Board 8 > Leonhart Ranks 124 User Nominated Games: The Top Five

(+) Yeah! (+)

Where would Super Mario RPG have ranked?
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Axl_Rose_85 posted...

I'm curious how the 3 Xenosaga games would rank here, if you have played those that is. I am replaying the series after a long time and Episode I and II has not aged well at all.

well you very nearly got my thoughts on Xenosaga Episode III before user SaveEstelle wisely changed his nomination to Mass Effect 3

I don't know exactly where I'd rank the Xenosaga games now because it's been a long time since I've played them, and the end of Episode III completely soured me on the entire experience. It was a complete and utter disaster, which is a shame, because the game had been pretty strong up to that point. They'd all probably be fairly low (somewhere between 90-110 or so I guess). The games have elements that I like. They tackle some intriguing moral quandaries when it comes to stuff like the realians, the URTVs, and Ziggy. I thought those things were all pretty interesting. Ziggy ended up being my favorite character, along with Albedo. Unfortunately, Shion is awful and got worse with every game. KOS-MOS is kind of overrated, but she's mostly fine. Jr. and chaos are cool, too. So is Jin.

I don't remember much of Episode I other than it being such a slog with its dungeons and random battles taking longer and longer the deeper into the game you got. I was avoiding random battles during that last dungeon because it was so actively detrimental to you, ugh. Actually, I do remember Albedo's COME ON COME ON COME ON...NOW DIE! attack from the last boss because the delivery is so great. Albedo in general has excellent voice acting. I'm a huge Crispin Freeman fan.

I think I remember Episode II more fondly than most because I actually liked the concept of the battle system, with knocking enemies up into the air or driving them into the ground for extra damage and stuff like that. I was kinda happy when FFXIII used a similar concept! People complain about the random battles taking forever there, and I can believe it since it's Xenosaga, but I don't remember it well enough to say. Plus, all the focus on the URTVs was good, and it's the shortest game of the three, which probably helps it!

LinkMarioSamus posted...

Where would Super Mario RPG have ranked?

I'd have probably ranked Super Mario RPG in the 40-50 range, I'd guess. The game's good lighthearted fun, and it is the advent of Nintendo's best character (something Square should get a lot more credit for): RPG Bowser. It's also pretty short, so you can breeze through it really quickly. It's just a charming world, and I'm glad Square decided not to be derivative with it and made it their own thing. They even made Mario a charming character despite having him be a silent protagonist by having him communicate so effectively through body language and acting things out (up to and including literally transforming into whoever he's "talking" about).

It has a lot of memorable locations and bosses. It's a very good beginner's RPG, but it's pretty fun no matter how experienced you are. As much as I love Mallow and Geno, Mario/Bowser/Toadstool is my party of choice. Heck, Toadstool with the Lazy Shell is a one-woman army who can win any war of attrition. I literally solo'd Culex with her because he and his crystals could only do piddling damage to her. It took forever because the Lazy Shell gimps your offense, too, but she could essentially heal herself endlessly. I think Culex and the crystals eventually ran out of MP at one point, but yeah, that was a fun moment.
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Mario's body language in SMRPG is absolutely incredible. It's the main reason I like Mario as a character.

LeonhartFour posted...

I think I remember Episode II more fondly than most because I actually liked the concept of the battle system, with knocking enemies up into the air or driving them into the ground for extra damage and stuff like that. I was kinda happy when FFXIII used a similar concept!

Xenoblade actually does the same thing, incidentally.
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oh right I also forgot to give credit to Mario RPG for the timed hits concept because it's amazing and more RPGs need to use it

I never did anything insane like 100 Super Jumps though
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100 Super Jumps is pretty much the only thing I never did in that game.

