Board 8 > Recommend one game that lost in Round 1.

(+) Yeah! (+)

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

I did not like Isaac the first time I played it. It has grown on me though, to the point where I'll probably play this off-n-on for the rest of my life. My personal #2 game of the decade.

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Trails in the Sky SC

Best game that lost in round 1 by a decent margin
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Bloodstained. It's basically SOTN with a woman.

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The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC

One of the greatest JRPGs ever made with an incredible cast and worldbuilding
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Return of the Obra Dinn was the first one that came to mind for me.

Life is Strange.

I've ranted and raved about this one enough, just go play it and have yourself a good ol' cry.

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The Stanley Parable. It's the kind of game that makes you agonize over whether to go left or to go right, and it turns out both of them were wrong.

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I agree regarding Isaac, that one is definitely a grower.

I'd like to recommend Splatoon 2 to anyone who hasn't picked it up yet. It's a wonderful sequel to a true Game of the Decade contender. It's one of the most aesthetically pleasing games on the Switch, the gameplay variety gives it long legs, and the single-player campaign is enjoyable and witty. Even if third-person shooters aren't normally your bag, there's just something so kinetic and addictive about this one.

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Mortal kombat 11

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Tekken 7 is one of the most technically rewarding fighting games of all time and I cannot recommend practicing and kicking ass online enough!

It does require a lot of practice and get used to losing a lot before you start giving real beatings online.

But if you are up for the challenge, Tekken 7 is definitely one of the best fighting games you can play today.

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Ys VIII

A great action JRPG with a kickass soundtrack. One of the best games I've played in recent memory

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Ys VIII

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Obra Dinn. Phenomenal game.

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Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair

If you enjoy the Ace Attorney games, I can't recommend this enough. Everything is essentially cranked up to 11 and it's one of the most chaoticly fun VNs out there. 1 and V3 are also great, but 2 has the best balance of cool characters and fun mysteries.

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Tales of Berseria

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Bloodstained
Tekken 7
Terraria

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Inside
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INSIDE

It has 2 set pieces that are top 10 moments of the decade

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Night in the Woods

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Underleveled posted...

Life is Strange.

I've ranted and raved about this one enough, just go play it and have yourself a good ol' cry.

Seconded

shane15 posted...

Bloodstained. It's basically SOTN with a woman.

And also this one.

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If you like platformers at all, play Celeste.
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Undertale, honestly. I know there's a kneejerk reaction to hate games that gain mainstream popularity, but unlike for example, Five Nights at Freddy's or Flappy Bird, Undertale actually deserved its popularity. It's kind of an inspiring story that some random kid made a simplistic game almost by himself that became a phenomenon based solely on how good it is.

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Ghost Trick is really cool

Same writer as Ace Attorney and you play as a ghost who can rewind time to four minutes before a person's death. The puzzles are fun and the story is great.

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Damn, there's a LOT of my favorites that lost R1. LiS, Bloodstained, Celeste, Undertale, these are like half of my top 10 right there

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Oh also Xenoblade Chronicles X is an underappreciated masterpiece that deserved better than the Wii U's small player base could give it. It got snubbed by not even making the list at all. It's every bit as good as Xenoblade and Xenoblade 2. Better even, and that's coming from somebody whose username is based on the original Xenoblade.

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Just taking a moment to vouch for:

Celeste
Life is Strange
Night in the Woods
The Stanley Parable
Undertale

MechanicalWall posted...

Damn, there's a LOT of my favorites that lost R1. LiS, Bloodstained, Celeste, Undertale, these are like half of my top 10 right there

I kinda feel this way about my to ten too -- Binding of Isaac, Undertale, The Stanley Parable, Life is Strange, The Witness...all gone in the first round. Oh well.

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Heropon_Riki posted...

Oh also Xenoblade Chronicles X is an underappreciated masterpiece that deserved better than the Wii U's small player base could give it. It got snubbed by not even making the list at all. It's every bit as good as Xenoblade and Xenoblade 2. Better even, and that's coming from somebody whose username is based on the original Xenoblade.

Literally didn't realize X and 2 were different games.

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Disco Elysium is a throwback to old-school CRPG's where you play a drunken detective whose stats become voices in your head.

Too many great games were lost in the first round. Ghost Trick, Undertale, Danganronpa, Walking Dead, and Night in the Woods were the worst losses.

Call of Duty: Black Ops

Fun campaign and fun Zombies mode offline. Multiplayer in its heyday was top tier
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Mythiot posted...

