Board 8 > Para's top 100 games of the decade, 2010-2019

(+) Yeah! (+)

Kenri posted...

I was obsessed with the GCN Animal Crossing for a long while, but I think it was a one time thing. Wild World didn't grab me and I haven't bought another one since.

Yeah, this is pretty much my thoughts on the series, too. It's just not for me.

One of these days, I'll go back and finish World of Light in Smash Ultimate. I haven't touched the game since after Joker dropped. I didn't enjoy Smash 3DS at all. It just didn't "feel" right to me. I didn't like how it handled.

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#26





Years of release: 2010 (PC), 2012 (Gods & Kings), 2013 (Brave New World)
Beaten?: On highest difficulty, and also against humans

This is actually my first Civilization game! I'm not sure what convinced me to play this one - I think it was in a Humble bundle or something, and I was in the mood for a strategy game, so I tried it out? I have IV but I still haven't played it. And, embarrassingly, I bought VI as well but I haven't played THAT one either. Civilization V really satisfyingly served my needs.

One type of game I like are games that I'm able to play while I'm watching videos on Youtube. There's stuff I like to watch on Youtube but I get bored of just sitting and watching it, so I need something non-lingual (otherwise I miss what's going on in the video) to do just to busy myself with something in the meantime, and I like games that I can play kind of semi-mindlessly for a bit. Civ V fills that niche, oddly, although I would call it anything but mindless; but strategic planning sort of goes into a different part of my brain than watching a video so I'm kind of able to multitask, I guess.

This game also kind of weirdly falls into both the Roguelike/"watching numbers go up" niches. Starting a new game of this is appealing because every time, the game is going to be a little bit different, and you're going to get lucky and have exciting new things happen in each game. Pulling that slot machine lever and seeing what start you get each game produces a little bit of a dopamine hit, which is nice, and it always feels good every game to build up your civilization, build an army, research techs, expand your cities, watching all those sweet, sweet numbers go up. And if you successfully build a wonder, which is nearly impossible on the higher AI difficulties, mmmm it just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside knowing how much it's going to kick ass for me.

I really like playing this game with people when I get the chance. Games take way too long, unfortunately, so they almost never finish unless it's like 3 or 4 people max and you make the game as quick as possible, but it's really fun to build up your civs and strategize against each other, although the game does have a tendency to have some people run away with things. Mostly I play against the AI though. It's unfortunate that the AI sort of sucks so to make it hard the AI has to get completely obscene bonuses that allow them to do things the human players can't do (some wonders at higher difficulties become literally impossible to build because the AI will ALWAYS prioritize them over others), but, hey, that's the challenge of playing a 4X game against the AI I suppose, I'm used to it by now.

I do think the game starts to bog down in the later eras a bit - technology gets so crazy that you can have way too many cities and way too large an army to manage, while everyone's defenses are too good for you to do much significant damage to other civs, if they're playing decently well. I don't really like managing air units a whole lot, and the endgame tends to be a space race, but that's okay - I just wish that military victories didn't have to be quite so comprehensive, because conquering the world takes a ridiculously long time given everything you have to do. Minor complaint, but I definitely do find the game more fun in the earlier phases than the later phases.

This ranking should really be only considering Brave New World as the definitive version of this game, not the previous versions. I got Civ V with Gods & Kings originally and it was still a little weak back then - culture victories weren't very interesting and there were some other things that needed tweaking, which Brave New World came along and fixed. There's other mods out there that I've played though, there's one multiplayer balancing mod that changes up quite a few things that I really liked.

I should probably pick up Civ VI at some point but it's hard for me not to just want to keep coming back to Civ V - after 300 hours, I still feel like I could play a few more rounds if I wanted to. Each civ has pretty unique strengths and weaknesses and nearly all of them are fun to play, so the game has a lot of replay value, since every game is different. I want to get more into 4X games like this, since I've really come to like the genre. It's like seeing what board games can do when a video game is automating them.

#25





Years of release: 2010 (PC/360), 2011 (PS3)
Beaten?: Yes

Whoa, what the hell is this game doing here? A big AAA title where you shoot things? It's not even cute! What happened here? Looking at this list, I'm really struck by how out of place Mass Effect 2 looks here. Very different look and feel from the usual fare that I enjoy. But Mass Effect 2 is just a masterpiece, and I played and beat it, so it gets to be here.

I haven't played Mass Effect 3 yet, by the way - just haven't gotten the opportunity. But I played the first two games in consecutive years when I was staying over at a friends' house for a couple of weeks, and I played through them on his 360 with my friends watching. (This was the same group I played Catherine with.) I never got back and played Mass Effect 3, unfortunately, so I don't really know what the whole deal with that game is yet - I'll have to replay the first two games on PC before I get to ME3, but I will someday.

It's crazy to me how far ahead of their time the Mass Effect series feels. The first one came out in the late 00's, and I don't feel like games have gotten particularly more modern or impressive since - I think this series still stands as one of the greatest gaming achievements ever, probably, and it's a shame that its reputation has fallen in recent years thanks to the poor reception to Andromeda. I remember when Mass Effect was a huge deal. It was such a huge deal that even I played it, and I don't usually play games like this!

