Board 8 > Haunter ranks 101 games he's played over the last decade, with write-ups.

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Haunter12O
03/21/18 1:56:27 AM
#1:


This is a pet project I've been thinking of doing since the beginning of the year. I looked back over the last 10 years and realized that I've played A LOT of video games, some good and some bad. I thought, "why not rank them?" then I thought, "why not post about them?" The rest is history. Without further ado, I want to share my experiences with the forum of rankings! P.S If you don't know me, it's probably because I lurk more than I post, and I occasionally quip when I feel it necessary. I've also done a FF7 music ranking and Tales of Symphonia dungeon ranking on this board, but those were done ages ago.

Anyway, just a couple rules: It doesn't matter when the game was released, if I played it for the first time sometime in the last 10 years, it will be included. There are some games in the list below that did NOT come out in the year they are listed, such as Final Fantasy V and Indigo Prophecy. That just simply means I played them in that year. Also, I have to have played the game for a considerable amount of time, enough to formulate an opinion on it. Otherwise, you'd see tons and tons of freemium crap and mobile games on there. Another example is Valkyria Chronicles II, a game I played for maybe an hour before I decided it was boring and never touched it again. That won't be included. Replays also don't count; I replayed FFIX in 2012 but I originally completed it when it released.

Write-ups can be long or short. Hopefully you like 'em, and if not, hopefully you learn something and go play a game you haven't played before!
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Haunter12O
03/21/18 1:57:42 AM
#2:


The List (games are not in any particular order)

2008
Lost Odyssey
Tales of Vesperia
Grand Theft Auto 4
Fallout 3
Rock Band
Call of Duty: World at War
Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core
Final Fantasy Tactics A2
Final Fantasy 4 DS
Super Smash Brothers Brawl
Tales of Symphonia 2: Dawn of the New World

2009
Star Ocean 4
Magnacarta 2
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
Last Scenario
Exit Fate
Suikoden Tierkreis
The World Ends With You
n+
Shadow Complex
Mario and Luigi Bowser's Inside Story
Ninja Gaiden Black
Borderlands
Resident Evil 5

2010
Mass Effect 2
Final Fantasy XIII
Persona 3 Portable
Rock Band 2
Red Dead Redemption
Mother 3
Ys SEVEN
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn
Donkey Kong Country Returns
Angry Birds

2011
Radiant Historia
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together (PSP)
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky FC
Okami
Arc Rise Fantasia
LA Noire
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

2012
Final Fantasy XIII-2
Mass Effect 3
Dust: An Elysian Tale
Xenoblade Chronicles
The Last Story
Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty

2013
Bioshock Infinite
Grand Theft Auto 5
Indigo Prophecy
Diablo 3
Final Fantasy Dimensions
The Wolf Among Us
Candy Crush
Skyborn
Metal Gear Solid 4
Ratchet and Clank Tools of Destruction

2014
Fire Emblem Awakening
Mario and Luigi Dream Team
Uncharted 2
Tales of Xillia
Tales of Xillia 2
Bravely Default
Ys: The Oath in Felghana
The Last Of Us

2015
Tales of Zestiria
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel
Grandia II

2016
Stardew Valley
World of Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy XV
Final Fantasy Brave Exvius
Echoes of Aetheria
Battlefield 1
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II
Undertale
Ara Fell
Super Mario Run
Valkyria Chronicles Remastered
Star Ocean 5
I Am Setsuna
Ratchet and Clank

2017
The Witcher 3
Tales of Berseria
Horizon: Zero Dawn
Cosmic Star Heroine
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the Third
Zero no Kiseki
Final Fantasy V
Persona 5
Crash Bandicoot N-Sane Trilogy
Uncharted 4
Adventures of Mana
Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana
Yakuza 0
Tokyo Xanadu eX+
Cuphead
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Haunter12O
03/21/18 2:06:37 AM
#3:


101. Angry Birds
Original Release: 2009
Developer: Rovio
Platform: Mobile

Pretty much a joke entry. I never found the concept fun or entertaining. I guess there weren't many options or better phone games around the time of its release which is why it was considered revolutionary but dear God fuck this game and fuck these birds. Oh, and it cost money. I mean, what?! And a movie was made?! Really now. There's nothing fun about having to retry a stage because the game mechanics decided to screw you over at the last minute. I'd rather go bowling.

100. Adventures of Mana
Original Release: 2016
Developer: Square Enix
Platform: Mobile

Dear Square Enix, taking a game from the 80's or 90's and giving it a cosmetic facelift and changing NOTHING ELSE does not make for a good game. Apparently you bozos didn't learn and decided to do it again with Secret of Mana. This is just a cheap cash grab by SE cashing in on nostalgia so they can earn that small extra bit of money they can use for FFXV and its DLC. Actually it's not cheap, they charge a pretty penny for it and I've played better Kemco games. It's an exact port of the original Final Fantasy Adventure except with a fugly 3D look (like the new SoM) and rearranged music. That's it. And you know what? I enjoyed Sword of Mana better. There, I said it.
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Haunter12O
03/21/18 2:22:28 AM
#4:


99. Bravely Default
Original Release: 2014
Developer: Square Enix
Platform: 3DS

Oh yeah, here we go. This one's going to separate those who want to keep reading the list and those who decide my tastes suck. Bravely Default is hot garbage. So hot, in fact, that I sold my 3DS and all the games for store credit soon after dropping it. You read that correctly: I sold a whole console and the few games I owned for it because of a single video game. I also don't think this game is as popular as it's made out to be, I just think those are the Nintendo drones doing their thing since it released for the 3DS.

Anyway, this game sucks and has a massive identity crisis. First it tries to tell a semi-original story about time travel and identity, then it tries to be a Final Fantasy spinoff. The battle system is yawn inducing and about the only good thing about it is you can turn the random encounters off. Stacking moves and saving them for a later use? Xenosaga did it better. Job system? Nah, not even close to FFT, FFV, or even Zodiac Age. The dungeons are a complete drag, using the same three tunes and the same three tilesets for a maze of corridors and dead ends. The towns are lame, they're basically paintings and look nice but then you realize there's basically no exploration involved, and the world is pretty tiny. But the worst offender here is that shitty mechanic in the second half of the game where you have to rinse and repeat. Over, and over, and over, for what? Fuck the true ending, this is artificial lengthening of play time, and it's inexcusable. After having enough of the shit this game spewed at me, I facepalmed HARD when I reached that section, and decided I wanted a new console. Bye 3DS, hello PS3.

