teacher from Kisaragi Academy are telling ghost stories one night. Before the school was built, a school named Heavenly Host Elementary was there instead, but was closed and torn down due to a series of events. The group decides to perform a friendship charm that they found on the internet, however the charm backfires and sends them into a copy of Heavenly Host Elementary which is haunted by malevolent spirits and ghosts of the people who were killed at the school.
The game does a great job of creating a scary environment and keeping the reader engaged in the story. Even with the graphics that look like they came from RPG Maker, there are CGs of gruesome death scenes as well as the spirits that inhabit the school. The voice acting (which, sadly, is only in Japanese) is done by very well-known seiyuus, and they deliver a great performance. The music and sound effects also add to the horror of the game, especially in the various death scenes that are present.
The story is told in five chapters and will likely take around 6 hours to complete the story, but there are extra and bad ends to collect, as well as extra scenes that unlock as you get certain endings (both good and bad). There's also student IDs that are also collected, giving the player a way to see how each person fared in their trip to Heavenly Host.
Only complaints I have with the game are that some of the solutions are pretty hard to discover. Talking to everyone usually solves this, but making incorrect decisions can frequently happen, as well as looking for a very specific item needed to progress with vague hints on how to collect it. Bad ends (well, wrong ends in this game) can consistently happen in this game as some solutions are incorrectly solved.
All in all, it's a good visual novel and worth your $20. If you don't get scared at least once, I would be very interested in how you managed that.
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#9: Mario Kart 7 Nintendo 3DS Nintendo Released December 4, 2011
Mario Kart 7 isn't much different from other Mario Kart games. Rather, it is the multiplayer, whether it be local or online, that really shines for this game.
Like the recent DS and Wii Mario Karts, Mario Kart 7 has both 16 new courses as well as 16 remade retro courses from previous games. For more customization, karts can now be outfitted with different parts that adjust the stats. Each character has its own base stats as well (which is never explained in-game). The character list snubs a lot of well-known Mario characters, such as Waluigi and Birdo for characters like Honey Queen and Metal Mario, though. (Lakitu is the best new character.) Makes it even stranger that they added Waluigi Pinball as a retro course when the character isn't in the game.
Races are still the same as ever. Some items were tweaked, such as the blue shell which now travels on the ground, like the one from MK64. The fake item box was outright removed for some reason, and the lucky 7 item was added, which gives the racer seven items that can be used (star, green shell, red shell, mushroom, banana, bob-omb, and blooper). 150cc is as just as annoying as it always was, but it is much easier to get star ranks than it was in previous games, making it less of an annoyance to do the races over and over again.
The battle mode has 3 original courses and 3 retro battle courses. It keeps the two timed battle choices from the Wii version, but it is no longer split by teams; instead, the battle mode is now an eight-player free for all. Makes it more exciting, and no longer your online rank is dependent on others (as there's always that guy who disconnects).
Where Mario Kart 7's multiplayer really shines is its online features, which is Nintendo's best attempt at online multiplayer in any game. While local and online multiplayer retain the same gameplay, Nintendo added some easier ways to play with others. The 3DS friends list now tells you if anyone is playing 7 online, and allows you to join them at any time. 7 also introduces communities, which allows you to make a group of people you would like to play with and even keeps a leaderboard of who in the group is doing the best. And of course, you can join a random group of people worldwide and you have a rating that can be used to track your skill.
Also, remember to join the Board 8 Mario Kart 7 Community, the code is 05-1410-7604-0030.
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#6: Catherine PlayStation 3 / Xbox 360 Atlus Released July 26, 2011
Catherine is Atlus' first trip into the HD group of consoles, and it's a unique genre for Atlus: a puzzle game. Normally one would think Atlus' Shin Megami Tensei: Persona team making a puzzle game would be a bad idea, but instead it is an amazingly unique game. Like any Atlus game, you can expect crushing difficulty and a well-written story.
Catherine tells the story of Vincent Brooks. His longtime relationship with his girlfriend, Katherine, has prompted her to talk about marriage and commitment, which Vincent is unsure about. His concerns take another turn when he meets another girl, Catherine, who wakes up in his bed next to him one night. Unlike Katherine, Catherine is more carefree and is Vincent's type. Vincent has a big choice to make and his choices affect which ending of the game is received via a morality meter, which leans in a different direction every time a choice is made.
