Board 8 > SHINE's End of the Year/Decade video game lists

(+) Yeah! (+)

Bros it's that time again. I'll be doing the lists I do every year, but also throwing in my favorite games of the Decade because why not. I have the lists pretty much set, but haven't done any of the writeups for them. Since there's so many lists this year I'll try to keep them shorter than I have in the past. I do work today though so the majority of the lists won't hit until tonight and tomorrow morning, but I figured I might as well get the topic up to remind myself to actually do it.

2019 was a year of ton of great games although I wouldn't say a single one was what I would consider to be an outstanding game of the generation. As the last proper full year of this generation of consoles we benefited from developers knowing the hardware and just making good ass video games. We also got to witness the continued resurgence of Capcom which began last year with Monster Hunter World and Mega Man 11, the Battle Royale genre reaching its 3rd stage of evolution and Kojima finally unleashing his load all over everyone.

Anyway here's the categories for this year. I'll fill them up with writeups if I have time at work, but if not later tonight

TOP 5 OLD GAMES - These are games that didn't release in 2019 or games that got ports/remasteres in 2019 that I played. Remakes do not go into this category

TOP 8 GAMES I WISH I PLAYED - Games I had intended to play in 2019 and just didn't have the time to get to. If there's a game you can complain isn't on the main list it's probably in here!

TOP 5 HONORABLE MENTIONS - Games that may have been in my top 10 at some point and dropped off, but I still feel like I wanted to at least mention them

TOP 10 FAVORITE GAMES OF THE YEAR PRESENTED BY DRAGON QUEST XI S: ECHOES OF AN ELUSIVE AGE - I always call this list my favorite instead of Best because we all have unique tastes and sometimes your favorite games aren't always the best games. Also DQ11 was my 2018 GotY. The Switch version is better in every way, but I only had time to play it for a few hours. Instead of just not really mentioning it, it's presenting this year's category.

TOP 15 GAMES OF THE DECADE - I wasn't keeping an active list of this so I had to go back and read through every release of the past 10 years and try to order them. It's probably not perfect, but I'm okay with it as it looks now. This will probably have some honorable mentions as well, but maybe not write ups for them. Also I did limit this to one game per franchise otherwise it might be overrun by a handful of them.

TOP 5 MOST ANTICIPATED GAMES FOR 2020 AND BEYOND - There's always more video games.

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also a DISCLAIMER to mitigate expectations on this list

I love to play video game-ass video games. I mainly stick to AAA titles. I usually only delve into indie games when people start to talk about them a lot so I feel obligated to check them out. Even then I only rank these games based on how much I enjoy playing them as video games. Games that get throttled up because they're supposed to make you think or feel an array of emotions don't really do anything for me.

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ninkendo posted...

Games that get throttled up because they're supposed to make you think or feel an array of emotions don't really do anything for me.

Damn bro I wouldnt play death stranding then

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Oh good you'll leave death stranding off as its not a game :^)

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I can confirm Death Stranding is a video game it has many gameplay systems

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Anyway lets get the old games out the way first because old is old

TOP 5 OLD GAMES OF 2019

#5 - Vanquish (Oct 2010)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XvTIp1oZjo

This was one of the few PS3 games made by Platinum Games I never got around to. I ended up including it in my poll for what I should play for Platinum #200 which was made of requests of various friends and B8ers. This was the request of my friend Mike who passed away unexpectedly a llittle over a year ago as he was never able to platinum it and wanted to see if I could. I'm not sure if I ever became adept at seemlessly switching between attacking enemies and boosting around the environment, but I managed my through. The main game itself very short only like 5 hours long, but the real challenge comes in the post game tactical challenges where you have to survive waves of enemies. I included the video of the final one because that took me like 2 days straight of constant practicing to finally overcome it. A great game I'm sad I took 9 years to get to and a worth Platinum #200.

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well I got one write up out before work. I might just work on these in a text document at work and import them over as I have time from my phone.