But the final boss theme is good though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLBTIUzPpEQ" data-time="
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Haunter12O
03/21/18 2:36:11 AM
#5:


98. Suikoden Tierkreis
Original Release: 2009
Developer: Konami
Platform: Nintendo DS

I think Konami was doing meth or crack when they decided Tierkreis would be a good idea. But given the company's history, it's no surprise that they totally disregarded what the fans enjoyed and attempted to reboot the entire series with this game. I honestly don't know what killed the series: Was it Suikoden IV's crappy reception? Was it Suikoden V's poor sales? Was it the decision to start over with Tierkreis, a decision met with overwhelming negativity? Or was it Konami simply not giving a shit about their beloved JRPG series?

Suikoden Tierkreis has nothing in common with any of the previous games except for the 108 stars and the strategy music which sounds familiar. The game ditches the strategy battles and even the duels from previous games. The game ditches the Suikoden world and all the lore behind it. Wonder what Harmonia was all about? Or perhaps you wanted to know what the hell happened to Pesmerga. You'll never know. This game's story seemed like it was written by high schoolers. Something about 12 books (chronicles) that cause different worlds to change shape. Too much of the game was filler and wandering around trying to find out what to do next. Events were not connected well. Random encounters were way too frickin' high and you could only have four members in your party. The 108 stars are no longer fun to find because trying to go anywhere in the game where random encounters were present was a nightmare. Also, very few of them actually had any personality, optional or no. The game did have voice acting, but it was sped up like 1.5x or 2x to fit the cartridge, and by God did it make my ears bleed. The main character, Jesus Christ, shut up. Oh and he solves everything through such amazing tactical prowess such as "You never know until you try!" and "We can never give up!" and the power of friendship. This is an actual exchange from the game:

Strategist Liu: Oh man, the Cynas army is approaching, I don't know what to do...
Your strongest general (some wolf guy): Yeah, we're totally screwed.
Your scholar: Prepare our defenses. The castle is destroyed.
Warrior dude: It's impossible to do anything at this point...

Main character: Well, you never know until you try!!! We can't give up!!!

Strategist Liu: !!!
Warrior dude: Oh my God...
Scholar: You're...you're totally right! Why didn't we think of that?!
General: We can! We can do that! Together, all of us can defeat the enemy!
Liu: Okay everyone, to your positions. Deploy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rNCbEtB1YU" data-time="


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HikfM1sQm9k" data-time="&start=3
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Haunter12O
03/21/18 3:23:58 AM
#6:


97. I Am Setsuna
Original Release: 2016
Developer: Square Enix/Tokyo RPG Factory
Platform: PS4

Here's the first home console release on the list! I don't know how to feel about I Am Setsuna. It's just mediocrity at every level. It's also incredibly cheap-- everything about it is so budget and the $40 pricetag is abysmal when this game's probably worth $15 at most. They try to sell it with style: oh it takes place in a snow-covered land, oh the music is all piano so you feel more emotion. Well, guess what, I think it's that way because they were lazy and they didn't want to spend extra money to vary the design. Other than that, this game is so linear and drops a bunch of gameplay systems on you, many of which are overly complicated and probably not necessary because the game was a cakewalk from what I've played of it (13 or so hours of a 20-25 hour game).

I bet not giving it an English dub was also a budgetary decision. Not that I mind the Japanese voices, but come on Squenix. You know you're just trying to leech money off people so you can fund Final Fantasy XV (this was a mid-2016 release). In fact you marketed this game as a love letter to Chrono Trigger, but it never even comes close to that. I'm sick of games trying to come off as the next Chrono Trigger or developers wanting to compare their games to Chrono Trigger. There's other 2D RPGs out there, you know? Why not make a Lufia 2 love letter? Or a Breath of Fire 2 love letter?

At least the game's dull, drab snow setting has dungeons that are better than Bravely Default's dungeons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5j6g_7qSncE" data-time="
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Eerieka
03/21/18 4:24:32 AM
#7:


Pretty much agree with everything so far, so I'll keep reading!

Didn't even get more than an hour or two into I Am Setsuna because it's so buggy that every time I got close to water in the first "real exporable town" I glitch into the water and can't get out.
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Icehawk
03/21/18 8:53:06 AM
#8:


Tag

Agreed on setsuna. Charging what they did for it was an extra slap in the face.
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trdl23
03/21/18 8:59:57 AM
#9:


Tag
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pyresword
03/21/18 9:14:29 AM
#10:


I initially liked the Bravely Default battle system and story. Overall I wouldn't say it ended up that great, but I think I'd rank it higher than that at least.

Hype for Trails at #1.
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Gatarix
03/21/18 10:50:50 AM
#11:


agree completely on Setsuna

snow-covered land is not a bad concept (I usually love snow/ice levels) but needed much better execution. instead, everything in Setsuna was kinda samey - you see one place, you've seen them all
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OliviaTremor
03/21/18 11:36:08 AM
#12:


That's an intense reaction to not liking a game. 'I hate this game! Clearly no other completely unrelated games on this system can be good!'
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Haunter12O
03/21/18 2:42:33 PM
#13:


OliviaTremor posted...
That's an intense reaction to not liking a game. 'I hate this game! Clearly no other completely unrelated games on this system can be good!'


I was going through some big life changes at the time, and I was also broke and really wanted a PS3. Bravely Default was the catalyst that turned the lightbulb on -- go in and trade it in along with the handheld for a PS3 and a few games.

96. Tokyo Xanadu eX+
Original Release: 2017
Developer: Falcom
Platform: PS4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbdKpjILYfA" data-time="


If you think Falcom can do no wrong when it comes to creating a great, modernized JRPG, I present to you Tokyo Xanadu. It feels like a cheap, "let's squeeze as much as we can from the Cold Steel assets" thing with very few redeemable qualities. As if they didn't reuse enough for Cold Steel II... Everything else about Xanadu was done better in a different game. The school/social link system is actually way more similar (carbon copy actually) to Cold Steel I, except none of the characters or the school were anywhere as cool as Thors (or Gekkoukan, or Inaba, or P5's school for that matter). Like the Trails series, the game wants you to go check up on and talk to everyone after every major story event to fill up character entries in your notebook, but never once did I feel like I was doing this out of pure interest. In CS, Sky, and Zero, I was actually genuinely interested in the world and its inhabitants, but here I felt like I was doing it out of respect for Falcom. Exploring a sector of Tokyo multiple times over every chapter is getting pretty boring in games nowadays.