The day portion of the game consists of mainly story, which includes a bar section where Vincent can talk to the various characters in the game. Most of the other characters also have their own internal story, and failing to talk to some of them causes them to die. Vincent's phone will also receive text messages from Katherine and Catherine, which affect the morality meter if Vincent chooses to reply. There's also a mini-game in the bar, Rapunzel, which is a simplified version of the night part of the game. All of the voice acting in the game is done brilliantly and the voices all fit the characters extremely well, even if you have to sit through another game with Laura Bailey and Liam O' Brien providing their voice like in every game.
The main part of the game is in the night portion, and this is where the block puzzles come out. Every night Vincent is faced with a number of block puzzles where the objective is to reach the very top of the tower. While it seems simple enough, the game constantly throws various tricks to make the climbing tough, such as icy blocks (which cause Vincent to slide until he finds a non-icy block, or until he falls off) and bomb blocks (which weakens all blocks within a certain radius). Each night ends with a boss that causes other effects to happen depending on the night, such as reversing Vincent's movement should he be hit with the boss's attack. While there is an undo button for the easier difficulties, this handicap is removed in the hardest difficulty.
There's also an extra mode called Babel in the game. Each effort on the puzzles is given a score, and if Vincent receives enough gold prizes by doing extremely well on the puzzles, new levels of Babel will unlock. Babel has the crushing difficulty you would expect and is set to hard mode by default.
Catherine is truly an amazing mature game with the best console story of the year from the Persona creators, and is one of the greatest surprise releases in 2011. Maybe because of this game's success, we'll see Persona 5 with a more mature cast? Only time will tell on that, but Catherine is definitely one of Atlus's best works (but not the best this year, though!)
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#5: Fate/Extra PlayStation Portable Type-Moon / Image Epoch / Aksys Games Released November 1, 2011
After finishing up the last route in Fate/stay night last year, I was happy to learn that there was a RPG in production for the Fate series, and I was even happier to learn it was coming out this year thanks to Aksys Games.
Fate/extra takes the Holy Grail War from the visual novel and turns it on its head. Instead of seven servants fighting it out for the Grail, we have a whole tournament of 128 master and servant pairs fighting it out for the Grail, and all but one will perish in the end. You could compare Fate/extra to Persona 3 in some ways. They both have a dungeon area where you level up and find items in over the course of a certain time period, and at the end of that you fight a boss battle with a master/servant pair. Each one of the pairs has significant backstory for not only the servant (who you need to find out their identity anyways), but some of the masters as well. Not only that, but your Servant has an identity to discover as well, and will hide it for a good deal of time through the game (and if your servant is Caster, she might not reveal it at all unless you talk to her often). There are also two routes through the game as well as three different servants to choose from, offering multiple playthroughs depending on the choices made. One route has a familiar character that other Type-Moon fans will recognize.
The battle system is very unique and offers a very different experience from other games. You have three options in battle, ATTACK, GUARD, and BREAK. ATTACK beats BREAK, BREAK beats GUARD, and GUARD beats ATTACK. (Later on the servants gain skills that can bypass this triangle.) Enemies usually use a bunch of preset sequences that can be challenging to decipher, but fortunately there attack patterns are revealed as you battle them multiple times. The enemy servants only open up half (or less, if you fail to find their identity) of their attack patterns, and all have huge amounts of HP that usually go over the number that can be displayed in-game, so it gives an additional challenge to the already difficult boss battles. Nevertheless, I believe this game had the best boss battles of 2011: even with the skills at your disposable a single mistake could lose your servant significant percentage of health (especially if your servant is Caster). It takes a great deal of strategy to chain your attack and skill commands correctly to defeat the bosses in this game.
The dungeon area is fairly bland and most levels look the exact same from week to week. (The last area, however, has an impressive background unlike the others.) The enemies are also the same, and similar enemies have similar attack patterns to match. Sometimes the enemy servants will appear too, and will spar for three turns (the limit in dungeons) with your servant. There are unique armor (called Formal Wear) that can be found in the dungeons, as well as two triggers that need to be collected every week.
As would be expected by any game involving Type-Moon, Fate/Extra has a great deal of words. In fact, it could be considered to be a visual novel with RPG elements with the amount of words it has. The story isn't really as exciting as the original visual novel, but it has some interesting twists, especially near the end of the game.