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TOP 5 OLD GAMES OF 2019

#4. Yakuza 6/Yakuza Kiwami 2 (Both released in 2018 in English)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vng-2rETJK0

I could have included either game in this spot and the writeup would mostly be the same, so why not include both? I missed both of these games in 2018 because I was still catching up on older games in the series. Yakuza 2 was already a great game on PS2 and remaking it in the new Dragon Engine really let it shine. I enjoyed reliving that game's story while also benefiting from the new quality of life improvements the new engine provided. Also it had a ton of older NJPW wrestlers in it like Mutoh and Chono as part of a new tower defense mode, which may mark the only time I've ever enjoyed a tower defense game. Also Kiryu punches a tiger in the face. Yakuza 6 was the debut of the Dragon Engine so it didn't quite run as well as Kiwami 2 did and served as the final chapter in Kiryu's storyline. Personally though I felt it was more of an epilogue and that the story really wrapped up with Yakuza 5 and this was just more of "hey what's Kiryu been up to in his older age still kickin ass that's our boi, Kiryu" This one also had NJPW wrestlers in it, but it was more current guys like Okada and Tanahashi and it was REVERSE TOWER DEFENSE and was also fun to play through.

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TOP 5 OLD GAMES OF 2019

#3 Dragon Quest V (PS2 Remake)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoKk8Z9q1dY

I spent a good chunk of early 2019 finally finishing up playing my entire PS2 collection and putting the console away for good. To celebrate finishing it, I ended it by ordering one of those custom made fan translations that they put on a disk and realistic looking packaging. I still had to softmod my PS2 to play the disk though I forget what it was called, but it's a program that's loaded through the memory card and tricked the PS2 into thinking it was reading a legitimate disk. Anyway it's Dragon Quest V, but with polygons. You already know that's a great game so I don't really have to say more than that. The DS versions were based on this remake so it's pretty similar to that version other than Deborah isn't there.

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TOP 5 OLD GAMES OF 2019

#2 Final Fantasy VIII: Remastered

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

Bros you know I've always been on that FF8 train. It's my favorite of the 32/64 bit era of RPGs. I was absolutely dying when both FF7 and FF9 got the PS4 port treatment with slightly cleaner graphics and trophy support. Then FF7 had its remake announced and I had basically given up hope as you heard the rumors of FF8 having its source code lost and all that. Lo and behold at E3 this year they announced they were giving it the remaster treatment. A step beyond what the FF7/9 PS4 ports got, but not quite that full remake treatment. What we got was definitely FF8 as it always was, but the character models were vastly improved over how they originally looked. It also had all those QoL improvements like 3x speed and instant limit breaks and what not. You better believe I used that 3x speed to do all the queen of cards stuff, refining 100 of all the best magic and getting everyone's ultimate weapons before the end of disk 1. FF8 still an amazing card game with very unique systems that allow you to easily break the game and pretty much do whatever you want.

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TOP 5 OLD GAMES OF 2019

#1 The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero/Trails to Azure (Released in Japan 2010 and 2011 respectively)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCFars0Xyxg

Really just two halves of the bigger story that is the Crossbell duology. After spending the first chunk of 2019 finishing my PS2 collection, I spent the majority of my spring and summer catching up on all the Trails games I hadn't played yet (and replaying some that I had already played) in preparation for Trails of Cold Steel III in the fall and obviously the Crossbell games were the biggest gap that I needed to fill. I had been following the Geofront translation for a year or two and when it became clear they weren't going to even finish up Zero before Cold Steel III was out I took it upon myself to acquire the Chinese PC versions of these games that had been patched with a fan translation and the voice acting from the Evolution versions of these games. Zero is pretty similar to Trails in the Sky FC where it's a lot of worldbuilding (specifically Crossbell and the tensions between Erebonia and Calvard), but also twice is long as TitS FC was. It also tied off some storylines that were still hanging around from the TitS trilogy. Azure was the big payoff though. This game is a thrill ride from beginning to end featuring a lot of old and new characters and accompanied by an engaging plot you come to expect from the Trails series. Whenever I make my MCU comparisons if Trails of Cold Steel III is the Infinity War of the series, then Azure is the Civil War. By the end I think I would consider it my favorite game in the series and definitely one of the best JRPGs of all time. Now of course just a few weeks ago they finally announced PS4 ports of both of these games, so if they ever bring them over I'll gladly play them both again for trophies and I implore you all do the same.

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One list down!

Top 5 Old Games of 2019

1. The Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero/Trails to Azure
2. Final Fantasy VIII Remastered
3. Dragon Quest V (PS2 Remake)
4. Yakuza 6/Yakuza Kiwami 2
5. Vanquish


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w0w more like Top 7 Old Games of 2019

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Tag

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Hey it's Dragon Air

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Bros bros bros

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Hey it's the Wigs

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TOP 8 GAMES I WISH I PLAYED IN 2019

I won't say much about these games since I obviously I didn't play them so let's just get them all done in one post!