I guess what kept me going to the very end was because it was Falcom, and I was sort of interested in all the mysteries and revelations presented early on coming to light. Most of these are disappointing, especially the reveals of the main bad guy and the masked white cape guy. Believe me on that last one, the reveal of the White Shroud is embarrassingly stupid. The game even goes full melodrama at the end and has main character Kou deliver heartfelt speeches about the power of friendship and how they'll overcome any barrier. I dropped the game after the epilogue. As far as the extra eX+ content goes, it requires you to do a side story after the end of every chapter. These side stories are extremely disconnected from the main plot and focus on one of your characters going on a picnic and then whoamg an eclipse appears what will happen next? I hated how the main plot often picked up near the end of the chapters and then it forced me to play one of these.

Oh and most of the plot points in the game have already been done before. Chapter 3 starts off with a hacker sitting at a desk full of computers hacking at the mainframe of the city while ordering ramen. The song in the background is the exact same song that plays during pretty much the same exact event from Zero no Kiseki, where a kid hacker is accessing the mainframe of the series except ramen replaces pizza. Falcom straight up ripped off their own game. Later on, there are events alluding or even copying Cold Steel and Sky plot points.

The battle system is alright. You can have only one character participating in battle at a time but your special skills can allow another to join the fray temporarily. From what I hear this is a "beta Ys VIII battle system" and it shows quite clearly. Ys VIII did gameplay a whole lot better. All the dungeons in this game are nothing more than maze-like corridors with occasionally a puzzle or two.

My suggestion: Don't play this game because it's probably Falcom's worst. Do, however, listen to the pretty good soundtrack. All the Trails games on this list are ranked pretty damn high, but Tokyo Xanadu gave me a bitter taste in my mouth.
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Haunter12O
03/21/18 4:43:56 PM
#14:


95. Star Ocean 4
Original Release: 2009
Developer: tri-Ace/Square Enix
Platform: X-Box 360

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNauq6_9iP0" data-time="


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSTzU2e27AY" data-time="


***Spoilers***

K debonair on the RPGs: EE board said it best: The characters in Star Ocean 4 are so shitty that they literally drive the only sane party member into madness. This is NOT a joke.

In fact I'll repost what I recently said about the game. Man was it a piece of work. It actually started off promising before spiraling out of control and becoming a shitshow.

I mean, at the beginning it promises a vast world, multiple planets to explore, and a story focusing on exploration. The thought of exploring multiple planets was amazing for a Star Ocean game considering every other one focuses on no more than two planets. The two main characters and the third one that joins you early on seem like generally likable people.

Then, you find out something's up with the writing when Lymle joins. Suddenly, cutscenes become long and awkward, and her voicework and character absolutely sucks. But no matter! The pacing is still pretty good, and we're only on the second planet.

We're then thrusted into the third planet, which is nothing more than an extremely long 3-4 hour dungeon WITH ONLY TWO SAVE POINTS, ONE AT THE BEGINNING AND ONE AT THE END. WHAT THE FUCK. Oh well, it's still cool to explore an alien mothership.

Okay, whatever, let's keep playing. I'm sure it gets better. Oh no, it doesn't. We get another annoying character, a catgirl who is underage and wears very little clothing. Then suddenly, something ridiculous happens and for literally the rest of the game Edge is an annoying, whiny piece of shit. There is a THIRD annoying character by the name of Sarah, and much of the cutscenes in the game which can last up to an hour focus primarily on Lymle, Sarah, and Meracle. Just watch the above video for a shining example of quality voice acting and line delivery in video games. Oh and I can't forget Welch, an annoying NPC (she was better in SO3) that gets more screen time than some of the playable characters.

The pacing falls apart, the story is pretty much nonexistent, there are only three planets to actually explore, with the rest of them being nothing more than glorified dungeons. The cast of characters is the worst cast EVER in any JRPG I'm not even fucking joking here. Actually, the male characters of the group sans Edge are decent but get very little to no screen time so they don't really count. The soundtrack is forgettable, there is an annoying section in one of the planets where you have to swap discs every time you want to go from point A and point B (not to mention swapping discs in general in many areas or backtracking, think Legend of Dragoon) but I'm sure this will be fixed in the HD version.

I've heard mention of some saying the battle system is great. Well, it's not half bad, but the game forces you to basically master blindsides because bosses are frustrating if you can't manage to toss a few of them. Unfortunately blindsides are pretty difficult to master requiring lots of practices and at times they felt random.

No joke but SO5 is better, 'kay?
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NFUN
03/21/18 5:04:19 PM
#15:


@ninkendo
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ARF
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Haunter12O
03/21/18 5:20:09 PM
#16:


94. Super Mario Run
Original Release: 2016
Developer: Nintendo
Platform: Mobile

As of this writing, I have just learned that there was an update to this game last year that added new content. I would rank this game higher had I known there was DLC earlier, but I'll try it out and maybe retroactively change the ranking in the future.

Anyway, not much to say here. SMR was a cool concept that worked well, but the pricetag and the fact that there were only 24 levels wasn't too thrilling. As a result, the game came and went. I paid $9.99, ran through the levels, and then never touched the game again. I hope Nintendo starts releasing more mobile games because I will probably never own another Nintendo console. I say probably because I may buy one for my kids in the future, but for now I have no interest in buying a Switch unless someone convinces me otherwise.

93. Star Ocean 5
Original Release: 2016
Developer: tri-Ace/Square Enix
Platform: PS4

The Star Ocean series is pretty tragic. SO4 had probably the worst cast ever and is an all around mediocre game otherwise and SO5...was a cash grab by Square Enix to fund Final Fantasy XV. Everything about is so budget. They even reused music from SO3 and SO4 quite frequently and often. I mean, this is Motoi Sakuraba we're talkin' about, the guy who composes like thousands of music that all sound similar, and they couldn't even be bothered to get him to compose a brand new OST for this game. Fortunately, the new (and old) compositions used here are really, really good, and I'd go as far as to say this is one of his best recent works.

