2014 In Games
 

5 days late because my internet went out!

Time once again to review the games I played over the course of the last 365-odd days. Some old stuff, some new stuff, mostly Civ. It's actually quite strange to do this as it makes me realise how poor my sense of time is- the memory of getting my xbox controller for last chistmas feels more recent than the memory of playing most of the games I used it for.

Anyway, in no particular order due to the aforementioned time sense:

Ikaruga

Well, this one's kind of a cheat since I played the Gamecube version to absolute death. But seeing one of my favourite games of all time in glorious and beautiful HD, playable on my PC... yeah, this was a day one purchase and although I'm still really bad at it, the game is so gorgeous I don't even care. As far as shooters go, this is a masterclass. It's tough, for sure, but it's never unfair, and every death comes with a feeling of “I could have done that better”, and never “that was cheap”. The PC release was self-published so Treasure were able to put the story text back, which as a fanboy made me very happy, but it doesn't really add anything to the game itself.

Fairy Bloom Freesia

A pretty fun kill-everything-with-extreme-violence 'em up, under a cutesy veneer. Knackers the thumbs but if you play in moderation it's fast and fluid.

Long Live The Queen

There's a lot of branches to this but I don't really have the stamina to explore all of them, there's a lot of repetition involved and I just keep feeling like I'd be better served playing something else. Good while it lasts though and getting to your first ending is enough of a trial in itself.

Civ V

I've only just acquired the two expansions so this is only on the base game, but the fact I lost several days to only that should tell you everything you need to know. Now... just one more turn...

Transistor

I played this hotseat with my girlfriend as it wouldn't work on her laptop so I'd want to give it another run through before reviewing it properly, but comparisons between it and Bastion are inevitable. It's a lot darker in tone than Bastion was- they're both about the end of the world, but Bastion felt more wonderous and fantastical. Transistor was also a lot stingier with its story, since the narrator was telling the story from within it rather than as an overseer. The gameplay is astonishingly customisable though and I've not even begun to skim the depth it has.

Blackwell

I wrote a pretty in-depth review for this wonderful series over here, so please read it through.

Dust

It's like playing a Disney film, I've never seen animation like it. Absolutely gorgeous to watch. It's also a pretty fun metroidvania, though the story is a bit flimsy. Combat is very satisfying. Definitely want a controller.

Skyrim

I hardly need to introduce Skyrim. I have plenty of annoyances with the game- the enemy that can disarm you is hugely frustrating and I had to reload the game a hundred times because my unique weapon fell out of the universe; the environments are all pretty dull; the intro cinematic kept breaking; fighting dragons as a stealthy character is- charitably- an exercise in patience; the characters are about as engaging as toilet paper. The fact remains, though, that I sunk 90 hours into it and still only completed two-third or three-quarters of what it had to offer- and that's the base game without any DLC. Playing through as a wizard seems like it'd be a different enough gameplay experience to almost call it a different game. If you want to lose yourself in a huge world for hours at a time, I can recommend no greater.

FF8

In fairness I played this one as a youngin, but it was released on Steam recently so I played it through again as an adult. Perhaps the standout issue for me was how forced the romance felt- there were really bizarre tonal shifts shoehorned into seemingly random places. Our team is in a high-tempo covert operation to disable an attacking enemy fortress before every one of our friends is killed in the fight that is going on all around us- lets talk about the meaning of that necklace you're wearing and have an awkward romantic moment. It felt like the game was in a mostly-finished state when someone in a suit told the team “yo, romance is in, we need a romance plot in the game too”. Very strange and jarring. Sans the romance, the game is still fun to play, but bears the hallmarks of early 3D RPGs.

Fly'N

Fly'n is a platformer with some of the most charming art and design I've ever seen. It's pretty fiendish though and there's a lot to find in each level- unfortunately some frustrating and cheap moments precluded me from ever attempting it. If you can forgive frequent one-errant-pixel deaths and the quite fiddly controls, the design of the levels themselves is still pretty good and the charm of the player characters will see you through.

Giana Sisters Owlverlord

Owlverlord is a small expansion pack to the original title adding a handful of new levels. The amiga-era pedigree is very apparent- it's an oldskool platformer at heart, with the modern sensibilities that make games more playable. It's standalone, but I would suggest not starting with this one.

