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- Seen May 16, 2024
Coming up with original thread titles is difficult. In any case, I thought it'd be fun to create one of these as 2023 draws to a close and I find myself at something of a crossroads with video gaming. I played through 105 titles this year in total, and looking back over my list, a lot of them I played just to have them done, rather than for the experience. Quite a few, I forced myself through. Now that I'm also writing reviews, I find that I'm not playing games for fun quite as much any more. I'm not taking the time to properly digest or reflect upon what I'm doing. Hopefully keeping a game journal will change that! I'll try and keep this updated weekly at least; I play several hours every day so I should have plenty to talk about.
...and since 2023 is practically over and I am currently relaxing with a replay of one of my favourite games, what better way to open this than with my Top 10 Games of 2023? In reverse order:
10 - The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Breath of the Wild and I did not get along. It seemed like the game actively went out of its way to stop me from enjoying it at all costs, between the large empty spaces with nothing to do, the weapon durability that actively made me avoid combat so I could save my weapons for when I actually needed them, the lackluster shrines, complete lack of background music, stamina system...I could go on for a while. Tears of the Kingdom shared a lot of that game's flaws, but it also fixed some of the biggest issues I had...or perhaps enough time had passed between when I played Breath of the Wild and when I played this that I've become more forgiving of its flaws. But the fusion system removed the issues I had with durability, made traversal far less aggravating so I was less reliant on stamina, there seemed to be a little more to do in the world than previously - although I still have issues with the micro-tasks and generally lacking dungeons - and it was just...more fun. Mostly. The last part of the game overstayed its welcome a bit, and I wasn't fond of the Depths, but overall I think this game could have been a lot worse.
9 - Final Fantasy XVI
I spent much of Final Fantasy XVI wondering if I really liked it or not. I'm still not entirely sure. This is a game that by rights shouldn't be as satisfying as it is. It has Square Enix's awful ARPG combat, which I find to be an annoying ebb and flow of chip damage punctuated by occasional bursts of stagger damage where your hits still don't feel like they're doing enough. This was on full display here, with numbers rarely reaching into triple digits, and when they actually did not really registering on the enemy's HP bar. Combat wasn't very fun to play, but it WAS very fun to watch. Clearly someone at Square Enix likes to watch anime, because I felt like I was playing out battles from Attack on Titan, Gurren Lagann, and Naruto Shippuden every time I went up against an Eikon. And it was great! I had a hard time caring about the cast other than Dion though, and Jill got demoted to extra so fast it gave me whiplash. I think Yoshida took offense at the term "JRPG" a little too much, because FFXVI is as unlike a JRPG as it's possible to be. The end result is that Final Fantasy XVI doesn't really feel like a Final Fantasy game to me. I think if it had any other name, it would have been absolutely fine and I wouldn't feel so conflicted about it. But as it is...well, I'm not sure. I had fun. But I don't think it was really the right kind of fun for it to leave a lasting impact.
8 - Silent Hope
Small sleeper hit here! Silent Hope didn't really capitalise on its ideas as well as it could have, but it was surprisingly addicting and it felt good to play, even if it was lacking in depth. It's weird, though - I spent the entire game wishing that the princess would just shut the hell up after she repeated the same lines twenty or thirty times, and then in the postgame when she disappeared I just wanted her to come back, because the characters I had been playing as were so lacking in personality that they couldn't possibly fill the void. I used only one character for the main story, which was a bit problematic when I was getting weapons for everyone else, and there wasn't really enough content for me to want to use everyone, which the game was trying very hard to get me to do with all the equipment drops. Maybe if the gear had been a bit easier to craft and didn't require an aggravatingly amount of grinding, or if party members had received even a portion of experience when not in use, I might have been more inclined to do so. A few design flaws here and there, then. But a good time whilst it lasted.