Disco Elysium is a throwback to old-school CRPG's where you play a drunken detective whose stats become voices in your head.

Too many great games were lost in the first round.

Disco Elysium is the #1 game in the contest that I want to play but haven't

Desperately awaiting the PS4 port

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Celeste.

Even if you bounced off of the original Donkey Kong Country titles, I have to heavily recommend Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. Almost every stage features rapidly changing environments and set pieces, making for a really strong, momentum-fueled, fast-paced platformer. It takes the foundation and solid mechanics of the SNES classics and turns the moment-to-moment into something new. It's rare for a platformer to be full of surprises, but Tropical Freeze seems to be in a constant battle to outdo itself with every progressive level, and none ever feel like gimmicks; it's all damn good platforming from start to finish.

And as a bonus, Heavy Rain is probably the best game you could possibly play while drunk. I cannot recommend playing it without the ability to use higher brain functions enough.

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LeonhartFour posted...

Trails in the Sky SC

Best game that lost in round 1 by a decent margin

Leonhart, we seem to have similar tastes, so I figured I would ask you: Do the Trails in the Sky games have better storytelling than the Trails of Cold Steel games? I found myself rolling my eyes at so many moments in the ToCS games (I have only played through the first 3, to be fair).

I felt like the political and mature worldbuilding (which takes up a lot of runtime) contrasted heavily with the inevitable shonen manga deus ex machina perfect timing from some character with superpowers at the end of each chapter. It became hard to care about the grounded reality of the political strife and war that half the game's dialogue was trying to build when Akira Toriyama characters showed up with impeccable timing at every event with a one-liner and superpower that saved the heroes.

Does Trails in the Sky have less of that? Or is the series just not for me?

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Trails in the Sky is less anime than Trails of Cold Steel, yes.

Cold Steel III is amazing though.
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LeonhartFour posted...

Trails in the Sky is less anime than Trails of Cold Steel, yes.

Cold Steel III is amazing though.

I mean, I played through the first three games entirely and for the most part enjoyed them, so I certainly don't dislike them. The gameplay is terrific and the characters - despite not having agency in a ton of important story moments - are likable and well-developed. I just caught myself rolling my eyes more frequently as I moved from game to game.

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Bloodstained, especially for anyone that enjoyed the SotN-style Castlevania games.

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undertale

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Oxbridge posted...

The Stanley Parable. It's the kind of game that makes you agonize over whether to go left or to go right, and it turns out both of them were wrong.

Or perhaps they were both right. Or maybe you were wrong about needing to be right. Or maybe it's the Stanley Parable.

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The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC. No contest.

But you need to play the prequel (The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky) first in order to appreciate what's going on.

SwiftyDC posted...

Ys VIII

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SuperNiceDog posted...

undertale

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Bloodstained

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I knew people liked Bloodstained enough, but I didn't know people were so into it to get into a contest, break 40% on a former GotY (even if it's just Borderlands 2), and have so many people recommend it here.

I've had a stream of it on in the background today -- looks cool.

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Starcraft II.

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Generically I would say there are storytelling issues in the Cold Steel games which are absent or much less prevalent in the Trails in the Sky games or the Crossbell games.

I don't know exactly how to evaluate the the issue you're addressing specifically for the reason that the earlier games in the series aren't about war. Characters who are stronger than the heroes still exist in abundance and exert their influence on the story, but it doesn't seem to happen as frequently and at least for me doesn't cause quite as much of a cognitive disconnect when it does happen. I'd also argue that the earlier games do a better job of establishing all their characters and motives such that these events often feel less like the writers trying to invent a way out of a pinch for the heroes and more like the natural progression of how all of the already established parties would act in a particular situation. (In fairness, Trails of Cold Steel just has too many characters to effectively do this, which I think is the root problem most of its issues stem from)
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Cold Steel is my favourite of the 3 arcs but there are defo some playable characters in it that just don't need to be there.

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Edith Finch will make you feel better about your own life

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I've put 600 hours into Binding of Isaac, so that

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I've been interested in Edith Finch and only really know it's a well-received walking simulator. Do I need to know more or not before gambling my money on whether or not to try this soon? I adore the Stanley Parable but wasn't crazy about Dear Esther > Gone Home > The Beginner's Guide.

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Dead Space 2, one of the most perfectly paced survival horror games I've ever played. An absolute thrill ride with surprisingly engaging characters & lore, the right balance of horror & action, and also I still think the game looks gorgeous.

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