Board 8 > transience's top 100 games -- please insert disc 2.

(+) Yeah! (+)

the list so far:

100. hacknet
99. braid
98. batman: arkham asylum
97. super meat boy
96. portal
95. world of goo
94. hollow knight
93. super mario world
92. mega man maker
91. ace attorney 2
90. zelda: majora's mask
89. xenoblade chronicles x

88. monument valley
87. dragon warrior
86. mega man 3
85. castlevania: dawn of sorrow
84. nier: automata
83. we love katamari
82. zelda: link to the past
81. lethal league
80. half-minute hero 2
79. mike tyson's punch out!!
78. god of war 2
77. wolfenstein 2: the new colossus
76. super smash bros ultimate

75. binding of isaac
74. final fantasy 7
73. super hexagon
72. crystalis
71. suikoden
70. ace attorney 5
69. etrian odyssey 5
68. dragon warrior monsters 2
67. crypt of the necrodancer
66. dragon quest 3
65. final fantasy 4
64. actraiser
63. shadow hearts 2

62. persona 4 golden
61. metroid fusion
60. mega man 11
59. castle crashers
58. ace attorney investigations 2
57. street fighter 2
56. shadow complex
55. persona 5
54. zelda 1
53. holedown

52. final fantasy 9
51. final fantasy 6
50. castlevania: portrait of ruin
49. final fantasy 10
48. bleed
47. brothers: a tale of two sons
46. geometry wars 2
45. inside

44. slay the spire
43. super mario odyssey
42. street fighter 4
41. ace attorney 6
40. life is strange
39. tales of maj'eyal
38. etrian odyssey 4
37. dicey dungeons
36. the messenger

35. ace attorney
34. banished
33. tactics ogre: let us cling together
32. bleed 2
31. shadow hearts

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tag

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oh man i missed ff6 and life is strange!

(edit ) AND aa6 where have i been

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ok

*inserts Disc 3*

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Hello

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Just a feeling, but looks like no Yakuza style game's gonna make this list!

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Wonder if we'll see any more 2010s RPGs on here. I assume you're not into any of the Trails games.
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Gotta update my tier rankings here. Were getting to the home stretch!

1) Hacknet
2) Monument Valley
3) Persona 4 Golden
4) Slay the Spire
5) Final Fantasy 9
6) Binding of Isaac

I did play the first Trails game this past year. Im going to play the second at some point in 2020. none of the others yet.

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I have a questioncan we get bonus thoughts on the excellence that was Lost Odyssey? Maybe my favorite game we played separate but together, haha.

its been so long. I wish it would come to game pass for PC because Ive been actively thinking about playing it but Im not going to jump back into my 360 and deal with those disc load times in 2020.

overall I remember liking it but the gameplay got real tedious near the end because enemies took forever to defeat. I wonder if it still plays today.

edit: I just looked and it peaked at #27 on my lists in 2008! because of course I have exhaustive archives of my game lists

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lost odyssey holds up, having first played it when it came to Xbox One BC.

transcience posted...

edit: I just looked and it peaked at #27 on my lists in 2008! because of course I have exhaustive archives of my game lists

oh. well it's not that good! then again I've been idly putting together a list of my own (no intentions of doing a topic!) and have games I love like FFX in the 70s, so.

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If I were to whip up a list of, I dont know, top 50 video games? I think Lost Odyssey would still track for me. The worst thing may be what you mentionedbattle pacingbut its such a pillar of a game from that generation for me.

lost odyssey was the first legit HD jrpg and that carried a lot of weight at the time. I definitely dont expect that to hold up years later.

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i mean in the sense that it's a pretty good game still worth playing through, not the spectacle of it

i think it compares pretty favourably to the rpgs released the year it came out too - things like vesperia, valkyria, crisis core, twewy, p4. the only one i'd definitely take ahead of it is p3 fes

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Can't wait to see where FFVIII lands

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Hmmm can't remember which JRPG is gonna top your rankings, not even sure a JRPG will be #1 overall.

If you're giving SH1 glowing praise, then Shadow Hearts 2 out to be pretty darn high.

Oh right, Xenoblade isn't on the list yet.
Wasn't that the one you went out of your way to mod your Wii for?