Mark Of The Ninja

Mark of the Ninja sees your ninja protagonist off on a quest for revenge that involves large amounts of murder- or none at all, depending on how you play. This 2d platformer does stealth WONDERFULLY, and that’s not easy praise- sounds are visualised so you can always tell what effect your actions will have and plan accordingly. Considering Ninja’s acrobatic moveset the controls are absolutely superb too, almost reacting to your thoughts rather than button presses. It hardly ever happened that Ninja did one thing when I wanted him to do another. If a stealth game has ever made you frown, let Ninja change your mind. Huge recommendation.

Stanley Parable

Stanley is a very difficult game to give an opinion on, not least because going into it forewarned even slightly will diminish the effect. I greatly enjoyed the dark, british humour the game presents, which is about as much as I can say about it. Go and watch the trailers and if you’re intrigued or the humour resonates, give Stanley’s demo a go. I can’t promise you’ll like it, but I can say you won’t have played anything else quite like it.

Toki Tori

I’m not one for puzzle games, but something about toki tori just hit the spot. The rewind function is a tremendous part of why- it should come as standard in every puzzle game ever. The levels are cleverly designed and it’s usually clear what your aim is- though figuring out how to arrive there is another matter.

Beyond Good And Evil

I’d heard great things about this game, but sadly the camera in the PC version is awful beyond words and made me feel legitimately unwell after a play session. I imagine it’d be vastly improved with a controller, but the PC version doesn’t support them. I wasn’t able to finish it as a result.

Croixleur

Anime slash-em-up, astonishingly bare-bones and short. I wasn’t impressed with this game at all- combat is slow and clunky and it’s far too easy to get interrupted in the middle of a combo. Apparently there’s more meat in the challenge mode but honestly, I couldn’t be bothered to find out. Maybe it’s more fun if you’re into this kinda game. 100% need a controller for it, be forewarned.

RUSH

Block and tile puzzler from the same devs as toki tori, and exhibiting much the same qualities of hitting the Just-Right spot for me to enjoy. Later levels unfortunately get a bit cluttered and messy, but the early levels are smart and very satisfying to watch the completed solutions.

Superfrog HD

Nostalgia clouds this one as I was a childhood fan of the amiga original, but it feels like Mr Frog should have stayed there. The original was a platformer with a lot of charm and character, but this remake somehow loses that. Bafflingly the HD version does away with lots of the mechanics the original was iconic for- having to explore the levels to collect enough coins to open the gates is replaced with a simple time limit, and the slot machine that granted passwords (admittedly, probably not the most modern-friendly game concept) now just unlocks bonus levels.

Worms Blast

Bust-a-move with a Worms twist, it adds physics and, more importantly, explosions to the mix. I’m not a fan of bust-a-move games so I didn’t spend long here, but with a friend it’d be a............ BLAST!!!!! ::V:

Worms Revolution

Putting the worms in 2.5d takes the magic eureka formula of Worms Armageddon and makes it slow and cumbersome and fiddly. Amusing narration from IT Crowd’s Mr. Deynholm isn’t enough to save it- the added class mechanic doesn’t seem to really add much to the game, and dynamic water is impressive to watch but only slows the flow of gameplay down even more. Armageddon remains king of the Worms castle, stick with that one.

Blocks That MATTER

This is a block puzzler that would greatly benefit from Toki Tori's time rewind feature. Getting to the end of the level and realising you need a block you used earlier, with no way of knowing not to sue that block, happens frequently and is a frustrating “gotcha!” rather than smart puzzle design. If you don't mind restarting levels over and over, I'm told this is one of the better block puzzlers.

Katawa Shoujo

A western-developed visual novel that involves very little interactivity, this one tells the story of Hisao, a young man with a heart condition who is sent to a private school designed to cater for kids with disabilities. Along the way he becomes involved with one of five girls whose story then takes up the bulk of the rest of the game. I was worried going into this one that it'd be kinda gross and fetishy, or that the story would involve trying to “fix” them or have them become wholly and uterrly dependent on Hisao, but I was pleasantly surprised; the stories are well handled and the girls each have their own philosophy towards their disabilities, to which Hisao is the one to adapt. (There is one track that I played where Hisao does become overbearingly smothering, and it ends very badly for him.) The sex scenes (and please be aware these are full sex scenes, not modestly implied Dragon Age style sex) are handled differently than I expected too- the images are obviously designed to arouse but the actual scenes feel more like just stuff that is happening rather than pornography. Some of them are funny, some of them end badly (cough cough, heart condition), but they actually feel like part of the story and not just tacked on for boobs' sake. I am able-bodied myself so it's possible I've missed something eyebrow-raising, but to me it feels altogether well-handled, and I recommend it.