Even if you have never experienced any of the Fate games or anime, I still think Fate/extra would still be an enjoyable game to play. It has surprising depth for a game based on a visual novel, and is one of the best jRPGs released in 2011. Soundtrack Links Battle #5 - Battle #6 -
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#7: Professor Layton and the Last Specter Nintendo DS Level 5 / Brownie Brown Released October 17, 2011
Since I had finished the other Layton games earlier in the year I had the pleasure of playing this at release. Well, I would have, except Amazon sold out of copies so I had to order a copy from WalMart.
Anyway, Last Specter follows the traditional Layton formula that the other games in the series follow. Layton is trying to unravel a mystery in another area of England, and has to complete an amazing amount of various puzzles to complete the mystery. This time the game is a prequel to the other trilogy. This game also introduces a new character, Emmy, who is the original assistant to Professor Layton, and explains how Luke and the Professor ended up traveling together.
Last Specter contains over 170 puzzles to solve, as well as the usual three mini-games that open as the story is progressed. Like the other three games in the series, the story is amazing and has the usual ending twist that will surprise everyone. I still can't believe how the writers come out with these ridiculous scenarios that somehow make sense at times.
While the game remained on the DS for this entry (Next game is for the 3DS), the graphics and sound certainly didn't suffer. There's more animated cutscenes than the previous games, and the last one near the ending is especially good. The music, like any Layton game, has some impressive tracks that are listed below, like the last write-up. Even the main theme of this game is impressive, which is a nice surprise.
This is the first Layton game to have a really significant extra item, this being London Life, a RPG that boasts "100 hours of content" which unfortunately is a complete lie. It's developed by Brownie Brown, who did the graphics for Mother 3 (and it's pretty evident in the sprites made for this game). It's still a fun diversion for a while, there's a small storyline in it with the regular Layton characters as well as several minigames. Basically, it's a mini version of Animal Crossing with different activities to do. It's worth a good few hours, but not much else.
The Layton games always deliver two things: hours of puzzle solving, and an amazing story to go through. And this one definitely delivers on both.
Soundtrack Links Professor Layton's Theme - The Last Specter's Theme - The Final Battle -
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#8: Pokemon Black/White Nintendo DS Nintendo Released March 6, 2011
What a great year for games. Playing this back in March I thought this would be my game of the year for this, but it only makes 8th on the list. Still, Pokemon Black/White are the best Pokemon games since the first generation, and one of the best games of 2011.
Pokemon B/W starts like any Pokemon game; you get your starter, Pokedex, and Pokeballs and are sent into the world of Unova (based on New York City, which was pretty cool) to get your eight gym badges and beat the Elite Four. Black and White, unlike the past three generations, specifically does not let you catch any of the old generation Pokemon (all 493 of them), providing the player instead with only the newer Pokemon to use and catch. Some of the new Pokemon seem very... unoriginal (Klinklang, for one) but most seem like great new additions. The game also introduces Triple Battles and Rotation Battles, though either mechanic is pretty non-existant in either game, unfortunately.
Some people have compared the gameplay of Pokemon to an animal fighting simulator, and for the first time the game recognizes this with its 'evil team', Team Plasma. The story behind this game actually looks at this part of the game, and showcases Team Plasma's quest to liberate Pokemon from the trainers of the world of Unova. Team Plasma is the first team to actually be somewhat successful, and you'll see that if you play the game.
The graphics that were first transitioned into 3D in Diamond and Pearl have been vastly improved and look much better especially in Castelia City, the city designed after downtown NYC. The soundtrack has some great new songs and probably has the best soundtrack of any Pokemon game, and I've included some links below to check them out yourself.
Lastly, like any Pokemon game, there is plenty of post-game content. The entire east side of the map is completely unexplored when you've beaten the game, allowing a whole region of new areas and the other 493 Pokemon ready to be caught, as well as some surprise guests from other games. For once, the Pokemon levels of post-game content go up to obscene levels, making it the best game to level up Pokemon in any generation. The Dream World, which uses an external site, adds a Neopets-like area for Pokemon that allows people to get rare berries and Pokemon, as well as other items.
Pokemon Black/White, simply, is an amazing game and definitely deserves a place on anyone's top 10 list of 2011. Also, I played Pokemon White, if anyone is wondering.
Soundtrack Links Driftveil City - Ending Theme -
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And the other things. Going to finish this one up, at least.
Games that I didn't find time to play this year (or do much in):
Ar tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel (PS3): You're welcome to convince me to open this. I still have no clue why I even bothered buying it.