Actually, I enjoy shooters a lot more than you would think given this list, I just haven't played any big ones in a while. This one's a third-person shooter with a lot of RPG mechanics, but it still kind of falls in the same boat. But what I really like about this game is the plot, the cast, and the world-building. This is probably one of the most impressive sci-fi epics ever written in any medium, let alone video games; I'm probably more invested in everything going on in this game than I am in any particular sci-fi movie, especially because you're able to walk around and actually interact with the world, which lets it fill in the details on a lot of little niches that movies, TV, and even books can't do as effectively.

I remember feeling totally in awe of the Citadel in the first game, all of this shit going on in it, and while ME2 doesn't have any locations as impressive as that, it makes up for it big time with a much better cast, a more gripping main plotline, and a ton of QoL upgrades to the gameplay in general. While the first game had some annoying equipment micromanaging and a lot of vehicle exploration that wasn't all that great, the second game really streamlines everything and gets to all the good parts. Not having played ME3 but understanding some of the controversy, it's easy for me to see why ME2 is the most beloved of the trilogy - it just sort of nails everything perfectly, especially the way it wraps up in one of the most gripping climaxes to a video game I can remember in a long time.

The only reason it doesn't rank higher is that it's not a very personal game for me. As a game reviewer, I would probably give Mass Effect 2 a 10/10 and recommend it as a top 10 game of the decade. As a player, though, it's just hard to explain - I have a lot of objective love for the game but not a lot of PERSONAL love for it, which is something none of the games ranking higher on this list lack - all of the games after this are defined by some sort of deeply personal connection I felt to the game. And it's not really my favorite genre of game, either. But goddamn, don't let that be a knock on this game at all, Mass Effect 2 in my opinion deserves status as one of the greatest games of all time. The worldbuilding is stellar, the characters are memorable and loveable, the writing and voice acting better than what I thought a video game was capable of achieving at the time, and the game's fun on top of all that.

Someday I'll replay the first two games in preparation to play the third one. I'm not sure when I'll get around to it, but someday I'll definitely do it. It's been a really long time since I've played them, hence the vagueness of my writeup compared to more specific comments I would have, and I think I'm definitely well overdue for a replay. I'd like to make a judgment on Mass Effect 3 for myself, and I kind of suspect I'll really enjoy the game.

btw Femshep all the way

I just want to add my biggest criticism of the Animal Crossing games:

I have to play a stupid human when all the other characters are cute animals

What the fuck I want to be a cute animal too this sucks >:(

(Mass Effect reminded me of this by the fact that once again I'm stuck playing a human in a world full of really cool aliens)

If you really like Civ V, I highly suggest Endless Legend. Has a lot more character, and you don't have to be a person!

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Mass Effect 2 is so good, and 3 is even better!

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Leonhart4 posted...

Mass Effect 2 is so good, and 3 is even better!

+1

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Tagging for later, good reads so far! (Ranmilia from elsewhere here, hi Para!)

Mass Effect 2 is my least favorite of the trilogy but I'm very much in the minority on that. I like how weird and janky 1 is, and I don't totally like how simplified they made 2's shooting

But the cast and such are great yea, still fantastic trilogy.

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Sir Alex posted...

Tagging for later, good reads so far! (Ranmilia from elsewhere here, hi Para!)

Oh hey ran

#24





Years of release: 2011 (DS, Japan), 2014 (Prosecutor's Path)
Beaten?: Yes

Gyakuten Kenji 2, also known as Ace Attorney Investigations 2, also known as Miles Edgeworth: Ace Attorney Investigation 2 - Prosecutor's Path (WHEW) came at a particularly dark period in the series. Of course, I loved the original trilogy to death, and they remain very close to my top 10 games of all time, but the following two games, Apollo Justice and Investigations 1, were well below the bar. It kind of felt like the mainline games were going off the rails and the spinoffs weren't going to save them; the Ace Attorney series was now a fluke, a really good trilogy of games that had nowhere to go after that. As a result, I wasn't even excited for AAI2 at all. Like, if they localized it and released it here, I would have played it, but I wasn't excited to do so at all, and the fact that it never received a localization didn't really gut me all that hard; I brushed it off and moved on with my life.

Of course, I did play AA5 when that came out, and that completely restored my faith in the series. Furthermore, from the few people who actually had played AAI2 in japanese, I heard that it was pretty good, so my interest in this game got renewed. Shoutouts to dowolf who did a really nice translation/playthrough of this on Youtube, I really respect his work on this a lot - however, I do have to admit that I wanted to play the game for myself rather than watch it, and fortunately, a really good patch for the game came out.

This is actually a ranking of the fanmade localization, I should note, and I'm taking into account the quality of that translation as well as the quality of the original game, just like I would any other game, because that's the version of the game I know! The fan localization feels like a really professional work, and for the most part, playing it made me feel like I was playing an official game in all but name only - not only is the script faithfully localized, but the team went to the work to change names, upgrade graphics, and add voice acting as though this was an official work that Capcom would have made. The result is almost seamless, and it's really amazing how good a job they did - just knowing that this was a fan work actually increased my appreciation and enjoyment of the game a little bit. I do have some quibbles with the script, as I think there's a few jokes that don't land or fizzle out that they could have punched up better, and there's a few slight awkwardnesses (a few too many "eh!"s of surprise or confusion that should have been translated as "oh!" or "huh?" or a number of other better options in english), but for the most part, you can really tell the love and care that went into making this seem like the real deal. As a result, I think the fandom basically treats Prosecutor's Path (what a cool game title, too) as canon, and I think rightly so. We'll probably never get a better rendition of this game.

As for the game itself, it really was worth it, and I regret not anticipating it more highly, although maybe my lowered expectations made me enjoy it more. There isn't too much I can get into about the plot without spoiling, but I will say that this game just really feels like it has a lot more red meat than the first game does. The first game's cases are kind of boring and some parts of the overarching plot are cool, but it doesn't feel like their best work. Here, the overaching plot connects to Edgeworth in a much more meaningful way, and I really connected with all the characters a lot better. This game also weaves each case together into a full storyline in a really clever and cool way, and I think it's overall much better than the sum of its parts. There are some pacing issues in a couple of the longer cases, but overall, it takes the format of the first game, which was cool, and just told a way better story with it. It's a little bittersweet knowing that this is the last major apperance for a lot of these characters, but this game really delivered and sent them off in the best way possible.

By the way, I forgot that AAI1 was actually a 2010 game by my rules, but it would have been really borderline to even show up on my list at all - probably somewhere in the 90's. I did actually LIKE the game, but it wound up disappointing enough that I think I'm glad I didn't put it on the list, wouldn't have been a whole lot to talk about. AAI1 does have its moments though and maybe deserves a small shoutout, but the fact that it contributed to me almost giving up on the series does kind of sting a little bit. The fact that I now know the series would eventually experience a renaissance DOES make me feel a lot softer towards both AAI1 and AA4 now though, and they aren't remotely as disappointing as they once were.

AAI2 is so good. E2-3 is probably my favorite non-epic case in the series.

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LeonhartFour posted...

AAI2 is so good. E2-3 is probably my favorite non-epic case in the series.

Yeah it's probably mine too (better than a few of the epic ones, too!).

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Paratroopa1 posted...

This is probably one of the most impressive sci-fi epics ever written in any medium, let alone video games; I'm probably more invested in everything going on in this game than I am in any particular sci-fi movie, especially because you're able to walk around and actually interact with the world, which lets it fill in the details on a lot of little niches that movies, TV, and even books can't do as effectively.

Totally agree and it saddens me that you haven't played ME3 yet. With the DLC it's the best in the series and a top 5 game of all time.

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#23





Years of release: 2017 (PC/Vita/PS4)
Beaten?: Yes

Ranking this game on the list started to become almost something of an inside joke for me. Like, I very conspicuously did not mention it at all in my writeup for the first two games, and I was kind of wondering like, I wonder how far on this list I can go before everyone forgets about this game, or starts to wonder if maybe I didn't rank it?

It's really hard for me to explain just how much better I think V3 is than the other games, and why that's even the case. I spend very little time thinking about the first two games anymore but I think about V3 all the time. I think it's mostly the cast - whereas I kind of hated the cast in the first two games I actually adore V3's cast. I think it has the most entertaining overarching plot and the overall best murder mysteries too, and I like that it returns to the failing of being trapped in a high school as opposed to on an island. The music and visuals here are a step up from the previous games. And even the ending of the game, which is really divisive for some people... well, I really liked it! Some of Danganronpa's issues of weird anime humor and some plot points that I was REALLY disappointed with their execution still crop up here, from time to time, but overall, whereas the pervious two Danganronpa games were a huge mixed bag for me (I may have overranked them but they were hard to rank because their high points are so high), this game didn't leave me with that feeling at all. Danganronpa V3 is a great game, in my eyes.

There isn't really a whole lot more else I can say about it. If you've played the game, you know why. A more comprehensive look at Danganronpa V3 would talk a lot about some of the particular things that this game did remarkably well, but I wanna keep this relatively spoiler-free so I'm not gonna get into it. (It was exceptionally hard for me to even find a screenshot of the game that wasn't too revealing - I didn't even TRY with the first two games, haha.) Just take my word for it that I think this is the best one. I'm a little surprised, one of my friends irl ranks 'em 1 > 2 > V3 and I don't really know why! I'm not really sure where the fanbase stands overall on this, but DR1 was just easily the worst one for me.

I didn't play all the side stuff which I heard was actually really good. Maybe I'll get to it someday, but I'm mostly just here for the main story stuff.

I still need to play V3 one of these days, but I made the mistake of trying to play Ultra Despair Girls first and it killed my interest to progress in the series.

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I did not play UDG. I think I made the correct choice. DRV3 is not UDG, trust me - it was actually kind of a surprising breath of fresh air from the rest of the series for me, though it's hard to explain why.

I watched a few hours of an UDG LP and it was very not worth it

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Having only watched LPs of the Danganronpa series, the enjoyment I've gotten out of them has been 1 > UDG > 2

Looking forward to when the person I follow gets around to V3 but it's not a series I want to spend money on. I don't like most of the writing at all.

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I ran a topic polling the board to rank the three main games. DR1 got like 80% of the last place votes, whereas 2 and V3 were as close as you could possibly get for first place.

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Paratroopa1 posted...

I did not play UDG. I think I made the correct choice. DRV3 is not UDG, trust me - it was actually kind of a surprising breath of fresh air from the rest of the series for me, though it's hard to explain why.

Yeah, I feel pretty certain that I'd like it, but I'm just in no hurry to play it.


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It's always been interesting to me that the fanbase likes 1 the least, because I think it by far had the most tolerable characters. I just don't think I'm the target audience for those games even though I really like Visual Novels.

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I'd actually agree that the V3 cast is the most solid overall but I still have DR2 as my favorite. The dynamic Nagito added to it was just too good for me. (I also have Nagito as my favorite character in the series but I think you can evaluate how he influences things separate from his character itself. I happen to like both a lot but I could definitely see/respect how one might like one but not the other. Of course if you like neither I can see how DR2 wouldn't measure up to V3 at all.)

And 2-5 is still the best case in the series IMO. Though V3 brings some great ones to the table as well.

DR1 as the best is definitely a take that would always leave me befuddled. 2 and V3 I can both absolutely see. But 1? I just can't visualize it personally!

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KamikazePotato posted...

because I think it by far had the most tolerable characters

Huh, interesting. Well, I feel like DR1 had the most grounded characters, which would sound absurd in a vacuum but compared to the other games, it seems to be the case! I just don't find most of them to be very interesting. I might say that only Mondo and Hifumi are actually bad, but I think I only really found myself caring about a few characters. DR2 goes a bit off the rails at times, but Case 5's ending is legitimately a favorite gaming moment for me.

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There's one potential reason people have given me for liking 1 the best that actually makes sense to me. Once you realize the backstory for why DR1 exists (aka who's behind it and what's happening in the grand scheme of things), the overall plot of the future games in the series no longer hold intrigue. Instead of wondering what's happening to this group of kids, your mind immediately begins trying to piece together how this fits in the overall timeline and the mystique of it all is then ruined.

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(oh right and Nagito sucks)

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Lies and slander.

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the backstory of the danganronpa series is utterly ridiculous and i always ignore it for the absurdity it is and focus on the cast's present situation and their interactions/dynamics/cases

to try to figure it out in terms of the verse is just an exercise in insanity tbqhhh >_>

Though yeah, you don't really know that until DR1 lays out for you so in that sense it's the unique experience of the 3 and so that would distinguish it from the future titles.

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LeonhartFour posted...

Huh, interesting. Well, I feel like DR1 had the most grounded characters

This is pretty much it, yeah. DR2 technically had more 'interesting' characters but I felt like most of them just ended up being terribly grating. There were like four people I liked seeing talk and the rest actively decreased by enjoyment of the game when they were onscreen.

That, and DR1 easily had the best atmosphere. I really like 'trapped in a place' settings and the other games just don't have that.

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That's an interesting read on Civ V.

I actually kinda dislike playing the game on higher difficulties cause of the arbitrary bonuses other Civs get and would rather stick to normal difficulties and just try to win with something gimmicky if I'm feeling it's too easy

I wonder if I'm a minority among people who have played as much as me though

(I also have an unplayed Civ VI on my Steam shelf. I feel your pain)

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MrSmartGuy posted...

There's one potential reason people have given me for liking 1 the best that actually makes sense to me. Once you realize the backstory for why DR1 exists (aka who's behind it and what's happening in the grand scheme of things), the overall plot of the future games in the series no longer hold intrigue. Instead of wondering what's happening to this group of kids, your mind immediately begins trying to piece together how this fits in the overall timeline and the mystique of it all is then ruined.

I DO agree with this point - DR1 holds the most interest because you have absolutely no clue what's going on or why. DR2 and DRV3 sort of struggle with this point as they attempt to look for ways to surprise a player who already knows what the point of DR1 was. That does make DR1 a more interesting mystery experience in some ways.

Lopen posted...

That's an interesting read on Civ V.

I actually kinda dislike playing the game on higher difficulties cause of the arbitrary bonuses other Civs get and would rather stick to normal difficulties and just try to win with something gimmicky if I'm feeling it's too easy

I wonder if I'm a minority among people who have played as much as me though

(I also have an unplayed Civ VI on my Steam shelf. I feel your pain)

I mean, I kind of hate the arbitrary bonuses, but winning on the "balanced" difficulty (which is 4) is so trivial for me under any circumstances, even on my very first playthrough of the game, that I desperately need to be handicapped. The game just isn't playable on any difficulty lower than 6 for me - MAYBE 5 if I'm playing with a very odd ruleset. The AI just... isn't strong enough to stand up to any human player with 4X or general strategy game experience. I have no idea if this is a flaw with the game, or if it's simply not reasonable to develop AI with a better strategy sense (I am pretty sure some of the stuff that AI does is extremely stupid and could have been fixed though).

KamikazePotato posted...

This is pretty much it, yeah. DR2 technically had more 'interesting' characters but I felt like most of them just ended up being terribly grating. There were like four people I liked seeing talk and the rest actively decreased by enjoyment of the game when they were onscreen.

That, and DR1 easily had the best atmosphere. I really like 'trapped in a place' settings and the other games just don't have that.

DRV3 has it!

xp1337 posted...

I'd actually agree that the V3 cast is the most solid overall but I still have DR2 as my favorite. The dynamic Nagito added to it was just too good for me. (I also have Nagito as my favorite character in the series but I think you can evaluate how he influences things separate from his character itself. I happen to like both a lot but I could definitely see/respect how one might like one but not the other. Of course if you like neither I can see how DR2 wouldn't measure up to V3 at all.)

And 2-5 is still the best case in the series IMO. Though V3 brings some great ones to the table as well.

DR1 as the best is definitely a take that would always leave me befuddled. 2 and V3 I can both absolutely see. But 1? I just can't visualize it personally!

2-5 is also my favorite "case", I should add. My next three faves are all in DRV3 though (1, 4, and 5)

Yeah I mean the risk of losing is nil even when I'm being gimmicky but I dunno I just don't enjoy playing higher difficulties. I'd rather just play the braindead 4 and keep running different strategies so the game feels different each time even if it's not difficult.

I like difficulty but it's just bad difficulty for me.

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Haven't experienced V3 yet, but that makes me look forward to it.

It's funny - I probably like the DR series the least out of anyone visiting this topic but I was also an active part of the original SomethingAwful Let's Play thread that fan translated the first game over time, which is what led to the games being picked up for an official localization. I directly contributed to the game coming overseas, even if in a small way.

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#22





Years of release: 2001 (N64), 2007 (Wii VC), 2015 (Wii U VC)
Beaten?: Many times

Paper Mario is one of my favorite games of all time! The aesthetic of this game is absolutely adorable, the gameplay is really fun even if it's kind of easy, and I love exploring the world and looking for all its secrets. I was skeptical of it as a followup to Super Mario RPG, but it turned out better than I could have imagined! It's an incredibly cute game, thinking about it makes me all warm and fuzzy inside, and it's probably my game of the decade for the 00's, since it did come out in 2001. It's too bad that aside from the spectacular sequel, Thousand-Year Door, we haven't really gotten another Paper Mario true to the series' roots in a long time.

But, wait... that's odd. I thought I was ranking 10's games.

Heeeeey, wait a minute, this got pasted on here. If I just peel this off...

#22





Years of release: 2019 (PC)
Beaten?: Currently playing in chapter 6

Bug Fables! Haha, you incorrigible little prankster! You tricked me into thinking you were Paper Mario there for a second! You almost had me going for a second there.

Meet Bug Fables, a cute little underdog of a title that just barely got in there under the wire to be a 10's game. Bug Fables is Paper Mario. "Oh, that sounds like a really reductive thing to say," you said, until you got to the part where you met the chef in town who will cook one or two of your ingredients, such as a mushroom that heals 3 HP or a honey drop that restores 5 TP, which gives you better items, such as an item that is a mushroom covered in honey that restores both HP and TP, but if you try to combine ingredients that don't work, you get a "Mistake", a gross-looking dish that only heals a measly 1 TP. "You're talking about Paper Mario," you said. No, this is Bug Fables. The only difference is that they call it Teamwork Points instead of Flower Points. "Does it have badges?" You ask. No, it has medals. What are medals? They're badges. When you level up you have the option of selecting HP, TP, or MP. MP is Medal Points. You get 3 of them every time you choose to level up, so you can equip more medals. Are you still not convinced? Let me show you the back alley of the desert town where you can talk to a mysterious hooded figure who, for a small, medium, or large price, will enchant you so that you randomly get attack and defense bonuses in battle for a while. "That is exactly a thing that happens in Paper Mario," you said. No, again, I'm talking about Bug Fables.

Bug Fables knows exactly what it is doing; it is Paper Mario pastiche. It is not trying to hide this fact. It very specifically evokes very specifically the N64 game Paper Mario as often as possible to remind you that that is what their intention was. And I love the game for this. A new Paper Mario is something that a lot of people wanted. It is something I wanted. In Bug Fables, I got it.

Okay, so there definitely are some differences here, aside from the fact that everyone is a bug, and, you know, the story and world and scenario are all brand new and all that. The battle system is very familiar to anyone who has played a Paper Mario game before, but it has received some overhauls. Most notably, instead of being Mario and a bunch of helper buddies, you have a set team of three main characters in this one, all of whom fight at once and have different abilities. That opens up the Paper Mario design space quite a bit, actually, and Bug Fables uses it to its advantage. I'd say that there's quite a bit more of interesting tactical space here, although it doesn't really start to open up until chapter 3 or so. The game's a lot harder too; it even helpfully gives you a hard mode badge - sorry, medal - option which will beef up all the enemies you fight.

Most of all what I love about this game is that it's just so damn CUTE, though? I cannot help but root for this game; I want to love it so bad my heart aches at even trying to consider this game's flaws. And, to be honest, it doesn't do everything well. Some of the visuals and UI design feel just a bit lacking in polish, the music is a mixed bag of good and forgettable tunes, the environments aren't quite as interesting or fun as Paper Mario, some of the areas get a little tiring to traverse and some of the puzzles and platforming are annoying to solve, and the overall plot can be a little trite at times... and yet, somehow, I don't care about ANY of this. I am in LOVE with this game. Even if it doesn't really quite live up to Paper Mario's legacy, it is trying its hardest, and its effort is so earnest that it is impossible not to root for.

My ranking of this game is extremely volatile, since I'm about 70% of the way through the game and I haven't had any time to let this game settle - I'm kind of cheating since I'm still accounting my current, 2020 playtime in this ranking, but whatever, this game came out so late in 2019. But lacking the time to let this game digest, I don't know where it'll eventually end up in my all-time rankings. This game actually started out pretty weak at first - the game was far too easy until I found the hard mode medal and the hard hits medal (putting these both on ramped the game up into brutally-hard territory, which I absolutely adore), and the game's writing was severely deficient in the first chapter, where the characters had no chemistry and the writing lacked punch. The first chapter ended up being the awkward pilot episode, because as the game went on the narrative got a LOT stronger, and the characters went from 'weak' to 'I would absolutely fucking die for these cute bugs.' The chemistry between the characters really improved as the game went on, the dialog a lot more playful, the writing much sharper, even the plot a little less cliche than I was expecting at times. The gameplay got better as the game got more complicated and my number of medals went from 'disappointingly few options' to 'way more options than I know what to do with, some of which are potentially extremely good.' Sidequests all over the place, some of which are surprisingly involved. Plenty of little side areas and secrets I missed. Bug Fables grew from a tiny little caterpillar into a butterfly! That's a bug metaphor.

I hope the rest of the game is good. I'll probably complete it in the next week or so. So far, this game is more of a personal favorite for me than it is one that I would blanketly recommend to everyone, but if you've been aching for a Paper Mario sequel like I have you should probably give this one a look - I think over time Bug Fables will make a little more of a name for itself. Just give it a couple of chapters to find its groove, because it starts out slow.

Woah Paper Mario is probably a top ten game for me and I'd never heard of Bug Fables. I'll have to check it out!...

...oh Windows only, ugh

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Bug Fables is planned to be released on Switch/PS4, but that's a TBA for now. Keep an eye out for it!

You had me at Paper Mario. Definitely interested if it's ever on sale or when it gets ported to Switch.

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#21





Years of release: 2011 (PC/360/PS3)
Beaten?: Only the single-player campaign (!)

I will ALWAYS remember the first time I picked up the portal gun in the first Portal game for as long as I live. I remember thinking that Portal was just going to be a puzzle game in which you, like, put down standard video game teleporters that would hop you from one place to another, and while that might be an ok puzzle mechanic it didn't sound revolutionary. But then I saw how the portals actually worked; the way you could look through them and see where they lead on the other side, that you could walk through them and it would seamlessly transition you from one place to another, or that you could even throw objects through them and have them come out the other side with their physics carrying through. I was absolutely mesmerized - this still might be the single biggest technological marvel that I've seen in a game in a long time, and I'm somehow not overstating that. I spent at least 20 minutes just fucking around in the first room where you get the portal gun - and remember, you only have the ability to shoot ONE portal at that time, the other one is affixed to the wall and unmovable. I was still completely transfixed on how just a single connection of portals in an unremarkable room worked, like a caveman discovering fire for the first time. Getting the second portal was just giving that caveman a flamethrower.

The rest of the game, of course, was great, and I think most people here are probably familiar with it by now. Much like ME2, while I wouldn't consider it a top 10 personal favorite, I would most definitely rank it as one of the finest video games ever made; an unquestioned hall of fame, put-in-a-time-capsule candidate for sure. It's short and sweet, the puzzles are fun throughout the entire game's length, the twist and the ending are the stuff of legends, and it all left me wanting more in a good way.

I think, strangely enough, that the reception to Portal 2 was just a bit mixed at first. Like, it was definitely a good game, but I think it could never truly recapture the novelty and magic that the first Portal offered, and I don't think it really tried to. For me, though, I think it's really damn hard for me to tell which game is better. Sure, the first one had novelty, but the second one is just packed full of content and new puzzle gimmicks that only improve upon the concept, and the renewed focus on the game's story, writing, and comedy made it feel like a very different game.

I feel like 80% of the humor I associate with Portal actually comes from Portal 2. Evil GlaDOS, Wheatley, Cave Johnson, all that good stuff. It's been a really long time since I've played Portal 2, but there are just so many funny moments that I still remember; I remember the game's final chapters in particular being a real rollercoaster ride. The balance of entertaining and challenging puzzles and seeing what funny and clever thing the game was going to do next made it all feel perfectly paced. I REALLY need to replay both of these games, as I think my ranking of Portal 2 might be doing it some level of injustice.

Even worse, I haven't actually played the co-op campaign yet! I have a couple of different people in mind for who I might play it with someday, we'll see. I kinda almost decided to rank this game higher just because I know there's still an entire half of the game that I haven't seen, but just the single player campaign alone is worth my love. Knowing that there's more to see definitely means Portal 2 is deserving of being one of the greatest games of the decade. There are still, somehow, 20 games that I ranked above this one. It was a good decade.

Bug Fables is another one of those games that, notably, I sprung for when it was only -10% off during the Winter Sale. I knew I had to play it right away. Worth the 20 dollar price tag, but I think it would be an excellent game for the Switch.

Cool, will pick it up if it gets ported

I definitely prefer Portal 2 to the original by a pretty wide margin, though playing them one after the other probably contributed to that.

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Leonhart4 posted...

Mass Effect 2 is so good, and 3 is even better!

Nelson_Mandela posted...

+1

Bane_Of_Despair posted...

Mass Effect 2 is my least favorite of the trilogy but I'm very much in the minority on that. I like how weird and janky 1 is, and I don't totally like how simplified they made 2's shooting

But the cast and such are great yea, still fantastic trilogy.

All of this.

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#20





Years of release: 2019 (Switch)
Beaten?: Yes

I would like to share with you a conversation I had on a private server of Necrodancer friends. The context of this is that we were putting together a numbered list of various game ideas that we wanted someone to make someday. Please note the time stamps.



Ultimately, this game ended up being procedurally generated, and I didn't even suggest the idea of turning Necrodancer into an ACTUAL Zelda game. But... well, let's just say this game coming out fulfilled one of my wildest fantasies, regardless.

The mere existence of this game is one of the strangest and most wonderful miracles I can even imagine. I had no reason to even bother watching the Nintendo indie showcase where this game was announced; imagine my absolute confusion and shock when I woke up that day to a bunch of Discord notifications revealing that... this was a thing that existed. It still doesn't feel real - Crypt of the Necrodancer getting a crossover with The Legend of Zelda. It feels like a weird dream that I'm still having. Naturally, those of us in this channel freaked the actual fuck out in March of 2019 when this game was eventually announced. The proceeding months waiting for this game were agonizing. I knew it probably wouldn't live up to how good Necrodancer was, but I couldn't wait to play it.

It didn't disappoint; although it indeed was not as good as Necrodancer, it was an excellent title in its own right, and lives up to its concept about as well as I could have hoped. In fact, it was probably in the upper ranges of how optimistic I was about the game; I loved how this game incorporated Zelda's overworld and dungeon mechanics, its various tools and items, how it created challenging boss fights, and how much fanservice it gave for fans of both series.

We did a lot of speculating about what the mechanics of the game would be like, and whether or not it would adhere more to Necrodancer or Zelda traditions. It ended up being roughly what I expected - the gameplay is mostly Necrodancer but with Zelda items, and the characters and world are largely Zelda-derived, but Cadence shows up (although she plays a much smaller role than I expected - interestingly enough, this is a game where Zelda shines instead). I think it all works pretty well. Thanks to the less roguelike nature of the game, I think this game is a bit more accessible to new players, and it's easier to beat than Necrodancer but still gives a lot of ways to challenge yourself, through speedrunning and playing on more difficult modes. I like how this game found ways to give the idea of a Zelda-like adventure without having required items and paths for you to take, the nonlinearity reminds me just a little bit more of Zelda 1, where items are useful but not needed. The dungeons and boss fights feel great. Holy crap, the music. The music is wonderful.

This game only doesn't reach the highs of Necrodancer because I think it's comparitively lacking in replay value. There aren't a lot of different items you can get in this one, so every run more or less plays out the same way, whereas every Necrodancer run can be quite different depending on which items you find. It doesn't have quite the same longetivity, although it's still an excellent game to race. I sadly haven't been able to play this one as much as I did Necrodancer, because I don't have the means to stream the game, so I haven't been able to compete online except in the first week in which we competed to set the best possible times on the leaderboard (I got #3 in the double-time category with a time of 22 minutes). This has also contributed to my relative lack of playtime with this game.

I hope we get more stuff like this. Ryan Clark, the Necrodancer developer, was given the keys to the Zelda car and he handled it about as well as he possibly could have, and the game was well-received and successful. I've been saying for a long time that Nintendo would do well to release its grip on its own franchises a bit and outsource them to indie devs who love the games and would do a great job with them, and this game proves that I'm right, I think. Funny story - someone I know who knows Ryan Clark a little better knew that he was working on some kind of Necrodancer crossover with another game, AND he had heard rumors that Nintendo was working on a Zelda crossover, but he never put two and two together to realize that these rumors referred to the same game. I don't think I would have put it together either. It's just too crazy to imagine Necrodancer x Zelda being real.

By the way, yes, Necrodancer ranks somewhere in the top 10 of my list. I think everyone who knows me even slightly already knows this.

#19





Years of release: 2014 (Pack 1), 2015 (Pack 2), 2016 (Pack 3), 2017 (Pack 4), 2018 (Pack 5), 2019 (Pack 6) (PC/PS3/PS4/360/XB1/Switch/Mobile/Apple TV?! You can get these on APPLE TV?)
Beaten?: I am the best Quiplash player on Board 8 and I'll fight you

This ranking is for all six Jackbox Party Pack games mashed together into one spot. (Drawful 2 can also be here, in spirit.)

I cheated. I'm sorry. This list is tainted.

I didn't know what to do here. The way I saw it, I had five options:

1) Rank each individual game in the Jackbox Party Packs on their own merits. This seemed really hard to do, since they're minigame collections, and those are already a thing in video gaming, anyway (it's even already a thing on MY LIST - see Game & Wario). Like, I can tell you what I think of Jackbox Party Pack 1 compared to the rest of my list well enough - but specifically judging Fibbage, or Drawful? I don't know, that just seemed really hard, and I feel like it would have made my list a huge mess. I DO have stuff to say about all these games, but it would have been repetitive.

2) Rank each individual party pack. This would be the normal thing to do, but again, it kind of messes up my list - I think each pack of games is probably good enough to get into my top 100 here, but most would be further down the list. I just didn't want to write about each pack individually. Again, I have stuff I could say, but it would get very repetitive, so I didn't do this.

3) Rank all the packs in one slot. That's cheating, kinda, but it's my list and I'll do what I want. So this is what I did.

4) Rank only my FAVORITE pack and give the rest honorable mentions. I almost did this, but I decided I was going to end up talking about the entire series anyway. If I WAS going to rank my favorite Party Pack, it would have been 3. So if you want to consider my #19 game to be Jackbox Party Pack 3, that's fine, if it helps you sleep better at night. I know the fact that I cheated on my list is very upsetting.

5) Throw all of the Jackbox Party Packs out of my list entirely and consider them to not be video games. This seemed stupid. While they do kind of occupy a space that almost feels more like board game culture than video game, they're clearly video games and I don't think anyone would argue against this. Plus, they're great, they're some of my favorite video games released this decade, and I want to talk about them. So I didn't do this.

So that's my dilemma.

We've all played these, right? I don't need to do a huge writeup about them. Every Jackbox Party Pack has become a significant staple of our board game night diet (usually at Shad's house. Yes, me and Shad play board games irl, I live 5 minutes from hise house) as well as a fixture of Board-8-playing-stuff-together-online for years. For good reason - these are just about as perfect a party game as I could ask for. I love games like this that are just about being funny and creative and having a big ol' laugh with the group. I still play them to win! I like to play them competitive and see how well I can really flex my funny-creative muscles. But it's never too competitive or stressful - I always feel like I've had a great time after playing. The Jackbox games are incredibly clever and well-designed, and the way they work with having the game on the TV and everyone playing on their phones is a work of pure genius.

Jackbox Party Pack 3 has the best overall assortment of games - Quiplash is a brilliant game with the right group of people who are funny enough to come up with good answers, Trivia Murder Party is one of the most entertaining and replayable trivia games I've ever played, Tee K.O. has had some of my biggest laughs in any of these games, Guesspionage is an underrated and fun little stats game, and Fakin' It is great if you have a real-life group to play it with, since you can't play it online. Other games I love include Fibbage, which I'm glad they released sequels of since I completely exhausted the entire list of prompts from the first game; Drawful, which I would have replace Telestrations in every family board game night if I had a device with access to Jackbox games; Mad Verse City, which is extremely fun to write funny rhymes on and hear them spoken back; and Push the Button, which is like Fakin' It but playable online and structured more like a Mafia game, which is perfectly up Board 8's alley. I like pretty much every game in the series though, aside from Lie Swatter in the first pack. Pretty much everything else is a winner, or at least playable. Bomb Corp is also great if you can get four people in real life to play it with.

It's tough to rank these among other games, but some of the times I've had playing these games have been the most memorable and fun times I've ever had, so I don't think it's dumb to rank these this high at all. All of the work that the Jackbox people went into coming up with questions, doing voice acting for them, and all of the hilarious characters and music and presentation in general that they put around it make for a really excellently produced package, so I have no doubts that they're some of my favorite games of the decade. I hope Jackbox Party Pack 7-16 rank highly on my next game of the decade list.

good times!

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KamikazePotato posted...

This is pretty much it, yeah. DR2 technically had more 'interesting' characters but I felt like most of them just ended up being terribly grating. There were like four people I liked seeing talk and the rest actively decreased by enjoyment of the game when they were onscreen.

That, and DR1 easily had the best atmosphere. I really like 'trapped in a place' settings and the other games just don't have that.

Yeah, I'd also put DR1 > 2 personally and these are pretty much my exact thoughts on why. Even though I'd consider 2's cast "better written" on a technical level, I couldn't relate to them or enjoy their presence nearly as much. Maybe it lives or dies on whether you can get into Nagito - I couldn't. The high points are still very high though.

Nagito's my favorite DR character, so that wasn't a problem for me