8. Monster Hunter World Iceborne

I played about an hour or 2 of this to see what it was about, but I'm still reeling from the hundreds of hour I put into base Monster Hunter World and I'm just not ready for that type of commitment yet. I took me nearly a decade to play MH again after I did the same with Monster Hunter Tri.

7. Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order

I am a known fan of Star Wars video games (both good and bad) and it sounds like this might be one of the best ones yet. I didn't actually pick it up though until just last week and I was already deep into catching up on a ton of other games in 2019.

6. Fire Emblem: Three Houses

I know this game tops a lot of people's lists, but I haven't played an FE game since finishing Awakening a few years back and I haven't really gotten around to any of the other 3DS ones since then. Since I like to play series in release order it'll probably be awhile before I get to this one.

5. Luigi's Mansion 3

Luigi's Mansion was a fun launch game for Gamecube. I never played Dark Moon, but people seemed cold on it. Luigi's Mansion 3 came out and everyone's like THIS IS THE BEST ONE. So I need to definitely play this. Year of Gooigi was sadly not 2019 for me.

4. The Outer Worlds

Fallout New Vegas is rad

Not Fallout New Vegas also sounds rad

Maybe be playing this one sooner rather than later

3. Kingdom Hearts III

The other piece of my 2019 puzzle of series I was catching up on. If I wasn't finishing my PS2 Collection or playing Trails games, I was replaying all the older Kingdom Hearts games going for the Platinums in all of them so that I could eventually play this. I fell a bit short as I got 1/3 through Birth by Sleep before I ran out of time. Luckily it sounds like this is working in my favor since the ReMind DLC hits next month and it sounds like it's essentially the Final Mix version of the game.

2. Ys IX: Monstrum Nox (JPN)

I imported the latest Ys game because between that and Trails you never know when we'll get Falcom games in English. I would have played this when it came out, but Play Asia spent over a month actually getting it to me and by then I was already in GotY catchup mode and didn't have the time to dedicate to something I'd have to sit down and actively translate as I played. Don't worry though Adol I will get to you soon enough!

1. Judgment

The Yakuza team's detective based spinoff! With the main series now going the way of turn based JRPG I'm betting this will be the series will be the way to get your old school Yakuza gameplay. Everyone's who played it lists it very highly on their lists, some even their Game of the Year and I'm definitely regretting not getting to it this year. Obviously with me playing both Kiwami 2 and 6 (and Fist of the North Star Lost Paradise) this year a bit of fatigue was starting to set in and I just wasn't ready for it at release. I've made it a running theme now of playing games from this team a year after they release, but hopefully this is the end of it and I'll be ready by the time Yakuza 7 comes out in English next year.

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Top 5 Old Games of 2019

1. The Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero/Trails to Azure
2. Final Fantasy VIII Remastered
3. Dragon Quest V (PS2 Remake)
4. Yakuza 6/Yakuza Kiwami 2
5. Vanquish

Top 8 Games I Wish I Played In 2019
1. Judgment
2. Ys IX: Monstrum Nox
3. Kingdom Hearts III
4. The Outer Worlds
5. Luigi's Mansion 3
6. Fire Emblem: Three Houses
7. Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order
8. Monster Hunter World Iceborne

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Judgment > Yakuza 0

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Judgment is my GOTY 2019

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I will say if they stuck to calling it Judge Eyes I would have played it day one

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Honorable Mentions

#5 - Untitled Goose Game

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLigbqtC_4w

HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK

(The game is fine, but was never a fan of how the goose controls and I had already seen most of the jokes by the time I played it)

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Honorable Mentions

#4 - Super Mario Maker 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyvzC2-6sxs

On paper this game is better than the first one. It had a ton of new features people were asking for, but at the same time had other features that turned out disappointing or were straight up gone. No more amiibo support meant no more 8 bit versions of all those characters to play as. The multiplayer feature is severely hampered by Nintendo's own online system that it's basically unplayable and the move from Wii U to Switch made it more difficulty to actually create levels. Despite all that I still had a blast playing through the 100 or whatever it was premade levels they packaged as a single player story mode and I even created a stage that got featured on Giant Bomb's Get on my Level series of videos. I think that alone is enough to get this game as an honorable mention for this year. Also I'm excited about the free Zelda update they did a few weeks ago. I hope they do at least continue to update it with new content over the next year or two.

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ninkendo posted...

I will say if they stuck to calling it Judge Eyes I would have played it day one

Judge Eyes is my GOTY 2018

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That's true dedication

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Does Yakuza 7 have an English release window?
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They've confirmed its coming over but they don't have a release date outside of 2020

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Honorable Mentions

#3. Outer Wilds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwqRV1cpUfM

Bros it's Giant Bomb's Game of the Year 2019! I always have to make sure I at least play their GotY and The Game Awards GotY so even though I wasn't really planning on playing this one this year, it was winning enough awards that I had to give it a shot. It was a fun little game and although I can't really talk about it too much without getting into spoilers the elevator pitch is that it's a first person space exploration game where the world resets every 22 minutes and you have a Majora's Mask style bombers journal where you're logging everything you find throughout the various planets you visit and figuring out how it's all connected to solve the greater mystery of why the reset is happening.

You're not really given much direction you just get up and go and make your own game of it. The actual controls of playing game can be a birth rough, especially the spaceship although it can be remedied a bit by using the auto pilot. I saw a few people the game saying the ending made them cry, but I guess I didn't really get any of that. I enjoyed what I played I got the platinum and that was that. When I was first making this list it was hanging around at #9 or 10, but it eventually got pushed down and here it is.

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Honorable Mentions

#2. Devil May Cry 5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ug6P1LoFZsg

I think I'm one of the few who really enjoyed the DmC reboot I thought that was a very fun game, but even I was very happy to have OG Dante back doing his Michael Jackson dances. I only did a single playthrough of this in my GotY catch up so I'll come back later and go for the platinum, but I really enjoyed what they did with all 3 characters. Nero felt he had very basic combos, but all his devil arms helped bring a variety to his combat. V was a fun new way to play of sitting back and letting your familiars handle 99% of the fighting. Very easy to S rank missions with him too. Dante is Dante he's got 4-5 different melee and ranged weapon each, he's got his 4 different combat styles just like DMC3 and 4, the man is just a pool of endless possibilities. It can honestly be overwhelming playing as Dante, but you eventually get the hang of it and what works for you. The actual structure of the game is the same as it ever was and comparable to DMC4. You spend the first half of the game playing as Nero or V in various missions, then you take over as Dante around the halfway point and play as him for 90% of the rest of the game. I like what this game did with the lore of the story and moving it forward and also even setting up DMC6. Also Niko is probably the best new character they've added in awhile. Too bad it came at the expensive of Trish and Lady basically doing nothing the entire game.

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I love Nero's lines especially with max exceed.

I love Snatch.

Nero>Dante

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The moment where Nero first uses his Devil Trigger in the final battle and does the transformation by giving Vergil the finger and saying "FUCK YOU!" made me laugh so hard. Genius moment right there. I liked it quite a bit more than 4 overall. Dante was the funnest. I didn't really get Exceed in this game.

And yeah Trish and Lady basically had no reason to be in this game lol.
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Honorable Mentions

#1 The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

This is definitely an approach to take with a remake. Nintendo basically took the original Gameboy game as it was and made a 1 to 1 remake of the entire thing. I don't know what else to say beyond that because it's Link's Awakening it's still a great Zelda game except now it's 1080p and the new art style is gorgeous. The framerate issues while noticeable didn't really bother me too much. I wouldn't be against them remaking another Zelda in this style (cough cough give me a Zelda 2 remake you cowards).

I think it only missed my top 10 just because I thought they would do more with it like either completely redesign the game or after you finished the first playthrough having an entirely new game open up afterwards or something like that. Sadly no it's just that Game Boy game and nothing else. I think if this was a $30-40 game and not a full $60 that might have been more forgiveable, but alas.

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Top 5 Old Games of 2019

1. The Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero/Trails to Azure
2. Final Fantasy VIII Remastered
3. Dragon Quest V (PS2 Remake)
4. Yakuza 6/Yakuza Kiwami 2
5. Vanquish

Top 8 Games I Wish I Played In 2019
1. Judgment
2. Ys IX: Monstrum Nox
3. Kingdom Hearts III
4. The Outer Worlds
5. Luigi's Mansion 3
6. Fire Emblem: Three Houses
7. Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order
8. Monster Hunter World Iceborne

TOP 10 FAVORITE GAMES OF THE YEAR PRESENTED BY DRAGON QUEST XI S: ECHOES OF AN ELUSIVE AGE
1. ???
2. ???
3. ???
4. ???
5. ???
6. ???
7. ???
8. ???
9. ???
10. ???
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- The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
- Devil May Cry 5
- Outer Wilds
- Super Mario Maker 2
- Untitled Goose Game


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Do we actually know if it's Ys or Trails that is more popular in the west? Because I'd rather have Ys 9 first.