Bastion, Deus Ex: Human Revolution (PC): While I did not have the computer I have now in 2011, I hope I can enjoy them in 2012. Just didn't have the computer needed for these two.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Wii): I've been in the first temple for ages and for some reason, I have no real desire to play this. Maybe the formula for Zelda games is finally boring me.
Kirby Mass Attack (DS), Kirby's Return to Dream Land (Wii): I still haven't played through Epic Yarn yet, either. Will get to these one of these days.
Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (PS3): Didn't play the original and haven't played much of this yet. It's still somewhat interesting, and I do like the rosters for both sides.
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together (PSP): I think playing Valkyria Chronicles killed my enjoyment of playing a traditional turn-based SRPG. I'll eventually get to this one of these days.
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 2 Innocent SIn (PSP): I was planning to beat Persona 1 before playing this, and I will, but that was a terrible mistake on my part.
Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten (PS3): Got this late, couldn't find time to play it. Catherine, Valkyria Chronicles, Atelier Rorona, and #4 on the list took priority on the system.
Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation (DS): Like Persona 2, I wanted to play DQ IV and V before this, which I have done. I'm playing through this now, but I haven't really done much yet.
Orcs Must Die!, Frozen Synapse, Terraria (Steam): A few games bought in Steam sales either for the gift thing or due to nice sales, and I just haven't had time to play these much yet.
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Top 10 Beaten Games in 2011 will be games that I've beaten in 2011, but were not released in 2011.
#10: Puzzle Quest (Too many platforms to list) I played it on Steam (for $1.25 during the 2010 holiday sale) and it was worth a lot more than that price tag. If you've ever played Bejeweled, you know how to play Puzzle Quest. Basically you and your opponent take turn matching up colors on the board for mana and damage, and you have a list of spells than can be used to do additional damage or cause different effects on the board. The game is actually extremely long and has plenty of sidequests and enemies to capture that will keep one entertained for a while. My final play time when I hit the end was 36 hours, and I found the game really entertaining from start to finish.
#9: Costume Quest (PS3/360/PC) I played this near Halloween off of PSN, and had a blast during that weekend (when we weren't blacked out by that stupid freak snowstorm). Anyway, it's a fun little RPG based off of Halloween, where you're trying to stop an evil group of monsters trying to collect a huge bounty of candy, while rescuing your sibling who's dressed as a piece of candy. In the game you collect different costumes that have different abilities in battle (including the hilarious Statue of Liberty costume). The DLC for the game adds another area to explore, adding on to the original three from the main game, and has a few new quests, cards, and costumes to collect.
#8: Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box (DS) I actually beat all four of the Layton games released in America this year (and watched Eternal Diva as well) and enjoyed all of them. All the games have a story with a very interesting twist at the end, this one being no exception to that rule, as ludicrous as it might be. I always enjoy some challenging puzzles (that aren't block puzzles, argh) and this game did provide that. The only thing I hated about this was the annoying tea mini-game, which was a complete guessing game unless you looked at a guide for what ingredients to mix. At least handing out the tea was somewhat easier.
#7: Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen (DS) The first Dragon Quest game I beat, and certainly not the last. If you're looking for a DQ game to start the series, don't start with IX like I did and buy this instead. It's a great traditional RPG with one of the best casts of characters I've played with. The game is told in a series of five characters, each chapter going over a single or group of characters. However, this port takes a lot of the character development out, sadly, by removing the Party Talk feature. Still, it's a very good game and starts the Zenithian Saga that both V and VI are from. (Also, Alena is the best character in the game.)
#6: Z.H.P. Unlosing Ranger vs. Darkdeath Evilman (PSP) A roguelike from NIS. NIS took the humor they made popular in Disgaea and then put it into a roguelike formula, and the results are fantastic. One thing differs from other games; after every dungeon, whether you complete the dungeon or die, you "reincarmate" back to level one, and the levels you gained become stored levels. And like any NIS game, that number can get extremely high. For anime fans, there's dungeons that can be unlocked based on different animes, such as Toradora and Baccano. Each chapter ends with the main character fighting the final boss (and losing horribly, unless in a second playthrough) and the battle screen evolves as the character gains levels. It starts out with an early Dragon Quest screen, then it's similar to a SNES Final Fantasy game, and it continues on from there as the character continues through the game.