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SH2 already showed up at 63!

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voltch posted...

Hmmm can't remember which JRPG is gonna top your rankings, not even sure a JRPG will be #1 overall.

all the xenos are gonna be represented from here on out

xs3, xb1, gears. get ready

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iiicon posted...

i mean in the sense that it's a pretty good game still worth playing through, not the spectacle of it

i think it compares pretty favourably to the rpgs released the year it came out too - things like vesperia, valkyria, crisis core, twewy, p4. the only one i'd definitely take ahead of it is p3 fes

This was truly a dark era for JRPGs. You know what, though, Ill give some kudos to Crisis Core for committing so hard to its story that it created a whole gameplay mechanic around selling that ending. Not a good game, but you know.

Woops!

Well I'll say Job Fiesta pushes FFV near the top of the JRPGs.

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30.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg0oBJ9cXYM

2018
PS4, PC, Switch

Once DQ11 gets going, its as good as any RPG this decade. The first few hours are feeling the game out, but once you assemble a decent party and start exploring the world proper, this game really soars.

The most underrated part of it is, weirdly, the loot system. DQ8 has this too, but 11s crafting system encourages exploration and unlocks a whole new meta layer of trying to get the best stuff. DQ11 is never close to hard but getting the best gear and forging +3 items never gets old. Its the best DQ mechanically by a good bit.

Its not perfect by any stretch: the towns can be cumbersome to explore and the quest system can feel exhausting if youre wandering around a maze-y town and talking to those awful accents all day. The music doesnt pop like most top tier RPGs. People complain about the sound quality but its not that. Theyre just uninspired songs written by a guy whos almost 90 years old and has an iron grip on the franchise through a combination of nostalgia and copyrights.

But DQ11 is still a great, great game. Without going into too much detail, this game has a structure that leaves you revisiting areas that make it feel lived in. There are some moments in DQ11 that are jaw-dropping for this series as the game can get dark in ways that DQ usually doesnt. They dont make complete JRPGs like this very often anymore, ones that feel so fulfilling and exciting to just exist inside. DQ11s final moments really feel like it closes out the series with absolute class.

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ive never really honestly considered getting dq11 because ive never been much of a fan of the series (though i've only played 8 and 9 so not like I ever tried to give it a great shot) but seeing it this high on your list ... interests me, i guess? i generally like your taste in games, so maybe i'll just have to give this series one more go

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DQ11 is so good. I got started on it, and made a good dent in the story, but never got around to finishing it. I need to get back after I finish a couple of games Im playing now. I put DQ11 right there with Xenoblade for the best RPG this decade.

Not my favorite DQ game, but still really good

Maybe I'll finish off part 3 when I get back from vacation!

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dont get 11 if you didnt like 8. its the same general thing. I cant see someone liking one and not the other?

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probably the single biggest oversight I have as a gamer is that I've never played DQ8 despite playing (and loving) a lot of the rest of the series. There are a lot of other big name, popular games I've never played (or played very small amounts of), but almost of those fall into genres and styles that I actively dislike. Meanwhile, JRPGs are basically my genre for as much as I do play video games anymore, and I love Dragon Quest.

Basically the only DQ game I didn't really love and power through was 7 - I got ten or so (iirc) hours in to the 3DS version, put it down, and never went back. And then I just didn't feel like picking up any new RPGs until P5 afterwards so I never bought the 3DS version of DQ8 which I planned to do after I finished DQ7. And now my DQ11 save has 95 hours on it, in decently large part because I felt the urge to +3 all the items in the crafting system before going and wiping the final boss.

So basically my takeaway here is that DQ8 absolutely needs to be the next game I get, after Tokyo Mirage Sessions and P5R, at least.

Dragon Quest 11 is superb. This reminds me that I have to dig into the Switch version as well as the dq7 3ds remake. Sweet, sweet memories.

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This seems as good a place as any to ask this question since everyone's on the topic. I'm thinking of getting one of the Dragon Quests on my phone. The only ones I've played have been 5, 8, 9, and 11 and would probably rank them as 8 > 5 > 11 >>>> 9, though the first three are pretty interchangeable. I checked online to see which other DQ's are highly regarded, and read that the mobile/DS version of 4 has a bizarre localization or it'd probably be the next-best one. So I'm looking at 3 and 6, also. Which one would you recommend?