Unlike SO4 the characters here are actually okay ('kay), but the voice acting and direction could use some work. Being able to use all of them in battle is actually really cool and I want to see more games utilizing a seven-person team or more. Battles were pretty hectic most of the time and there were some moments of true exhilaration, like the Der Suul boss fight. Other than that, it's almost as if tri-Ace attempted to try and create a worse version of Star Ocean 1 here since there's only one planet. You do get to go on a spaceship or two but like 95% of the game takes place on Resulia, a medieval planet that doesn't stand out from every other medieval world out there. The game's plot is okay but requires way too much backtracking and I feel like they ran out of money at the end. Victor says he's from the snow town but when I reached that area it was a giant dungeon and none of the characters said anything. The villain could have used more screen time and there wasn't a whole lot of additional content, especially when you try to compare it to SO2 and SO3. And no new Cave of Trials remix -- a true shame!

Bonus Question What is your favorite Mission to Deep Space remix?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwcO4TEj9iA" data-time="
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ninkendo
03/21/18 5:34:27 PM
#17:


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Haunter12O
03/22/18 12:11:46 AM
#18:


629 hours for Star Ocean 4 jesus...

92. Tales of Xillia 2
Original Release: 2014
Developer: Namco Bandai
Console: PS3

First of all, I promise I like JRPGs. Honest! In case you're wondering considering they fill up the entire back half of this ranking. Secondly, if you haven't surmised this already with my Tokyo Xanadu write-up, I absolutely abhor recycled assets. Tales of Xillia 2 absolutely excels in that. The original is probably the most average-st Tales game and the sequel attempts to squeeze as much out of that as possible. It's like The After Years for FFIV, only worse.

Anyway, everything is the same pretty much. There are maybe three or four new towns, a few new dungeons, and that's it. The entirety of the game includes the same exact areas you visited in the first game. Sometimes the game outright forces you to revisit all these areas, multiple times. I mean, I don't know anyone who had fun exploring those empty squares of land the first game called fields, but if you enjoyed hugging the wall looking for little holes in the wall that lead to treasures, well, this game is for you!

Also the game has this annoying gimmick where the only way you can progress is to pay off debt so you can't move to the next chapter without making a certain amount of money. So prepare to grind.

Ludger is actually a kinda sorta decent hero, but only because he doesn't talk and it gives him this silent badass type of tone. It's nice that you can switch between battle styles in battle but the gun style seemed useless because there's so much going on in battle. The only time it was useful was during the Volt battle which was an exercise in frustration.

Also, the game ruins the characters of Gaius and Muzee. They are now playable characters, and instead of the menacing badasses they were in the original, they're now basically background secondary characters that occasionally quip and their sidequests are terrible. Like, Gaius has to learn how to get along with some street punks.

But hey, if you like cats you might like this game.
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NBIceman
03/22/18 12:17:25 AM
#19:


I love cats and I do indeed love ToX2. Think it's better than the first one by a considerable margin.
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BlueCrystalTear
03/22/18 12:22:55 AM
#20:


I loved Bravely Default for the first half of it. Then it started to get tiring due to its unnecessary repetition. When I played Bravely Second... yeah, couldn't keep with it, since it was the same game only with an obnoxious protagonist. It went from being one of my favorite games to something I never intend to replay because I've already invested enough of my life in it. It doesn't deserve to be this low, but I don't have any idea where it would fall on a ranking list of my own tbh
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Haunter12O
03/22/18 1:55:27 AM
#21:


91. Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
Original Release: 2010
Developer: Square Enix
Platform: PSP

I don't particularly care for the Kingdom Hearts series after KH2. I loved the first and the second games but the second was straying a little too far from a coherent storyline and then it all went to shit. I'm also a doubter of KH3 being released this year because Square's been pretty quiet about it and if it was coming out, they'd be releasing a ton of information daily and even do something stupid like the FFXV Unleashed thing they did back in 2016.

Anyways, I decided to play this because of the positive reviews and wasn't too impressed by it. I don't know who these characters were and even though the game explained it to me, I didn't really care for them or their tragedies. This game is very depressing; there's barely any humor or comic relief and I can't remember many lighthearted moments even though THIS GAME HAS DISNEY CHARACTERS IN IT! I will give Square credit for attempting to actually create new Disney-verses here but the limitations of the PSP do not do these worlds justice. The game also has an unhealthy obsession with minigames.

I've pretty much given up on the series because the plot doesn't make any sense and even if it did, I can't see myself enjoying it. Birth by Sleep was just another nail in the Nomura coffin.

Trust me when I say I can't understand the story. See for yourself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99hSFcl5LK4" data-time="


90. Candy Crush
Original Release: 2012
Developer: King
Platform: Mobile

This thing was addicted for a while but like Angry Birds it turned into frustration. Plus the whole running out of lives and having to wait for more. Still, my whole workplace was in an uproar over it and everybody loves telling everyone else what level they were on.

King kinda dug their own grave with the whole trademark attempt of "Candy" and "Saga". STFU King, go back to making casual iPhone games for normies.
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Haunter12O
03/22/18 2:03:52 AM
#22:


Shit Tier
101. Angry Birds
100. Adventures of Mana
99. Bravely Default
98. Suikoden Tierkreis

Absolute and Utter Meh
97. I Am Setsuna
96. Tokyo Xanadu eX+
95. Star Ocean 4
94. Super Mario Run
93. Star Ocean 5
92. Tales of Xillia 2
91. KH Birth by Sleep
90. Candy Crush

Write-ups get shorter the further the game is away from the worst or the best, but I have some strong feelings about a certain...(in)famous game coming real soon.
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trdl23
03/22/18 8:58:05 AM
#23:


Haunter12O posted...
I've pretty much given up on the series

Well done. The only winning move is not to play.
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NBIceman
03/22/18 10:30:36 AM
#24:


I'm pretty much exactly where you are regarding KH.
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Eerieka
03/22/18 1:40:43 PM
#25:


I gave up on the KH series with the first game, but I feel sorta guilty about it. I actually enjoyed the game when I played it for myself. I got sick of it because I kept having friends and cousins who wanted to play, but sucked at it, so they made me play instead. I've probably done that annoying Alice in Wonderland world eight fucking times (most of my friends/cousins didn't get any further, obviously, but one friend actually got semi-good and now loves the series). That knee-jerk reaction persisted in KH2, in which I didn't even finish the tutorial before feeling like it just wasn't for me.
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Account created-9/10/04. Just a normal GameFAQs user/leprechaun
Ramza: rofl. Rofel: You say my name? -Eise
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ninkendo
03/22/18 2:47:04 PM
#26:


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trdl23
03/22/18 2:51:10 PM
#27:


Eerieka posted...
I gave up on the KH series with the first game

trdl23 posted...
Well done. The only winning move is not to play

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E come vivo? Vivo!
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Haunter12O
03/22/18 3:31:14 PM
#28:


ninkendo posted...
but the KH storyline does make sense


I hope that's sarcasm but if it's not, then yeah I guess I suppose it does make sense, but that doesn't change the fact that it's cringeworthy.

89. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Original Release: 2011
Developer: Square Enix/Eidos Montreal
Platform: X-Box 360

It didn't take long for me to realize that this game simply just isn't for me. In fact, it made me realize I hate stealth-based games. Too often I find myself getting caught by the enemy and then I either want to restart or gun everybody down. I also find myself getting too impatient with waiting for guards to go away.

That being said, I did like the production values, and I had no problem with the boss fights, from the two that I played. Other than that, I don't know how else I feel about this game...it's been a long time.

88. Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy
Original Release: 2017
Developer: Vicarious Visions
Platform: PS4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtkHx6dC1Vs" data-time="


The original Crash Bandicoot games were a product of their time but I still wanted to try to revisit my childhood/pre-teen hood with this HD remaster. I learned something really quick - I no longer find these games enjoyable. Also, I suck at them. Like, I suck at them real bad. I think I would rather prefer a whole new Crash game made in the vein of the original three, rather than a remaster. I mean I loved Donkey Kong Country Returns. Speaking of which, I wonder if I would like an HD remaster of the original DKC trilogy...
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NFUN
03/22/18 3:53:38 PM
#29:


Haunter12O posted...
Too often I find myself getting caught by the enemy and then I either want to restart or gun everybody down. I also find myself getting too impatient with waiting for guards to go away.

so... don't play stealth? like 2/3s of the tech tree is combat-based or general utility
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Thus is our treaty written, thus is our agreement made. Thought is the arrow of time; memory never fades. What was asked is given; the price is paid.
ARF
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Haunter12O
03/22/18 4:12:17 PM
#30:


87. Final Fantasy Brave Exvius
Original Release: 2016
Developer: Square Enix
Platform: Mobile

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rT2YmBzLlKE" data-time="


It's a gacha game, what more can I say? But it did get a little bit of my attention for some time, most likely due to the fact that I had just bought a new iPhone and wanted something to play on it. Brave Exvius actually manages to have some semblance of a storyline and progression. I also loved the fact that you can explore the towns in this game, because they were very well designed. Some dungeons are explorable too. Seems like they put a little bit of money into this because the visuals are colorful and vibrant and the music is amazing (done by Noriyasu Agematsu of Wild ARMs 5 fame).

Problem is, the same issues that plague all gacha games are present here. Overbloated main menu screen, it's free but the game constantly tries to sell you stuff. Later on, you can barely do a battle without having to wait for your energy to replenish. I reached the third continent before I realized there was way too much storyline to go, and at that point it was getting kinda repetitive. Battles, and more specifically, boss fights were becoming pretty tough if you weren't wiping the floor with the guest party members.
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Haunter12O
03/22/18 4:12:23 PM
#31:


86. Cosmic Star Heroine
Original Release: 2017
Developer: Zeboyd
Platform: PC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEHIzHtx4jc" data-time="


Here's another love letter to Chrono Trigger, except I think the developer was going more for the Phantasy Star love, a series which I've never played. CSH was a game I was looking forward to when I saw the trailer in 2016, along with I Am Setsuna, and we know how the latter turned out. CSH ended up faring better but had too many flaws for me to actually see it through to the very end.

Probably the biggest problem is the pacing. The game has no problem letting you trudge through lengthy maze dungeons then all of a sudden hits you with a bunch of plot heavy stuff. It feels like the game just threw a bunch of twists and turns at me within 5 minutes. For example, the whole plot summary of the game focuses on the titular heroine, Alyssa L'Salle, who is pronounced dead but is alive and working in the shadows to defeat her former boss who is the true culprit behind some of the bad things happenin' in the game. All of the events just decribed happen within 10-15 minutes. The first hour or two, instead, is composed Alyssa doing her first few missions before the plot kicks in. CSH is also INCREDIBLY linear. Go from point A to point B, do this short dungeon, go to point C, then D. Never backtrack. This might change in the second half of the game that I haven't touched yet, but so far it felt like FFXIII on steroids.

The battle system is interesting. Your playable characters, of which there are many, have various different skills but you can use them only once before you wait for them to cooldown. Same goes for their unique specials and items. There are some issues with balance, as I never really understood how the mechanics work. One moment I'm doing piss damage to the enemy, the other moment I'm doing tons of damage using the same exact skill, towards the same enemy. I understand there's some style meter that acts as a damage modifier but it's not clearly explained. Another example would be an alien cat I fought that seemed to start off doing measly damage but became stronger as the battle went on and soon would do hundreds of damage. I don't think the battle had a gimmick.

HOWEVER! I want to give this game a second chance. Part of the reason I quit is due to the fact that I was playing Persona 5 at the time, a game that demanded almost all my attention. It's a shame CSH came out a week after P5, because I think it was widely ignored due to the former's mass appeal. I actually enjoyed the setting, which takes place on three different planets, all with a unique look but all feeling incredibly sci-fi-ish with cool details never before seen in JRPGs. There's a ton of characters to find and recruit, and the graphics are really pretty for a retro-style indie RPG. Also, the music, done by Hyperduck Studious (Dust: An Elysian Tale) is nothing short of amazing. It feels like a mix of Phantasy Star and Xenogears. It's also only $14.99 which is nice compared to Setsuna's and Sphear's $40 price tags.

One more game to go in this tier and it's quite a doozy!
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Haunter12O
03/22/18 7:05:44 PM
#32:


85. Final Fantasy XV
Original Release: 2016
Developer: Square Enix

Ladies and gents, I present to you the biggest disappointment of the decade. FFXV is a piece of work, as is Square Enix. I call it the fall of grace. But it's more than just a disappointment, it's an all-around lie. Square Enix took their fans for granted and crapped out a product not worthy of a mainline Final Fantasy, much less a spinoff.

But it's not just the quality of the game itself, it's the method utilized by the company to get there in the first place.