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5. Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland (PS3) This is definitely not a game for everyone. This game has twelve assignments. Each one is done over the span of three in-game months, and each deals with alchemizing a number of items to fulfill a request. Rorona can also do adventuring with two companions who come along and bring their own skills and abilities to help defeat the monsters around the areas so Rorona can collect items. The game's graphics are fairly simplistic for the PS3, the music really doesn't improve until late in the game, and the voice acting is the same usual actors you see in every game, and one or two are just terrible. There is a ridiculous amount of endings: 14 of them, and going through the game without a guide is almost impossible if you're trying to get a specific ending (especially the Astrid ending). Nevertheless, I enjoyed the game and got the platinum. Had to reload a specific save about ten times to get different endings, and another save twice. It was an interesting challenge, at least.
4. Jeanne d'Arc (PSP) I'm glad I started this before I got hooked on Valkyria Chronicles, because SRPGs are boring me right now. While it's a very simplistic SRPG, it manages to make itself interesting by adding special gems to gain extra turns, using a skill system that's entirely customizable, and having a story built on history, which I have been interested in for a while. There's a few ways that the game can be entirely broken, and I used that to great effect on the last battle. This game was even stranger for me as I was watching Fate/zero at the same time as playing this, which made Gilles de Rais' appearance in the game much more... creepy then it really should have been.
3. Professor Layton and the Unwound Future (DS) Still the best Layton game, in both puzzles and story. The story is completely out of left field and there is little to no chance that anyone will guess the usual Layton twist to the story here, and the ending unlike the two previous games in the trilogy is a melancholy one. There's no extra RPG mode in this one, but the puzzles here are more interesting and the story will keep you hooked until the end. Though you don't need t play the previous games in the trilogy, it's best to do so to get a complete view on the characters and puzzles.
Soundtrack Links Cyclone (Atelier Rorona): Theme of the Last Time Travel (Professor Layton):
And that's everything from the last topic posted. #4 either later today or tomorrow.
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#4: Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland PlayStation 3 Gust / NIS America Released September 27, 2011
And that's why I wanted to do that last update to the top 10 games beaten but not released in 2011.
Atelier Totori, similar to its prequel Atelier Rorona, stars a young girl who is also an alchemist. Totori is one of the very few alchemists in Arland, the region where this trilogy takes place. Like Atelier Rorona, the game places a great deal of depth into its intensive crafting system, where with Totori's knowledge of alchemy, can make anything from liquor to high-power bombs. While Rorona had only a handful of areas to explore, Totori has close to a hundred areas to explore and find materials for crafting and enemies to beat, as well as mini-bosses that give extra points to Totori's license.
The actual gameplay, however, couldn't be more different. I stated before that Rorona had assignments with time constraints over the three-year period. Totori throws that out the window, giving you five years to do, essentially, whatever you want to do in the game. While you need to advance through license ranks to unlock new areas, almost anything that Totori does will gain points towards her license rank (except the scenes that unlock trophies. No, I don't understand that logic either). In essence, Atelier Totori can be considered a sandbox jRPG since for once your playstyle is dependent on what you do; the only limitation being the five year limit placed on the game (and a minor need to reach a certain rank 3 years in, but by that time I had the next rank already unlockable).
Gust really made a great jump to the PS3 with Atelier Rorona, but they managed to improve the graphics even more with Atelier Totori. Many of the areas and characters look amazing, especially the area Runestone Nest (and its miniboss, ugh). The music, while it does copy several tracks from its prequel, has some standout music pieces, mostly in battle (and there's DLC to bring tracks in from previous Atelier games). Most of the voice actors reprise their roles for this game, and the new ones do a great job voicing the newer characters. The only ones that seem strange is Rorona's VA, who's voice seems to have changed pretty significantly from her own game (and gotten worse), and Pamela's VA, who was terrible in Atelier Rorona and is terrible here.
The game still isn't without its flaws. Totori is probably the weakest main character I've ever seen. Rorona was actually halfway decent in a battle from last game, but Totori can barely do damage and has terrible defense to add on to that. Not to worry, though, her item use makes up for some of that, and her allies can shield her from enemy attacks. Gust didn't learn from Rorona and gave the game another heap of endings to unlock, each one having its own trophy as well. Lastly, the battle voice acting. I like the VAs a lot in this game, but the battles are scripted for the characters to say something every time they get hit with an attack, and every time their turn comes up when they're low in health. This frequently ends up with characters repeating the same lines over and over again, even when the battle is won or someone else's turn has started.
Atelier Totori is a terrific game, and a step away from your traditional jRPG format. Even if you dislike the anime art style, it is worth a try if you like jRPGs at all.
