by yami4ct
Showing 1-10 of 11 items
An incredible game experience from beginning to end. One of the best casts BioWare has ever assembled combined with what is perhaps their most interesting world. After 2, I had little faith this game could delivered, but it did in a big way.
Etrian Odyssey combined with Persona. This is a game that should not exist. It's battle system is too rough and unforgiving to appeal to most persona fans and yet the game is pretty easy for anyone who plays EO. Sitting in the middle of the groups, though, I freaking adore the game. The changes from EO improve the Persona battle system vastly. The cast has a bit of the same issues they do in Arena, being reduced to their basest stereotypes, but it works much better here. There are also a good handful of genuine emotional moments that really help the game's tone. In combining the two franchises, Atlus has made something worse than both EO IV and Persona 4, but it's still an amazing game in its own right that has kept me hooked for hours on end.
By the middle of my 3rd run of D3 vanilla, I already felt I was done with that game. I had no intention of coming back or even buying the expansion. The changes Blizzard made not only dragged me back in, but got me to spend another 100+ hours on the game. The new loot system and adventure mode are incredible and really make this the game it should have been years ago.
Octodad is a game I was not expecting. When making this list, I realized that this game has stuck with me even though I haven't touched it for months. The incredibly weird story, original gameplay and goofy ass tone are a mix unlike any I have seen in a while. Despite what a lot of people say, I actually quite enjoyed playing it as well. Also that theme song, guys. That THEME SONG.
I was highly, highly disappointed in the end of Walking Dead Season 1. I was so upset, I was sure I would never touch another TellTale product. Alex's write-ups of this game convinced me to pick it up just as the season was ending and I'm so glad I did. TellTale really figured out what about their formula works here and honed it. No more pretending your choices matter on a large scale. Instead they give you an incredibly well written mystery tale that you can poke at the edges to make your own and that really worked for me.
I haven't played Mario Kart since the DS, so maybe that colored my opinion on this, but I don't think I had as much pure fun as I did with MK 8. The items give you just enough boost to make you feel like you can always come back, but never feel so unbalanced that you thin there's zero skill involved. Also, game looks freaking incredible.
As I continue to grow and figure out my tastes as a person who enjoys video games, I've come to realize that nothing hooks me in a JRPG like a good battle system. Bravely Default pushes that button way better than most. A great mix of risk/reward combined with a deep job system gives me so many different options to handle in an encounter. It also has a super charming art style. Sure, the story is kind of terrible, but when I'm having this much fun just playing the game I don't really care that much.
Let me say first, this spot is really for both Danganronpa games as they both hit this year (I also enjoyed DR1 a significant amount more than 2). Being a long time devotee to Ace Attorney and a lover of Zero Escape, I'm really enjoying this Visual Novel renaissance we see to be experiencing in the west. Danganronpa may not quite make it to the high of either those series, but it embraces the wackier side of the genre in ways I really enjoyed. The cast is fun, the twists are cool and the gameplay doesn't completely destroy the experience. That may seem like damning with faint praise, but at the end of the year both these games are some of the most memorable experiences I had all year.
Shadow of Mordor has some amazing ideas. Probably the best and worst thing I can say about the game is that even after getting the Platinum Trophy, I wanted more. I could not help to see the potential of the Nemesis System left unused by this game. What if I could actually use the orc's ambitions and relationships to my advantage? What if instead of just two warlord groups, I could command huge orc armies to fight each other, or at least all 5 war lords? It's these questions that bugged me throughout the game and kept me from enjoying it to the fullest. I also can't say I adored the combat. The game as it is is still excellent, but I can't say I've ever been more ready for a game to get a sequel. It could be so much more.
Pokemon Omga Ruby and Alpha Saphire should have been incredible. Up until the week of release, it looked like it would be one of the best Pokemon games ever made. The great new visuals of X/Y, the content of Ruby and Saphire and a great new endgame featuring Deoxys of all things. Sadly, Game Freak really didn't hit it out of the park the way they should have. There just isn't enough game here, even for Pokemon. The base game has been made so stupidly easy, they didn't include Battle Frontier so there's very little post game to speak of and the things they added didn't really add that much to the experience. The game's still really good, but it's not the GOTY it should have been. Hopefully Game Freak will release the much teased Battle Frontier DLC and fix the majority of the games problems, but until then this is the most disappointed I've been in Pokemon for quite some time.