You see, I am a conspiracy theorist, and I believe the company was under a lot of pressure to release a new mainline FF after the divisive reactions of 13. Square wanted a product out fast and chose Versus XIII to be the new Final Fantasy, then threw Hajime Tabata at the helm and kept telling his team to release this gigantic beast of a thing in the fall of 2016, when it was nowhere near finished. Square knew this was not possible but they tried to make it work anyway. They were way over budget, so they decided to keep releasing remasters, remakes, gachas, and ports and overcharging consumers so they can work up enough money for their biggest title to date. But that wasn't enough. They were more paranoid than a coked up Tony Montana. They worried that Final Fantasy 15 would disappoint, and that if it did sales would go down, and they'd be in trouble. I mean, who wouldn't, after 13, and after the long wait?

So here's what they did. They relegated a large sum of money to their in-house marketing firm. They knew that to be able to sell this title, they would need all the hype in the world. They spent probably hundreds of thousands for FFXV Unleashed, held in the USA, that was a several-hours long event focused on showing off the game and (almost all) of its features. They sold the open world concept and the nice-looking graphics and level of detail to the public. They also announced a whole entire FFXV movie! With Ned Stark, Cersei, and Jesse Pinkman! I mean, what could go wrong, when they even gave us a release date? Past this event, Square seemingly released a limitless amount of information and updates via their Active Time Reports, a fancy term which basically meant, "Here's a bunch of info to get you excited." On top of this, they released the shittiest demo I've ever played, which is nothing more than a tech demo showcasing the battle system but telling you nothing about the story or anything else.

But the truth soon came to light. 2016 was not the time to release this game, because it wasn't even 50% complete, but they went ahead and did it anyway. The game is an obvious beta and there's no better way to describe it. Final Fantasy XV is soulless. Heartless. There's absolutely no love that came into making this game. Sakaguchi and the old Squaresoft teams poured their hearts, souls, and minds into making a game like FFVI, or FFIX, but those days are long gone. FFXV throws you out in an empty, boring open world (and by the way, at some point Tabata said they took inspiration from The Witcher 3 which was a horrible thing to say since this game's world doesn't even come close) with no prologue or anything. Oh, you want a prologue? Guess you gotta go watch the Kingsglaive movie, which was turned into a movie because turning it into a game would take years. You are Noctis Lucis Caelum, the Prince of Insomnia, on a road trip with your best buds and guardsmen Gladiolus Amicitia, Prompto Argentum, and Ignis...I can't even remember his last name. Boy, the naming conventions sure have changed. Apparently your goal is to marry the princess of Tenebrae, Luna, who shows up once or twice during the game but is labeled as the main heroine. Square also has a boner for Noctis, because they keep putting him everywhere these days as DLC or whatever, exemplified by Tekken 7's recent release which is simply called "Tekken 7: Noctis Lucis Caelum." Most people will look at that and say, "Who?"
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Haunter12O
03/22/18 7:05:49 PM
#33:


Anyway, during your road trip into a vast, empty open desert, your car breaks down. This is literally how the game starts. Then, while you're enjoying a pina colada at the beach, your kingdom gets invaded and taken over overnight. This is all shown via movie stills capped from Kingslaive. No joke. Noctis decides to search for the Royal Arms and continue on his journey hoping to take back his kingdom.

At this point, the game actually sounds pretty good. There's a lot to do. But soon enough, Chapter 3 that is, you realize you've explored the entire open world. The Kingdom of Lucis is comprised of three regions all of which open up (save for a small northwest area) by the third chapter. There's only one town and it's irritating to navigate. The rest are all gas stations and single buildings. You see, there are fifteen chapters but many of them are nothing more than "go here, rest, go here, end chapter". The game even pesters you in extending play time at certain points when you're driving by continually asking if you would like to stop at a mini-dungeon and go exploring. In Chapter 8, you're tasked with sailing to Altissia finally to meet up with Luna, and that's it, that's the entire chapter and then you're pretty much done with Lucis. You can return via a contrived time travel mechanic which presents more questions than it's worth. Chapter 9 has you exploring a nice looking city (finally) that is huge but you're only above to explore a small portion of it (it's still big). Several trailers of the game focused on an exciting imperial battle with airships and Leviathan in this chapter, but all of that was cut and a less exciting battle plays out instead. I mean, Square could've told us this if they actually cared more about its fans than their wallets, but business is business.

Chapters 10 to 14 (the actual final chapter, as 15 is post game) take place on a massive second continent, the Niflheim Empire mainland. It's huge and looking at the minimap there's tons of explore. BUT, you can't! You're on a train heading directly into the empire while the story plays out in the background. There are occasional stops at dungeons and train stations for scenes but nothing else. The whole Cartanica section was cut but it's there. Looking at some YouTube videos, this town actually looks really, really cool. Like a Texas/Louisiana-style industrial city, but nope, it's cut from the game. Tenebrae is nonexistent. Characters disappear without a trace, and the teased land of Solheim is also absent. The Niflheim Empire section is there, relegated to Chapter 13, a controversial dungeon crawler-type section which I actually happened to enjoy because it's the only god damn cohesive section of the game past Chapter 3.

Other than that, everything Square Enix showed off prior to the game's release was, in fact, everything the game had to offer. Square hid nothing from us. Fans thought that Square hid the entire second half of the game (Solheim, Tenebrae, etc) from us but in reality, none of that ever made it in the game. Things from that second half of the game were all shown in previews and gameplay vids. The Regalia chase in Chapter 13 was briefly shown in the trailer, as is exploring the imperial capital. The Malboro fight, Altissia, the Adamantoise were all shown. Square even decided to spoil everyone by turning the second-to-last boss fight into a brief Prologue. Pretty meta, isn't it? The only thing they kept secret is the villain's true intentions. He was actually a decent villain, but by the time the big reveal in Chapter 13 happened, I just could care less.
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Haunter12O
03/22/18 7:07:12 PM
#34:


Nearly a year and a half later, Square Enix continues to work on this game, as evidenced by the recent release of the Royal Edition. Every few months Square continues to charge customers by presenting new content in the form of 1- or 2-hour long DLC (none of which I played). It took them a while to release off-road Regalia, and apparently the new Royal Edition has a few extra scenes and boss fights in the final dungeon, none of which makes that big of a difference. Instead of working on that mysterious and nice-looking second continent of the game, Square spends time creating boring festival DLC and Assassin's Creed DLC instead of actually, you know, attempting to make a coherent, complete game. I happened to play the Witcher 3 immediately after FFXV, and while both games are open world, it's apples and oranges because the latter's open world was bigger, better, and complete. Not to mention TW3's DLC was released within a year or so and both scenarios were 10 hours and 25 hours long, respectively. FFXV's DLC hasn't even come close to that.