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I remember your DQIV playthrough topic, but it purged before I could read through it. I was very curious as to what you thought of the characters and what foursome you used at the end (and I agree, Alena is great).
From: Justin_Crossing | #015 Isn't Fate/Extra's combat basically glorified rock paper scissors
It is, but like I stated, it's more like a visual novel with RPG elements than the other way around. If you dislike the combat system, you can always pick Caster and blow away enemies with skills instead of dealing with the system at all (you still might have to for the boss battles, though).
From: SockoDeus | #016 I remember your DQIV playthrough topic, but it purged before I could read through it. I was very curious as to what you thought of the characters and what foursome you used at the end (and I agree, Alena is great).
The topic is archived on... that site, if you know it. Just search my username and it'll come up.
Due to the loss of the party talk feature, I lost a lot of character development . I liked Alena, Ragnar, and Torneko the best of all the characters, but unfortunately I was underleveled for a great deal of the game so Kiryl took Torneko's place in the end. I rarely used any of the other characters.
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Congrats to 2011 Rivalry Rumble Guru winner, SuperNiceDog http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif
#3: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective Nintendo DS Capcom Released January 11, 2011
It's true that Capcom deserves hate for the way they tried their best to kill their fanbase over 2011, but before any of that happened they released one of the greatest games of the year, an adventure game from Ace Attorney writer Shu Takumi.
Ghost Trick stars Sissel, who starts the game by finding out that he's dead. Something is happening in the city today, and it's up to Sissel to find out the big mystery surrounding the city, as well as find out who he is and why he's dead in the first place. To do this, he has the power to control several inanimate objects to do several tasks. Sissel also has the power to rewind time after a person has died to three minutes prior to death, and finding a way to use Sissel's ghost tricks to save the person's life is the main focus of most of the puzzles in the game. Each chapter has a certain puzzle from the various objects placed around the level, and Sissel is usually tasked with preventing someone's death due to certain events. Halfway through the game, another character appears with a new twist on the puzzles: he can switch items with identical shape, no matter how big or small they are, adding more depth to the puzzles within the game.
While the puzzle aspect of Ghost Trick has great depth, the main part of the game is its characters and story. Most of the characters are expertly written with some very unique personalities, including Detectives Lynne and Jowd, as well as the dancing Inspector Cabanela. Even the dog Missile has his own unique personality that is explored in this game as he is also a victim of death like the others early on.
The story of Ghost Trick is simply amazing. While the mystery in the beginning starts off slow, at a certain point later on the story starts to unravel and it becomes like a good book. You can't put it down and you need to know what happens next (my 3DS says that I played it for three straight hours until I got to the end). The reveals at the end and the ending itself are also exceptional, and some of the curveballs the game throws out just show how well the story was developed for this game.
In the graphics department, the game is very well produced for a Nintendo DS game, and has some quality animation with various characters (specifically Inspector Cabanela and the dancing policeman). The music is great from start to finish, and is also done by Ace Attorney composer Masakazu Sugimori. Like always, some of the highlight tracks are listed below.
Ghost Trick is a pretty short game, taking about 10 hours to fully explore the puzzles and read through the story. Basically, get drawn in by the puzzles and stay for the amazing characters and story. It's an experience you probably will not regret.
Soundtrack Links Main Theme - Lynne's Theme - The Last Desperate Struggle - Epilogue ~ The End of the "Night" -
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Congrats to 2011 Rivalry Rumble Guru winner, SuperNiceDog http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif
No update tonight. I will say though if you've read some of my posts lately that the last two games are pretty obvious. And I'll finish the top 10 non-2011 games beaten in 2011 before #1 is posted.
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Congrats to 2011 Rivalry Rumble Guru winner, SuperNiceDog http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif
#2: The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky PlayStation Portable Falcom / XSEED Games Released March 29, 2011
The Legend of Heroes has not had a great record in the US. Three games came over from Bandai with terrible translations, and the ridiculously high text count stopped many companies from translating a game of this size. Fortunately, XSEED, in its partnership with Falcom, decided to localize and publish the game over here, and has released one of the best games on the PSP.
Trails in the Sky stars Estelle Bright and her adopted brother Joshua Bright, two siblings that are bracers, a sort of peacekeeping force around the kingdom of Liberl. Throughout the game the two travel throughout the kingdom doing requests at all five areas of the kingdom in an effort to become senior bracers and to look for their father, who disappeared following a plane kidnapping in the nearby region.