Touhou 10 Mountain Of Faith

I somehow never played this one so decided to change that- and it's quickly become a favourite. The game is by leaps and bounds the prettiest in the series (that waterfall stage!) and the final boss fight is brilliantly exciting.

Fire Emblem: Awakening

Wonderfully realised SRPG with remarkably likeable characters. Long-time fans of the series will have some complaints, but ignore them- this is a superb game that should be in every 3DS library. Lissa is my wifey.

Pokemon Pearl

I didn't play a pokemon game after Red until Soul Silver came out, and I only moved forward, so this was a real backwards step for me. Even disregarding the improvements that have been made to the series since, this entry just... isn't very good. The map is confusing and the battles are incredibly slow-paced. It also suffers HM bloating- don't make me carry two utility pokemon just to get to the final boss, game. Let me use my full team.

Zelda Oracle Of Ages

Still playing this one! Early opinions are that it feels very rom-hacky- which makes sense, considering that's in essence what it is. The juxtaposition of new assets alongside reused stuff from Awakening, and the reuse of assets in different ways (music being used for different purposes, eg) contribute to that feeling massively.

Professor Layton Curious Village

The story was frankly quite bizarre, but the puzzles were fun for the most part (though sliding block puzzles can go straight back to hell). Interested in the rest of the series.

Ace Attorney Dual Destinies

I don't know how to describe these games, but if you aren't averse to doing a lot of reading every one of the AA games is a recommendation. Dual Destinies presents a great jumping-on point for anyone who missed the boat- it makes reference to older games but it tells its own story.

Jetpack Joyride

It's an endless runner, and probably one of the best of its ilk. A humourous undercurrent throughout and fun upgrades, the use of a missions system kept me playing long after I would have become bored with score chasing.

Nanaca Crash

It's the flash game, made portable! As addictive as ever, and now it can make your bus journeys less boring.

Love Live School Idol Festival

Listen. The rhythm action gameplay is really well done, the songs are fun, the girls are cute, and there's loads of them to collect. It's anime as heck, I know, but whatever machismo or pride or embarrassment or whatever makes you look at it and think “shrrrr”, swallow it down and come dance with us.

I can't remember which games I played last year beyond the ones I'm still playing, so I'll just comment on the ones you played that I also played.

Dust would probably have been more fun if I had played on a higher difficulty. For me, combat was "Shoot fairy gun, spin sword, dodge if everything isn't dead, repeat as needed," especially after getting the lightening bullets. I read you don't get as much magic in higher difficulties and have to actually combo to use magic at all, but I don't really feel like doing the whole thing again but harder. That said, the music and art was nice. Also, not sure if it's the Linux build or just my computer, but I encountered a glitch where, the first time in a game session one of the animated cutscenes showed up, it would play without sound, then play the sound on a black screen. If I reached another animated cutscene in the same session then it would play normally, but those cinematics were so spread out that, with I think one exception, I had to sit through all of them twice.

Mark of the Ninja I still haven't finished the second level of because I actually have a really hard time with the controls. So I play the first level again, remember what button does what, fail at level two, then put the game away until I've forgotten how to play again, then repeat the pattern. Maybe now that I have a controller of the proper shape I'll give it a go with greater success.

I know I didn't play Katawa Shoujo last year. I got the release build when it came out, played through the first two acts, but I kept getting distracted while reading, and by the time I reached Rin's third act I was pretty sure I had missed some important information, so I stopped. Then I never went back. True story. I think pretending to be a high school boy again was just too uncomfortable for me. High school sucked.

The Zelda Oracle games are pretty neat. I prefer Seasons, but that's almost certainly because Seasons was my game and Ages was my brothers. I've only played Ages once as the second part of my first Seasons run-through, but I've played Seasons more times than I can remember. I feel like you get to see more of the world in Seasons, with the eponymous seasonal gimmick as well as the underground Subrosia. Ages' place and place-again-but-the-past feels... lesser. Again, it's probably all in my head, you're going to have fun.

I have half a mind to play the Love Live game. How hard does it pump you for money, and do I need a G+ account or to make some other account to play?

I'm going through the list here. I might look over one or two by mistake, but I'll do my best.

Assassin's Creed Liberation was pretty good. I can understand why people would take issue with this game who played it on the Vita. Some of the details are hard to see, even blown up on a big screen TV. The AI is weird and there are a number of bugs, but that seems par for the course as far as AC games go these days (particularly in the AC3 era). I really liked the main character of this game though.