I should also mention Pitioss, a secret dungeon that involves using the game's clunky control scheme to navigate a platformer dungeon with no enemies. This dungeon seems like it was meant for a different game and I happen to think they just threw it in there because they didn't know what to do with the concept. Le sigh.

I don't rank this game last or near last because I have faith that one day it will be completed. Square Enix dug themselves a grave where they announced this game way too early and had to release it to avoid losing steam with the franchise. Did they make money? Yes, yes they did. Did they lose a crapton of fans? Oh, most definitely, myself included. But there will come a day when this shall be finished. And if that never happens, well...no surprise there I guess.

If you have not played Final Fantasy XV yet, I urge you to wait and see what happens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-SbkgGjPPo" data-time="
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OrangeCrush980
03/22/18 7:39:53 PM
#35:


Golden Sun: Dark Dawn > Final Fantasy XV. I'll keep that in mind.
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"Total sentence imposed is ten [years in the state prison]"
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Haunter12O
03/22/18 7:47:18 PM
#36:


OrangeCrush980 posted...
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn > Final Fantasy XV. I'll keep that in mind.


That is correct.
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Eerieka
03/22/18 8:03:59 PM
#37:


FFXII was the last FF I played. I was disappointed by it and X, and I don't like MMOs. Have I missed anything good?
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Ramza: rofl. Rofel: You say my name? -Eise
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Haunter12O
03/23/18 12:29:55 AM
#38:


Eerieka posted...
FFXII was the last FF I played. I was disappointed by it and X, and I don't like MMOs. Have I missed anything good?


Nope. FFXIII was pretty bad but it gained a few steps because FFXV made it look pretty good.

84. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Original Release: 2009
Developer: Infinity Ward
Platform: X-Box 360

The two CoD games that came before this were much better, and before you tell me I'm wrong and there's no possible way that World at War could be better than any MW game, I've got two words for you: Nazi Zombies. More on this when I actually rank World at War, but I'll just say I poured hours into multiplayer for that game. Meanwhile, Modern Warfare 1, which I played in 2007 just shy of this list, had a spectacular single player campaign with some amazing missions like the Gillie suit operation. Modern Warfare 2 unfortunately never reaches that high. The only real memorable mission here is No Russian, and that was because of shock value. There's nothing remotely fun about killing a bunch of civilians in the airport. It's like Infinity Ward just wanted to cause as much controversy as they possible could. Although yes, it did have a pretty big story purpose, as it kicked off the war in question, it's still the only real mission in the game that's different from the others than I can remember. Everything else is about running around and shooting bad guys, just like any other single player FPS campaign.

The multiplayer aspect is also pretty disappointing. I just didn't care for any of the maps, and Black Ops had some better maps from what I can remember, although that won't be ranked seeing as I only played that game's multiplayer a few times and nothing else.

But it did have a decent enough storyline and some shocking twists, like the General.
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Haunter12O
03/23/18 3:13:04 AM
#39:


83. n+
Original Release: 2008
Developer: Silverbirch
Platform: X-Box 360

Probably one of the earliest DLC-only indie titles, n+ is basically a colorless platformer where you need to get from one end of the level to the other while avoiding a multitude of death traps. There's been many, many replicas released since this one, and now they've acquired the moniker of "Dark Souls-types" for whatever reason. The cool thing with is you can play with multiple players, and I had a lot of fun playing with friends over and constantly dying.

This is not a game to play for more than 15 minutes at time, otherwise you're going to get extremely frustrated. I never even came close to beating it, but I did get pretty far and much of my time was spent dying over and over again.

Another neat feature is being able to create my own levels. I was able to make something successfully and stumped a few friends for a while, and I was the only one to actually finish that level. Go me.
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Haunter12O
03/23/18 3:15:04 AM
#40:


Shit Tier
101. Angry Birds
100. Adventures of Mana
99. Bravely Default
98. Suikoden Tierkreis

Absolute and Utter Meh
97. I Am Setsuna
96. Tokyo Xanadu eX+
95. Star Ocean 4
94. Super Mario Run
93. Star Ocean 5
92. Tales of Xillia 2
91. KH Birth by Sleep
90. Candy Crush
89. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
88. Crash Bandicoot N-Sane Trilogy
87. Final Fantasy Brave Exvius
86. Cosmic Star Heroine
85. Final Fantasy XV

Revel in Mediocrity
84. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
83. n+
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Haunter12O
03/23/18 5:02:51 PM
#41:


82. Skyborn
Original Release: 2012
Developer: Dancing Dragon Games
Platform: PC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVVVq2ZMfoo" data-time="


Skyborn is probably a game no one's ever heard of, and that's because it's an indie, RPG Maker-designed PC release that costs money. The reason it's not free because most of the assets here were designed by the creator, Harmonic. The rest of the assets came with the RPG Maker RTP package. That said, he did offer a demo for this and if you liked it you can purchase the game for $9.99, which might be a little hefty for a 12 hour JRPG.

I think one of the things I enjoyed is the setting here, as it takes place in one big tower-like city. Claret is an engineer that lives on the middle level of the city, while the evil winged people who rule the city live in the upper sector. Some things happen, and Claret soon finds herself involved in some shenanigans and goes on a journey to save her city. There's a high level of detail in every map and a really cool Steampunk setting, and I'm pretty sure that's what drew me in. Despite the detail however, there isn't much to see or find in any of the maps, and the dungeons are a little bit overlong. The battle system is also pretty generic; Harmonic's next release, Echoes of Aetheria, fixes this by containing a very unique and strategic battle layout (this game will show up later on the list).

Also, the music is really, really good, and it's all composed by the creator. Some of it is reused from his previous games and some of it is used again in his next release. The story is also pretty good and has a neat twist later on.

If you have $9.99 to spare and need a JRPG fix to fuel your addiction, by all means check this out.
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Icehawk
03/23/18 6:01:17 PM
#42:


Only one I disagree with so far us deus ex. But if you don't like stealth, obviously, you aren't going to love it.