Like talking to NPCs? Trails in the Sky has a huge number of NPCs that frequently change what they say and where they are after every important plot event. This results in huge amounts of story progress just by NPC dialogue. The game has a huge number of sidequests as well. Each one of these sidequests has a journal entry for it, as well as a mini-story with even more dialogue (except for the beat a strong monster quests.) All of this text from the above shows just how much dialogue is in this game, and shows the risk that XSEED took when localizing this.
Even with all the above dialogue, there's still a great story to find. Trails in the Sky provides a story that starts off rather slowly, but develops into a tale that stretches throughout the entire kingdom. It's really hard to explain without spoiling anything, though it's another game that had me continue playing from chapter 3 all the way to the end.
If you're a Ys fan, you'll be very well acquainted with Falcom's impressive music record. Though Trails in the Sky is somewhat more calm in its overworld tracks, Falcom still provides some great music, some that would fit well in both series. The voice acting is limited, happening only in battles, but it serves its purpose well. Unfortunately, though, the graphics are (and for a game released originally in 2004, this is not surprising) underwhelming, to say the least. Considering the game's original release date and what now can be produced, the graphics are the low point of this game.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky is probably the best jRPG on the PSP, and any jRPG fan not playing this is doing themselves a disservice. Honestly, the only things I can feel that are bad about this game are the graphics and the fact that the sequel isn't released yet. Hopefully that will come out sometime in 2012.
Soundtrack Links To Be Suggestive - Leiston Fortress - Silver Will - Challenger Invited - Ancient Makes -
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Congrats to 2011 Rivalry Rumble Guru winner, SuperNiceDog http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif
Worst Game of 2011: Hyperdimension Neptunia PlayStation 3 Compile Heart / Idea Factory / NIS America Released February 15, 2011
Hyperdimension Neptunia is one of the most terrible games I've ever purchased. So much that I'm not going to even explain the game too much, at least.
There are some things to like about the game. NIS America did a terrific localization job, adding all kinds of references to other video games and translating the ones already present. I counted references to Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Mario Bros., Street Fighter, and Tetris, among others. The game has some very amazing landscapes to look at too...
but of course, you can't actually explore these landscapes. All exploring and missions is done in caves, each of which look the same as the last one, except for random obstacles for your characters to deal with. The game also brings random enemies, with a... unique battle system relying on combos. Basically take whatever best abilities you have and make them into a combo, and you win. There's almost no strategy to what looks like a complex skill system, and it could have been really much more. Also, you cannot heal your characters in battle, instead depending on a special skill to trigger. At low levels, the chance for the skill to trigger is horribly low. Character died in a random battle? Better restart before you reach the boss!
Dialogue between characters is done in visual novel style with non-static portraits. Some games like the Atelier series do this, but that series also sometimes animates the 3D models of the character during some events. All events in Neptunia use this boring style of dialogue, which really doesn't look like much work was done here. Not to mention that the story is ridiculous and most of the characters, especially the main character, have terribly annoying voices. Neptune's voice and dialogue are just completely terrible. Speaking of audio, I forget if there was actually music in this game. I don't remember any tracks that stood out to me at all, and the dungeons seemed very quiet, as if there was no music playing.
There is no way to defend such a horrible game like this. Avoid this game at all costs.
#1 will be posted tomorrow, as well as the final update to the top 10 games beaten but not released in 2011.
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Congrats to 2011 Rivalry Rumble Guru winner, SuperNiceDog http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif
From: Articuno2001 | #010 Top 10 Beaten Games in 2011 will be games that I've beaten in 2011, but were not released in 2011.
#2 and #1: Valkyria Chronicles II (PSP) and Valkyria Chronicles (PS3) There's no doubt that Valkyria Chronicles brought an amazing new spin on the SRPG genre. Basically you have a crew of different units each with different abilities: scouts, who can move farther than the others; shocktroopers, who are equipped with machine guns; lancers, who are anti-tank infantry; engineers, who can heal or repair other units; snipers (VC1 only, in II they are part of the scout class tree) who are long-range attackers; armor techs (VCII only) who are defensive specialists that attack with hammers; and tanks, of course. There are many missions in both games that take advantage of the various abilities that your squad has. Both games have some features they excel in; VC1 has the superior story and main characters, while VCII does a good job with special events and missions for every character in the game. Also, both games have great voice acting with different voices for each character. Valkyria Chronicles is the best jRPG available on the PS3, and not playing it is a terrible mistake. While Valkyria Chronicles II is not as good, it's still has amazing gameplay that continues the series.