7 - Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless
Oh thank god, Disgaea is back. Disgaea 6 was a bad video game. I'm sorry, but it was. It rendered player effort completely meaningless by having an absurd autoplay function that basically told you to leave the game on idle whilst your stats accrued to the point that they lost all meaning. Disgaea has always been a numbers game, but they've always been within the player's control, and I've always felt they were manageable. Removing that 9999 level cap just made the whole thing feel like a complete waste of time. Combine that with the generally poor story that just refused to end, significantly scaled-back pool of character classes, and absurd DLC costs (at least on Switch) and it actually made me wish the franchise had ended with the fifth instalment. Then along comes Disgaea 7 to restore my love for the franchise. This was the "back for formula" title that the series needed, although it kept some of the things that the sixth game did right - and massively fixed others - and improved upon them. I still think the fourth game is the pinnacle of the series in both storytelling and gameplay, but this was a step in the right direction, and definitely something I would like to revisit at some point.
6 - Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince
Dragon Quest IV is probably my favourite of the main series titles, because it is (or was) unlike anything else I had played at the time. I loved how it put me in the shoes of every party member before drawing them together, and they all had such radically different stories. I've played as many merchants in games since, but Torneko was my first and I'll always be grateful for that, because I could have missed several games and entire series if I didn't have a taste for management thanks to his part of the story. But playing as Psaro was a fun and unique experience, and as someone who grew up with Pokemon and is constantly on the lookout for something better, there was more than enough here to satisfy me. Monster fusion is just so much more interesting than straight-up capture, because it offers so many more options to customise your party. I didn't get out of the lower echelons until around the forty hour mark because I was so busy trying to break the game by creating something unstoppable...I mostly succeeded. The performance issues were a bit disappointing, but I also played The Hidden Treasures of Area Zero this year, so what was here was trivial by comparison, and has been patched since to be a little more bearable. I'm actually still playing this at time of writing, there are 523 monsters (excluding the DLC we don't have yet) and I want them all.
5 - Marvel's Spider-Man 2
I'm a bit of a comic book nerd, I grew up reading Spiderman and watching the cartoons. I wouldn't say I'm a fan of all things Spider-Man - the Amazing duology was terrible, I'm sorry - but I do have a fondness for him. I loved the original game, and the Miles Morales-focused follow-up. I was always going to buy this, especially when I saw that Venom was going to be in it. What I got with this was about what I expected: more of the same, which was what I wanted. A condensed, highly focused open world with meaningful sidequests, fantastic traversal, an emotional and original story (and how often do we get that with Marvel media these days with Disney at the helm?) that feels fresh and familiar at the same time, and a general polish that I would expect from a game this astronomically expensive. I did everything in this and I loved every minute of it, it lifted my mood every time I switched it on, and the wait for the third game is going to be agonising. I just want to see Carnage. Please. Don't keep me waiting another 3+ years.
4 - Metroid Prime Remastered
Probably the nicest surprise that Nintendo dropped on us this year I think. I was hoping for the trilogy in one package, but I appreciate the shadow drop this got at the end of the Direct it was revealed in...so much so that I bought a digital copy immediately, then double dipped for a physical. Metroid Prime was one of my favourite Gamecube games, and although I do prefer the sequel - which I know is a very contentious opinion, but I will die on this hill - revisiting this on my Switch for the first time in years, when I was inches away from getting PrimeHack on my Steam Deck, was a welcome distraction. This game holds up beautifully, especially with the improved controls. It's a bit depressing that an HD remaster of a title over 20 years old is so high up on my list for this year, but nonetheless, it is what it is.
3 - Resident Evil 4
I actually love Resident Evil 4 a lot more than I thought I do. It turns out I've bought it for every single platform I've owned since it released - I have, or have had, it on Gamecube, PS2, PS3, Xbox360, PS4, Steam, AND Switch. When I think about my favourite games of all time, it's not one I really count. But it's a game I love to go back to regularly. The remake was a little disappointing in places - it dialled back on the outrageous cheese that made the game feel more like Devil May Cry than Resident Evil in narrative tone, most notably - but it was a wonderful modern iteration that doesn't outright replace the original, making it a valuable experience for that alone. I could go back and play the original game and not feel as though I was playing a lesser experience, and I could also play this and feel like I had an acceptable alternative. Not many remakes can do that: they either outright replace, or make you wish for the original. For the best relevant example I can think of, look at Pokemon HeartGold/Soulsilver and Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl when compared to the original versions. This had the Resident Evil remake issue of bullets not feeling like they did enough damage, but other than that I have no complaints.
2 - Theatrhythm Final Bar Line
I don't like every Final Fantasy game. I've never been hugely enamored with VII, or IX, or XIII. But I do love the soundtrack. Curtain Call was one of my favourite 3DS titles, and rhythm games as a whole. Bar Line's DLC schedule made me wince a little (I still don't have the third season pass actually...) and I'm a little annoyed by the selection and balance of tracks - FFXIV did not need that much space - but I had a ridiculous amount of fun with this and I'm still not done with it. I probably never will be, because perfecting a song on the highest difficulty is completely beyond my skill level. But that's OK! This gives me a great way to experience some of my favourite tracks from across the franchise. I love the visuals, too. I'm actually going to start a drawing project based on that style. Or I would like to.
1 - Star Ocean: The Second Story R
This is an easy winner for me this year. Star Ocean is one of my favourite JRPG series, and Second Story is unquestionably the pinnacle of the franchise. Square Enix have been dropping a lot of titles over the last couple of years in particular that I didn't expect, and many of them have been either better than I expected (I am one of those rare people who actually enjoyed Forspoken, leave me alone) or exactly as good as they should be (Tactics Ogre Reborn was glorious, and apart from the terrible voice acting Crisis Core Reunion was delightful too) and this was never going to be anything other than absolute perfection. The quality of life changes made to the gameplay made playing this feel so GOOD, too! Combat was more engaging than I thought it was going to be, the soundtrack was phenomenal, and I think I actually prefer the visuals here to the HD-2D style adopted by Octopath Traveler...which disappointed me a bit this year, with the second game being a retread that offered very little by comparison. They don't make games like this any more, and I wish that they did.
Aaaaand that's about it. I am currently making plans for tackling my library - I do not have a backlog, I have a library; I feel the wording here is important - which I'll post...when I'm done. I plan on making 2024 a different, more methodical experience than the speedrun that 2023 has been, and whilst I need to learn to be more spontaneous, having a plan is a good idea too.
...and since 2023 is practically over and I am currently relaxing with a replay of one of my favourite games, what better way to open this than with my Top 10 Games of 2023? In reverse order:
10 - The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Breath of the Wild and I did not get along. It seemed like the game actively went out of its way to stop me from enjoying it at all costs, between the large empty spaces with nothing to do, the weapon durability that actively made me avoid combat so I could save my weapons for when I actually needed them, the lackluster shrines, complete lack of background music, stamina system...I could go on for a while. Tears of the Kingdom shared a lot of that game's flaws, but it also fixed some of the biggest issues I had...or perhaps enough time had passed between when I played Breath of the Wild and when I played this that I've become more forgiving of its flaws. But the fusion system removed the issues I had with durability, made traversal far less aggravating so I was less reliant on stamina, there seemed to be a little more to do in the world than previously - although I still have issues with the micro-tasks and generally lacking dungeons - and it was just...more fun. Mostly. The last part of the game overstayed its welcome a bit, and I wasn't fond of the Depths, but overall I think this game could have been a lot worse.
9 - Final Fantasy XVI
I spent much of Final Fantasy XVI wondering if I really liked it or not. I'm still not entirely sure. This is a game that by rights shouldn't be as satisfying as it is. It has Square Enix's awful ARPG combat, which I find to be an annoying ebb and flow of chip damage punctuated by occasional bursts of stagger damage where your hits still don't feel like they're doing enough. This was on full display here, with numbers rarely reaching into triple digits, and when they actually did not really registering on the enemy's HP bar. Combat wasn't very fun to play, but it WAS very fun to watch. Clearly someone at Square Enix likes to watch anime, because I felt like I was playing out battles from Attack on Titan, Gurren Lagann, and Naruto Shippuden every time I went up against an Eikon. And it was great! I had a hard time caring about the cast other than Dion though, and Jill got demoted to extra so fast it gave me whiplash. I think Yoshida took offense at the term "JRPG" a little too much, because FFXVI is as unlike a JRPG as it's possible to be. The end result is that Final Fantasy XVI doesn't really feel like a Final Fantasy game to me. I think if it had any other name, it would have been absolutely fine and I wouldn't feel so conflicted about it. But as it is...well, I'm not sure. I had fun. But I don't think it was really the right kind of fun for it to leave a lasting impact.
8 - Silent Hope
Small sleeper hit here! Silent Hope didn't really capitalise on its ideas as well as it could have, but it was surprisingly addicting and it felt good to play, even if it was lacking in depth. It's weird, though - I spent the entire game wishing that the princess would just shut the hell up after she repeated the same lines twenty or thirty times, and then in the postgame when she disappeared I just wanted her to come back, because the characters I had been playing as were so lacking in personality that they couldn't possibly fill the void. I used only one character for the main story, which was a bit problematic when I was getting weapons for everyone else, and there wasn't really enough content for me to want to use everyone, which the game was trying very hard to get me to do with all the equipment drops. Maybe if the gear had been a bit easier to craft and didn't require an aggravatingly amount of grinding, or if party members had received even a portion of experience when not in use, I might have been more inclined to do so. A few design flaws here and there, then. But a good time whilst it lasted.
7 - Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless
Oh thank god, Disgaea is back. Disgaea 6 was a bad video game. I'm sorry, but it was. It rendered player effort completely meaningless by having an absurd autoplay function that basically told you to leave the game on idle whilst your stats accrued to the point that they lost all meaning. Disgaea has always been a numbers game, but they've always been within the player's control, and I've always felt they were manageable. Removing that 9999 level cap just made the whole thing feel like a complete waste of time. Combine that with the generally poor story that just refused to end, significantly scaled-back pool of character classes, and absurd DLC costs (at least on Switch) and it actually made me wish the franchise had ended with the fifth instalment. Then along comes Disgaea 7 to restore my love for the franchise. This was the "back for formula" title that the series needed, although it kept some of the things that the sixth game did right - and massively fixed others - and improved upon them. I still think the fourth game is the pinnacle of the series in both storytelling and gameplay, but this was a step in the right direction, and definitely something I would like to revisit at some point.
6 - Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince
Dragon Quest IV is probably my favourite of the main series titles, because it is (or was) unlike anything else I had played at the time. I loved how it put me in the shoes of every party member before drawing them together, and they all had such radically different stories. I've played as many merchants in games since, but Torneko was my first and I'll always be grateful for that, because I could have missed several games and entire series if I didn't have a taste for management thanks to his part of the story. But playing as Psaro was a fun and unique experience, and as someone who grew up with Pokemon and is constantly on the lookout for something better, there was more than enough here to satisfy me. Monster fusion is just so much more interesting than straight-up capture, because it offers so many more options to customise your party. I didn't get out of the lower echelons until around the forty hour mark because I was so busy trying to break the game by creating something unstoppable...I mostly succeeded. The performance issues were a bit disappointing, but I also played The Hidden Treasures of Area Zero this year, so what was here was trivial by comparison, and has been patched since to be a little more bearable. I'm actually still playing this at time of writing, there are 523 monsters (excluding the DLC we don't have yet) and I want them all.
5 - Marvel's Spider-Man 2
I'm a bit of a comic book nerd, I grew up reading Spiderman and watching the cartoons. I wouldn't say I'm a fan of all things Spider-Man - the Amazing duology was terrible, I'm sorry - but I do have a fondness for him. I loved the original game, and the Miles Morales-focused follow-up. I was always going to buy this, especially when I saw that Venom was going to be in it. What I got with this was about what I expected: more of the same, which was what I wanted. A condensed, highly focused open world with meaningful sidequests, fantastic traversal, an emotional and original story (and how often do we get that with Marvel media these days with Disney at the helm?) that feels fresh and familiar at the same time, and a general polish that I would expect from a game this astronomically expensive. I did everything in this and I loved every minute of it, it lifted my mood every time I switched it on, and the wait for the third game is going to be agonising. I just want to see Carnage. Please. Don't keep me waiting another 3+ years.