Technically you can go in guns blazing, but that's a bad way to play it.
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I call girls "girlies".
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Haunter12O
03/24/18 11:17:45 AM
#43:


Bump will update tonight.
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Haunter12O
03/25/18 1:14:32 AM
#44:


81. Radiant Historia
Original Release: 2011
Developer: Atlus
Platform: DS

I think the biggest problem with Radiant Historia is it does a great job with an original concept but with executes it poorly, likely due to hardware limitations, falling into the same old tropes, or both. It also loves to recycle assets. I mean, I would never want to live in a world with a shit ton of giant spider bosses. But basically, I loved the alternate timeline concept and have wanted to play a game that does it well ever since Chrono Cross. But Radiant Historia's world is incredibly tiny and both timelines take place here, so expect a lot, and I mean a LOT of backtracking and treading through the same areas over and over. You like Lazvil Hills? Well, you'll visit it at least 10 times during the course of the game.

Stocke is a cool JRPG protagonist, up there with the Yuris, but the other characters are more on the lame side. I could care less for Raynie and Marco. The way they were introduced and their whole role in the game was yawn-inducing. Same goes for Aht. Eruca and Rosch fared a little better. The NPC characters were way more memorable than Raynie, Marco, Aht, or Eruca actually, especially Heiss. I don't know what happened here, or if this was intentional.

There also seems to be a lack of polish in this game. I don't know how to explain it, it just feels...stiff and cheap. Like, a lack of hit detection, maybe? I don't know. Battles felt this way. It's hard to put my finger on it.

That being said, I can give props to Atlus for trying because the alternate timeline storyline hasn't been done before in a JRPG from what I can remember, unless you count Chrono Cross. They recently remastered this game for the 3DS, and I'm guessing it plays better on that system, but I'm wondering if they did that because they want to gauge interest and see if it's worth the time to make a sequel.

80. Cuphead
Original Release: 2017
Developer: Studio MDHR
Platform: PC

I don't have much to say about Cuphead. I'm still playing through it at the moment, but it's been a slow ride. I've read the stories about its development and how the makers mortgaged their homes to finance it. I'd say they succeeded and creating a pretty good old-school type 2D platformer/run and gun, especially when you ask critics. Again, there's not much to say, you just play a level and hold the shoot button and try to make it through, or defeat the boss. I loved the fact that you can purchase upgrades, though, as it gave me a crutch in case a level pissed me off. Yes, you die a lot. I played plenty of SNES platformers and I know how it feels, and I wish people would stop (please, stop) equating this game to Dark Souls because "you die a lot." Seriously, stop.
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Haunter12O
03/25/18 1:16:10 AM
#45:


Icehawk posted...
Only one I disagree with so far us deus ex. But if you don't like stealth, obviously, you aren't going to love it.

Technically you can go in guns blazing, but that's a bad way to play it.


Yeah, that's partly the reason I stopped playing. Stopped caring for stealth, but felt that that was the "correct" way to play it and it didn't seem right trying to play it by running in and shooting everything.
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Haunter12O
03/25/18 10:42:40 PM
#46:


Bump
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AxemRedRanger
03/26/18 9:09:30 PM
#47:


You really weren't kidding about all the Japanese RPGs at the bottom end. Do you think that's just because you play a lot of them in general or what?
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[NO BARKLEY NO PEACE]
[NO BKSheikah NO PEACE]
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Haunter12O
03/26/18 9:36:54 PM
#48:


AxemRedRanger posted...
You really weren't kidding about all the Japanese RPGs at the bottom end. Do you think that's just because you play a lot of them in general or what?


The list is saturated with JRPGs. There are some good, some bad. But yeah, a game like Tokyo Xanadu being near the end probably has to do with me having played too many of them.
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Haunter12O
03/27/18 2:15:51 AM
#49:


79. Mario and Luigi: Dream Team
Original Release: 2014
Developer: Nintendo
Platform: 3DS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR2lft3cduc" data-time="


Fuck me. I just typed a whole thing on this game but clicked the delete button on accident, and I don't feel like typing all that again, so I'll say a little and save the rest for the BiS write-up: Dream Team takes things a little too far with its long, drawn out boss battles. The HP sponge bosses tend to repeat the same long moves over and over again and missing a timed dodge does tremendous damage. Fortunately, the giant battles here are so much better than BiS's giant bowser crap.

78. Tales of Zestiria
Original Release: 2015
Developer: Namco Bandai
Platform: PC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCkaq1GsK_s" data-time="


This game has a bad rep. Most Tales fans hate it as much as Legendia (a game I love). I, however, found it to be a breath of fresh air after Xillia 2. The big reason here is the game's world. It's a beautiful, lore-filled land taking inspiration from Arthurian legend. There are medieval castles in the middle of lakes, towns that come straight out of fairy tales, dragon-inhabited mountains, and rolling fields of farmland. After the boring, empty fields of Xillia 1/2, this was a nice change of pace. The fields were big and well designed for the most part. This is such a nice world that Berseria also takes place in, and it was nice playing both games and finding the connections. The lore is pretty dang good.

Zestiria's battle system, on the other hand, is a sloppy mess. First off, there was a serious issue with framerate, and I don't know if it's my PC acting up or the game itself. I was pretty sure I was dropping well over 30 several times. Second, the battle system itself is a hodgepodge of bad ideas. You have two humans (eventually) and the rest of your party members are "seraphs" that you can fuse with. If you decide to keep all four members of an active battle party out, that's fine and all, but the AI is pretty bad and your allies will die often. In order to dish out more damage and hit weaknesses, you need to fuse with your seraphs. Both humans can do so. This is also nice and all but it reduces your battle party to two, and you can still die fast. Bosses in the latter half of the game were incredibly cheap and could one-shot your allies if you weren't careful, and the damage I was dealing back seemed to always be middling.

Zestiria also seems to want to send you on a crappy fetch quest about 3/4s through the game. The items you need to obtain have been available since the very beginning but they were optional. Had the game actually told me to collect them throughout the game, I would have been doing it. Instead it tells you, "Well you've explored the world, now go get all these items that you thought were optional!" Didn't really seem like anything but to pad out game time. These items attempt to help you make sense of the backstory of the villain but his story was already obvious enough. The story also gets incomprehensible at certain times -- I just don't get why Namco Bandai can't stick with simplicity (Xillia had similar issues). That being said, there were some -really- epic moments in the game. Just listen to the track above. It plays during one of the most epic segments/boss battles I've experienced in the last decade. Go Shiina is amazing, and I wish he would do more music. Sakuraba's music here isn't that bad either, which is saying a lot for his Tales work.
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trdl23
03/27/18 9:38:05 AM
#50:


The good parts of Zestiria are quite good.

The bad parts are atrocious, especially the characters.
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E come vivo? Vivo!
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