#1 on the main list will be posted later tonight.
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Congrats to 2011 Rivalry Rumble Guru winner, SuperNiceDog http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif
#1: Radiant Historia Nintendo DS Atlus Released February 22, 2011
Like I've said in various topics, Radiant Historia is my game of the year for 2011. Need a good throwback to the great RPGs from the days of the SNES? Radiant Historia is probably the game you are looking for.
Radiant Historia stars Stocke, an army veteran in the SpecInt division who is given an item known as the White Chronicle. He finds out that this item can have him travel in time, and he uses this power throughout the game, looking for a man who has the Black Chronicle, who impedes his progress towards saving the world.
One of the great aspects of Radiant Historia is its battle system. The enemies take place in a 3 by 3 grid, and a lot of the strategy involves switching turns with allies (and the enemies!) and moving the enemies into the grid, pushing them onto traps or off of damage fields. There are some bosses that negate this by taking up the entire field, though.
The story of the game is interesting as well. The story has two paths through the game, both which affect the other timeline in various ways. As such, the player must progress on both paths to see the story of the game. There's a generic save the world plot in the game as well, but adding the time travel aspect makes the story a great deal more interesting. The characters are also some of the best you'll see. As Stocke is a military man, he's no idiot like you would expect from a jRPG protagonist. Stocke thinks things through and comes up with some amazing strategies throughout the game. Some of the other party members are also very well-written (you don't learn much about Raynie or Marco, unfortunately) but one of the party members is kind of a spoiler.
Included in the story are plenty of various sidequests. Many of the sidequests help develop the other characters in your party, or even some of the important NPCs in the storyline. Like a traditional Atlus game, one of the sidequests has an abnormally tough bonus boss that requires a good deal of grinding to win against.
If the music has a familiar feel to you, the soundtrack is done by Yoko Shimomura, famous for work on the Kingdom Hearts series and other games. Despite the soundtrack having a limited 25 tracks, each one is used amazingly to fit the feel of the current event happening. The in-battle music is some of the best tracks I've heard in a RPG in some time, even the normal battle theme is great. Links are provided, as usual. The graphics are nicely done, especially the sections within Historia, as well as the character sprites. All of the graphics are well done for a DS game.
There are a few flaws with the game, the plot does take a good deal of time to really move forward (but when it does, you won't want to stop playing!) Some of the sidequests do have some really absurd requirements, and plenty require some ridiculous backtracking through previous points in time. There's also the bad ends; while interesting as they provide a bit of story for each, they're pretty much a waste of time unless you're trying to get all the events.
Still, even with the flaws, I name this as the best RPG on the DS and the best game of 2011. Try Radiant Historia, you will not be disappointed.
Soundtrack Links Blue Radiance - The Edge of Green - The Red Locus - Shadows Dance in the Darkness - Where the Wind and Feathers Return - An Earnest Desire of Grey -
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Congrats to 2011 Rivalry Rumble Guru winner, SuperNiceDog http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif
If anyone is still out there, thanks for reading my list! The completed lists are in this post, for reference.
Top 10 of 2011 1. Radiant Historia (DS) 2. The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky (PSP) 3. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (DS) 4. Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland (PS3) 5. Fate/extra (PSP) 6. Catherine (PS3) 7. Professor Layton and the Last Specter (DS) 8. Pokemon Black / White (DS) 9. Mario Kart 7 (3DS) 10. Corpse Party (PSP) HMs: Pushmo (3DS), Dungeons of Dredmor (PC), Sequence (PC), Solatorobo: Red the Hunter (DS) Worst of 2011: Hyperdimension Neptunia (PS3)
Top 10 not released but beaten in 2011 1. Valkyria Chronicles (PS3) 2. Valkyria Chronicles II (PSP) 3. Professor Layton and the Unwound Future (DS) 4. Jeanne d'Arc (PSP) 5. Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland (PS3) 6. Z.H.P. Unlosing Ranger vs. Darkdeath Evilman (PSP) 7. Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen (DS) 8. Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box (DS) 9. Costume Quest (PSN) 10. Puzzle Quest (PC)
I'll probably rebump this in both the morning and the evening later. Again, thanks for reading my list, and I'll be writing 2012's list next February. Hope you'll read that as well!
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Congrats to 2011 Rivalry Rumble Guru winner, SuperNiceDog http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif