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6 is fantastic and actually just slightly below 5 IMO. I can't speak to the quality of the mobile port, but I will wholeheartedly recommend it.

I mean, 3 is the best of the classic ones and that seems to fit mobile better, but I can't speak to the mobile version specifically. however, 9 is like a bad version of 3, so if you actively disliked 9 you might not like 3.

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6 is one of my favorites. Both of them have job systems, but 3's is pretty minimal.

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I have them all for android. 6 plays well.

Edit: get 6

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6 it is. Thanks!

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MrSmartGuy posted...

I checked online to see which other DQ's are highly regarded, and read that the mobile/DS version of 4 has a bizarre localization or it'd probably be the next-best one.

yeah it's very accent heavy. this is lessened in the mobile release because they added back in the party chat that was never translated and I think retouched some of the original dialogue.

3-6 are all really good mobile ports so you can't go wrong. I prefer 4 to 6 but if you're turned off by the translation, go with 6.

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tag part TWO

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I actually liked IV's localization. On the other hand VI was extremely disappointing for me and I never finished it.

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29.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2W4KK994WA

2001
Arcade + many consoles

Look, Im not good at Ikaruga despite my best honest effort. Im good at a few different types of games but shmups are not one of them. A good run for me is getting to level 3, and level 4 just seems literally impossible without pure memorization of every second. I feel the same way about trying to play a piano masterpiece - yeah, maybe I could do it with a gargantuan effort, but I would need to memorize every note and how my hands would move to them individually, almost like muscle memory in a mega hard platformer or something. My pattern recognition just isnt what it needs to be to succeed in a thing like Ikaruga.

But man, I love the visual stimulation that Ikaruga offers in every fleeting second. Changing polarity is legitimately genre-changing. Every second of this gem feels important because the full game is like 24 minutes long. Ikaruga packs so much feeling into those 1500 killer seconds.

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I actually thought DQXI was great after not being a fan of VIII. The pacing is much better and everything just feels nicer in general. I wasn't a fan of Part 3 though. Kind of ruined a lot of the impact of Part 2, personally. Game would've been better off without it.
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If you thought part 3 was about dq11 I get it

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My first experience with Ikaruga was buying it for, like, $15 on GameCube at GameStop. I had no idea what I was getting into, but man, what a video ass video game. I never finished it, but that was okay!

DoomTheGyarados posted...

If you thought part 3 was about dq11 I get it

Not sure what that means...?
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i still think it's kinda weird how quietly influential ikaruga has been despite doing nothing to bolster the popularity of its actual genre

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DQ11 was a big surprise for me. I've always found the series to range between "okay" and "good", with 5 maybe standing out as "very good". But after playing 11, I can say that if I made another games list, it would safely slot into the top ten.

One thing that really made it great for me was that the game didn't have that "one special moment", that high point where the story just blows your mind or feels magical or it all comes together or twists everything on its side. Instead, it had several moments that hit really strong, and gave all the characters chances to shine through big events. Couple that with it being the most mechanically strong game in the series, like you said. And then, for all the things this game does and the length it takes on, it doesn't do anything poorly or wrong. It never felt like 11 had a low point to me.

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it's because of the polarity switching which has uses outside of that genre. that's what makes this game, not the shooting or the bullet patterns or the chaining or any of that

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i played ikaruga like 3-4 times and thought it was pretty great!

i sure did suck at it though!!

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Never did give Ikaruga a spin, how is it for someone who's more used to Touhou games?

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I'm thrilled you included a shmup but it's like the most casual shmup in existence it's just dot eater unless you're playing for score, the normal survival credit barely requires dodging with the polarity switch
And if you are playing for score it's got stricter mechanics than a fucking Dodonpachi Daioujou white label 2-ALL

that's okay, there's nothing wrong with enjoying a popular game

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transience posted...

that's okay, there's nothing wrong with enjoying a popular game

No hate I'm surprised you had a shmup at all so that's pretty cool honestly
I shouldn't have let my hatred of that game come out sorry