Never really seemed worth it honestly.
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also I guess if you want me to rank a series or something I can do that

or just rank any smattering of games or whatever

I've still got some hot takes in me
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but maybe these hot takes will have to remain within me
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i'm enjoying mega man 2 alright. six stages down. i think if i'd played this when i was a kid it could've been a favorite. but it's possible that the game is just too forgiving, because i've been able to get by a lot of stages/bosses without 'solving' them - just blundering and taking a lot of damage.

what was your gaming experience at the time you played MM2?
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I played Mega Man a lot growing up, but I honestly don't think I beat any of them as a kid, at least not without a Game Genie. I didn't play the NES ones all that much though, just because I got rid of my NES fairly early in life. I honestly think the first MM Classic games I beat were 7 and 8, and that was when I was a pre-teen or a teen. I don't think I beat the NES ones for the first time until I was in college. You talked about FFVI being "timeless" before, but I think the platforming genre as a whole is timeless because good level design doesn't age. Mega Man 2 is still good now. Also, spam that Metal Blade, man. It's the most broken weapon in the series.

And speaking of the Game Genie, I loved that thing as a kid. It's kind of weird how my sensibilities have changed as I've grown up though. I never got a GameShark because I didn't want to "cheat" in video games anymore by the time the PS1 came out. I used to have a ton of strategy guides, too, although sometimes that was just because I enjoyed reading them and looking at all the pictures. I think I owned like 5 Super Mario 64 guides, and I even had guides for games I didn't own! But now, I don't like using strategy guides unless I'm truly stuck or it's a replay.
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MM2 certainly feels timeless, especially given that it has a save feature (via passwords, which I'm using). I think aiming would be really nice, but that Heatman level is awesome for having to learn the patterns of when the platforms would appear and disappear. That might have been the only thing I actually felt like I mastered so far. Think my tastes overall might be geared more toward the 16-bit era - huge shout-out to Gunstar Heroes, which I badly need to go back and beat.

I loved strategy guides, too, though I only had one for Pokemon Yellow that I absolutely did not need - think I got it after beating both Red and Yellow. The graphic layouts of those were stunningly well done; looking at it felt like vicariously playing the game. I don't do LPs as I have little patience for video, but I suppose when I think of them as being a different media of guides, I can understand it a bit.
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I don't watch very many full LPs just because of the time investment involved unless it's a game I've beaten before, so then I can have it running in the background and still know what's going on. The only exception for me was Pokecapn (His Sonic 2006 LP is legendary and his Mario Party ones are excellent, too). I liked Two Best Friends Play when they did 15-20 minute snippet videos, but I don't really pay attention to them now.
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More hot takes?
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Where would original Ace Attorney, Justice for All, and Dual Destinies rank?
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AxemRedRanger posted...

Where would original Ace Attorney, Justice for All, and Dual Destinies rank?

oh hey here's an opportunity just to post my full inequality

T&T > DD > PW1 > AAI2 > SoJ > JFA > Layton/PW > AAI1 > AJ

So Dual Destinies and PW1 would both have been in the top 25, while JFA would probably be around...50ish. I'm probably one of the more outspoken Dual Destinies fanboys on this board because I think 4 of the 6 cases are top 15 quality for the series. It did a lot to restore my faith in Ace Attorney after what Apollo Justice did. Blackquill is an amazing prosecutor, and I liked some of the fun things they're now able to do with the transition to "3Dish" graphics, particularly Athena recreating the statue at the end of 5-3. It's just a fun game. They played it pretty safe with some of their decisions, but I honestly thought that was the right call because, like I said, you needed something to let the fanbase know the series is back on the right track. That let them be riskier with Spirit of Justice.

Now the original Ace Attorney is a short and simple game. There's something magical about it that you probably won't feel again with any of the later games if you were able to walk into this one blind like I did. I had no idea how crazy this game was going to get until about halfway through 1-3, and I've been hooked ever since. Like, I can tell you the exact moment I became an Ace Attorney fan. It's still one of my favorite experiences in any game.

I talked about Justice for All earlier, but I think it's an underappreciated game in the series. I'm replaying it right now, in fact!
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it's hard to disentangle my experience of "playing" the AA series with the discussion and the playthroughs. they're also so divorced from other games as games that it feels nearly impossible to rank them alongside games.
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Yeah, Ace Attorney games are the hardest things to rank alongside other games.

but I've ranked just about everything there is to rank within the series over the last two years
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yeah, i love ranking AA stuff within its own universe. but introduce something even as innocuous as a crossover game and i'm staying away!
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Layton/AA is pretty easy to rank within the confines of the series, actually!
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rank cross examination themes!
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The Mana Sword posted...

rank cross examination themes!

