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Games I completed in 2016

Shortest list yet; not a great year in terms of actually completing the games I bought. Ended up playing a lot of iOS free to play stuff and Beatmania IIDX (as Infinitas came out at the end of 2015).

A few surprises that year though - SMT4 Final was so much better than the original, Doom came out of nowhere and Refrain remains one of my favourite DRPGs if not actually my number 1. Ys VIII was probably my favourite overall game of the year though.

A couple of massive disappointments in Ryu ga Gotoku 6 (story, not the game bit) and Persona 5 though.

First year I added ratings; they're intended to reflect how I felt about the game when I finished it, not necessarily after any reflection. It might seem a bit harsh but they're all snap decisions.

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Pony Island

1. Pony Island

January - 4/5 Fun little diversion for a couple of hours. Goes some interesting places, isn't too difficult and it makes it clear when you've seen everything.

Exist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky

2. Exist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky

January - 3/5 I've got three of the endings. There's a better version of the good ending but the requirements are a bit too much for a the multiple hours of play I'd probably need. Good game overall but I lost too much time to crashes - three lockups which lost me multiple hours overall.

Yakuza Kiwami

3. Yakuza Kiwami

January - 5/5 30 hours, nearly 70% completion. It feels like an extra "bonus" to keep us held over til 6 is finally ready but it fills out the Nishikiyama story and there's still plenty to do. The additions to the fighting styles make it the best version of the classic RGG system, since it looks like big changes are afoot. I can't wait until Thursday to try the new one out! [2017 note - that was a reference to the RGG6 demo which was included]

Superhot

4. Superhot

February - 5/5 Short but full of style and the gimmick doesn't have time to wear out its welcome.

Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance

5. Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance

March - 4/5 Making slow progress this year. This was really good, no idea why I dropped it originally. Nippon Ichi make the games faster and more intuitive to control each time around so you can concentrate on smacking enemies around and making the bar fill up to increase the numbers. The mostly silly plot helps with some great (in the Japanese at least) voice performances.

Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 3: V Century

6. Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 3: V Century

April - 3/5 Good way to catch up with some videos and podcasts I'd had stacking up while on holiday. Silly story with some genuine laugh out loud moments and a battle system which lets you skip all the unnecessary fluff and animations to just get to the point that is making numbers become bigger numbers.

Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness

7. Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness

May - 4/5 Took about 29 hours. Surprisingly good given the negativity I'd heard. The budget shows but it keeps going at a steady clip throughout and I liked the way that Personal Actions were handled this time around. I ended up liking pretty much the entire cast except the boring warrior guy.

Doom

8. Doom

May - 5/5 Amazing. Best FPS I've played in a very, very long time. Completely unexpected as well, given the well-documented development troubles.

Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea

9. Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea

[Vita Plus version] May - 4/5 A great upgrade. The ending makes more sense now and I liked the reintroduction of more characters from earlier in the series to tie it all together. Still plenty to do but I think I'll wait until the new Atelier announcement on the 28th before deciding what to do.

Rise of the Tomb Raider

10. Rise of the Tomb Raider

July - 2/5 Good fun mostly but kind of fell apart towards the end. Good PC port, with some impressive visuals especially in cutscenes.

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