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Time for a proper top 10

TOP 10 FAVORITE GAMES OF THE YEAR PRESENTED BY DRAGON QUEST XI S: ECHOES OF AN ELUSIVE AGE

#10. Blazing Chrome

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzR7ldgPDro

In a year where Konami themselves tried to make a sequel to Contra Hard Corps and resulted in maybe the worst Contra game to date we got indie developer Joymasher out here making a true sequel to Hard Corps (with maybe a little Metal Slug thrown in as well). You can select the first 4 stages in any order you wish before going through the gauntlet of stages 5 and 6. I ended up replaying it multiple times on various difficulties and modes. It starts out with the girl and the robot, but you eventually unlock others including a ninja who only uses melee attacks and at that point I was basically playing it like ninja gaiden. By the end of my platinum run I was speedrunning the game on Hard and making the top 100 leaderboards. If you have any love for these types of games at all you should definitely check it out.

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BK_Sheikah00 posted...

Do we actually know if it's Ys or Trails that is more popular in the west? Because I'd rather have Ys 9 first.

Ys is more popular in both regions as far as I know

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that is definitely a game

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TOP 10 FAVORITE GAMES OF THE YEAR PRESENTED BY DRAGON QUEST XI S: ECHOES OF AN ELUSIVE AGE

#9. Astral Chain

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

Hot Anime Cops the game! So this is actually my favorite Switch exclusive game of 2019 so dash all hopes of seeing any others on here. This futuristic character action game which is totally not evangelion (but kinda is) has you and your twin sibling joining Neuron, an elite police force dedicated to defend the remains of humanity (which live on a giant island city called The ARK) from "chimeras" which come from the Astral Plane. Neuron has captured chimeras and use technology to tame them and they essentially become your Personas and fight alongside you in battle. Much like DMC5 each legion is basically its own fighting style and you're constantly switching between the 5 to form combos to defeat your enemies. The game is also split up between sections where you walk around areas investigating the town and doing actual police work, then once you discover the threat you switch to the action sequences. I found it extremely satisfying to play through and it's anime as hell. It's made by the majority of the same team that worked on NieR: Automata (minus Yoko Taro) so I think that alone should get people to try it if they haven't. Speaking of Yoko Taro this is actually his 2019 GotY you can't get a bigger endorsement than that!

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Blazing chrome was tough for me but I'm bast at contra except contra 4

Astral Chain I want to be interested in but i cant even beat the first level of bayonetta

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TOP 10 FAVORITE GAMES OF THE YEAR PRESENTED BY DRAGON QUEST XI S: ECHOES OF AN ELUSIVE AGE

#8. Control

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nudSXUMBEV4

It's hard to articulate exactly why I love Control. It's super janky (okay I love jank in games), none of the guns really felt all that great and it's not like I'm some big Remedy fan. I only played Max Payne 1 and 2 and thought they were fine, but that was it. I really only checked it out because Jeff Gerstmann said it was one of his top 10 games of the decade. Turns out this is secretly a sequel to Alan Wake as well so I need to go back and play that eventually. I think what it came down do was that it was a 3rd person Metroid prime with an x-files type of setting and a ton of cool physic powers you can use (similar to Psi-Ops)....and those are all things I really love and they worked together well to crate an environment I wanted to see every nook and cranny of while I'm basically this late DB/early DBZ character by the end of it. It had the right amount of challenge where while Jesse is sort of fragile and any random enemy or boss could take you out if you're not paying attention, but if you're on it you're just coming at them like a psychic god and no one can stop you. The only thing that really stopped it from ranking higher with me is the ending is kind of anticlimactic and abrupt like they know they already have 2 future DLCs planned with more story, but it's a minor complain in an otherwise great game.

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Nero is even better after the first playthrough because he basically has all of his DMC4 tech added on top of his DMC5 stuff AND a bunch of new stuff.

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I want this one but want it with season pass

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One of my biggest regrets of 2019 is forgetting to buy Judgment during GameStops Buy 2 Get 2 sale they just had.

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Murphiroth posted...

Nero is even better after the first playthrough because he basically has all of his DMC4 tech added on top of his DMC5 stuff AND a bunch of new stuff.

Once I'm done replaying the entire Kingdom Hearts series replaying all of devil may cry games for thier platinums is probably what I'm doing next so I'll get back to 5 eventually

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