4 - Metroid Prime Remastered
Probably the nicest surprise that Nintendo dropped on us this year I think. I was hoping for the trilogy in one package, but I appreciate the shadow drop this got at the end of the Direct it was revealed in...so much so that I bought a digital copy immediately, then double dipped for a physical. Metroid Prime was one of my favourite Gamecube games, and although I do prefer the sequel - which I know is a very contentious opinion, but I will die on this hill - revisiting this on my Switch for the first time in years, when I was inches away from getting PrimeHack on my Steam Deck, was a welcome distraction. This game holds up beautifully, especially with the improved controls. It's a bit depressing that an HD remaster of a title over 20 years old is so high up on my list for this year, but nonetheless, it is what it is.
3 - Resident Evil 4
I actually love Resident Evil 4 a lot more than I thought I do. It turns out I've bought it for every single platform I've owned since it released - I have, or have had, it on Gamecube, PS2, PS3, Xbox360, PS4, Steam, AND Switch. When I think about my favourite games of all time, it's not one I really count. But it's a game I love to go back to regularly. The remake was a little disappointing in places - it dialled back on the outrageous cheese that made the game feel more like Devil May Cry than Resident Evil in narrative tone, most notably - but it was a wonderful modern iteration that doesn't outright replace the original, making it a valuable experience for that alone. I could go back and play the original game and not feel as though I was playing a lesser experience, and I could also play this and feel like I had an acceptable alternative. Not many remakes can do that: they either outright replace, or make you wish for the original. For the best relevant example I can think of, look at Pokemon HeartGold/Soulsilver and Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl when compared to the original versions. This had the Resident Evil remake issue of bullets not feeling like they did enough damage, but other than that I have no complaints.
2 - Theatrhythm Final Bar Line
I don't like every Final Fantasy game. I've never been hugely enamored with VII, or IX, or XIII. But I do love the soundtrack. Curtain Call was one of my favourite 3DS titles, and rhythm games as a whole. Bar Line's DLC schedule made me wince a little (I still don't have the third season pass actually...) and I'm a little annoyed by the selection and balance of tracks - FFXIV did not need that much space - but I had a ridiculous amount of fun with this and I'm still not done with it. I probably never will be, because perfecting a song on the highest difficulty is completely beyond my skill level. But that's OK! This gives me a great way to experience some of my favourite tracks from across the franchise. I love the visuals, too. I'm actually going to start a drawing project based on that style. Or I would like to.
1 - Star Ocean: The Second Story R
This is an easy winner for me this year. Star Ocean is one of my favourite JRPG series, and Second Story is unquestionably the pinnacle of the franchise. Square Enix have been dropping a lot of titles over the last couple of years in particular that I didn't expect, and many of them have been either better than I expected (I am one of those rare people who actually enjoyed Forspoken, leave me alone) or exactly as good as they should be (Tactics Ogre Reborn was glorious, and apart from the terrible voice acting Crisis Core Reunion was delightful too) and this was never going to be anything other than absolute perfection. The quality of life changes made to the gameplay made playing this feel so GOOD, too! Combat was more engaging than I thought it was going to be, the soundtrack was phenomenal, and I think I actually prefer the visuals here to the HD-2D style adopted by Octopath Traveler...which disappointed me a bit this year, with the second game being a retread that offered very little by comparison. They don't make games like this any more, and I wish that they did.
Aaaaand that's about it. I am currently making plans for tackling my library - I do not have a backlog, I have a library; I feel the wording here is important - which I'll post...when I'm done. I plan on making 2024 a different, more methodical experience than the speedrun that 2023 has been, and whilst I need to learn to be more spontaneous, having a plan is a good idea too.