T&T Allegro > AAI1 Presto >> Everything else > JFA
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Finally finished replaying 5-2 today

Still seems like a pretty 'meh' case to me...!
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not sure I agree with that!
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I mean if you want me to expand it out even further (only ranking the best one from each game)

T&T Allegro > AAI1 Presto > AJ Allegro > DD Allegro > AAI2 Presto > Layton Mob Allegro > PW1 Allegro > SoJ Allegro > JFA Allegro

don't ask me to explain anything though because I can't talk intelligently about music
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expanded I think I agree more

I actually like JFAs moderate theme but the presto isnt great

T&T is tops but I might put DD at #2 personally
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I dunno. I think JFA's is the weakest no matter which one you put at the top.

I was kinda disappointed at how underwhelming SoJ's was after how good DD's was. I almost put it 3rd. It's pretty close between that one and AJ.
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Havent heard anything from SoJ yet, but I dont remember seeing people too jazzed about the soundtrack for that one when it came out.
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I actually think SoJ's soundtrack is really good. Just not the cross-examination themes.
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the only one i really disagree with there is AA1 being so low. i'd also drop layton's to the bottom but who cares about layton
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PW1's is catchy and memorable, but I wouldn't say it's "good."

Mob Allegro is excellent. Layton/PW's soundtrack in general is fantastic. It rivals AAI1 for the best one in the series.
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layton has some good tracks in it but not so much the interrogation one

also is it just me or is this the wrong thread for this discussion
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I mean this is a topic to discuss games I've played so it works either way
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time for some more random AA music inequalities while I wait to deliver other hot takes

Announce the Truth themes

AAI1 > DD > Layton/PW > SoJ > T&T > JFA > AAI2 > PW1 > AJ
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so, good sign. took me only like 10 minutes to re-beat woodman and metalman since i apparently didn't write down the password

wow. you weren't kidding about metalman's weapon. annihilated flashman before he even landed a hit. i didn't even get to see how he fights. <_<
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A few of the Robot Masters are completely immune to the Metal Blade, but it wrecks a few of them, Flash Man being one of them. Each Robot Master has a special weapon they're weak to (in case you didn't already realize that), but the Metal Blade does extra damage to a couple of others in addition to their other weakness.

plus the fact that it takes four Metal Blades to deplete one bar means you can spam those things with impunity
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yeah, i just realized that they can't just chew through anyone when the last level dude absolutely wrecked my face. he killed me with an extra energy bar, too - dude is really strong. i didn't notice elemental weaknesses at all, otherwise, unfortunately!

next time: comin for you dr. wily
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More hot takes
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Lets see

How about... Ghost Trick
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LordoftheMorons posted...

Lets see

How about... Ghost Trick

Ghost Trick was a unique experience, which I think is to its advantage and disadvantage. Obviously, once you play this game, it'll stick with you, but at the same time, I can't imagine it has the same charm on a replay. I think that's the case with puzzle games in general, at least for me. That's why I haven't tried to replay it since I beat it, but maybe I'm wrong. I like the game's style for the most part, although some of the characters look weird. I like the combination of time travel and moving the objects around you to be able to solve the puzzles. It's a great concept. Then the game throws some really cool twists at you toward the end that surprised me, but it's a Takumi game, so I suppose I should have expected that!
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keep 'em comin'
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Have you played MadWorld?
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I have not.
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Fire Emblem?
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Never even touched a Fire Emblem game.
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love ghost trick so much

ok, how the hell do i get across this big diagonal screen?!
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No Fire Emblem? Thats a shock!

Valkyria Chronicles?
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I own Valkyria Chronicles solely because it has Vyse, Aika, and Fina in it, but I have yet to play it.

also SD you gotta use Item 1, 2, or 3 there, most likely
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it looks like i need to use two of them - one of them doesn't seem to be enough

but once i launch one, i can't swap to the others until it goes away :(
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it's been too long since I've played MM2 for me to know exactly where you are and what to do unfortunately
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LeonhartFour posted...

I own Valkyria Chronicles solely because it has Vyse, Aika, and Fina in it, but I have yet to play it.

I bought it for similar reasons and was incredibly underwhelmed.
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walkthrough seems to suggest using weapon 1 multiple times.

time to experiment!
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