I got Lightning Returns for Christmas but haven't played it yet.

Earth Defense Force 2025!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(!!!!) (buy this game)

Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends... a very good add-on to DW8. I tend to buy every Dynasty Warriors/Romance of the Three Kingdoms related game and so...yeah. I hated DW7. DW8 was better, but came up kinda short. Playing DW8XL in tandem with DW8 was better. I ended up Platinuming it, so...


Child of Light: My favorite game of 2014. If you do not own this you need to f'sho.


...that seems to be it. Looks like my 2014 adventure into video-games ended in February...

I played a number of other games, just older ones. Like FF13, GTAV, New Vegas, etc.

I intend to play both- I looked around online which to play first and it seemed roughly 60-40 in favour of Ages so I went with it. Apparently Ages is a lot more puzzle-heavy, and it certainly feels like it, at least using Link's Awakening as a yardstick.

It depends a lot- you get enough "live points" and they regenerate fast enough that you can play casually and never run out (the currency you buy with $$$ is love gems which instantly refill your Live Points if you really want to play more, but they seem to throw a lot of love gems at you all the time). Love gems are also used to scout new members though and if there's a specific girl you want, you'd probably need to open your wallet since it's entirely random what you get. For reference, I've played six weeks and haven't spent a penny yet.

You only need access to your android or iOS storefront to download it, and the game asks you to register an account within it which is just a case of choosing a username and a starting girl.

This is the impression that we got playing through both back in the day, that Ages was about solving puzzles and Seasons was about fighting monsters.
As I haven't watched the show and thus don't have any attachment to any particular character, that sounds fine. I'll probably give it a whirl tomorrow.

Snake Review Time
 

I'll just review games that were actually released in 2014, because if I tried to review every game I played in 2014, it'd be an atrociously long list. Even by Snake-Wall standards.

Bravely Default: It looks gorgeous, plays well but no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't get into it. I've been on record as the type of gamer who cares disproportionately about story and characters over gameplay, and these characters and the plot didn't hook me. It reminds me eerily of how I felt about Final Fantasy VI -- everything's mechanically sound, it's clear to me why other gamers love it, it's clear it objectively deserves praise, but it just subjectively falls flat for poor, jaded, cynical Solid Snake, for some bullshit arbitrary reason which explains why I'd be terrible as a games critic.

Danganronpa Trigger Happy Havoc: Absolutely phenomenal. It's basically a more mature, more complex Phoenix Wright-style courtroom drama except teenagers are murdering each other and you can't trust anyone. A few of the characters are one-dimensional and one important plot twist in particular is poorly handled, but the writing is snappy and it kind of deliciously straddles the line of perverseness without becoming too tasteless; there's a bit of voyeurism and a bit too much sanctification in each execution but it's just lighthearted enough that you're willing to forgive its deviance. It's like that class clown in high school who's so great at comedy and so innately likable as a person that s/he can make jokes about the worst possible subjects and s/he still somehow 'gets away with it.' That's what playing Danganronpa feels like.

Lightning Returns: The FFXIII series in general is the polar opposite of Final Fantasy VI or Bravely Default for Snake personally; it's the series that every gamer despises that Snake plays and is like, "These games are hated? I mean it's not perfect but there's a lot of awesome ideas buried in here." That was only kind of true for the first game in the series, which was the weakest of the lot, but FFXIII-2 was a genuine masterpiece and one of the best games of 2012 and dammit, I'm sticking to my guns on that one. (Seriously, just listen to Noel's Theme, it's one the best orchestral pieces in gaming. And Noel is an underrated gem of a character.) Lightning Returns doesn't quite reach FFXIII-2's brilliance, in large part because Lightning just isn't allowed to show the same emotional range as Serah or Noel and she's forced to carry the show on her own, and the Pokemon-style Monster raising in FFXIII-2 is gone and there's nothing weighty to replace it with, but I was surprisingly touched by the resolution of most of the character arcs and there's just something surprisingly compelling about Lightning Return's unique portrayal of a surprisingly lively dying world.

Toukiden: I just got Freedom Wars and I'll be interested to compare and contrast the two once I've invested time into the latter, but Toukiden is a competent Monster Hunter clone that does a lot of gameplay-related things well for a portable game where you collect materials and kill demons. Still, the story is so bland and so utterly, incomprehensibly forgettable that I can't even remember what the hell it was about. I just wish a game in this style actually invested an iota of thought into plot and characterization.

Final Fantasy X Remastered: It's a competent HD upscale of one of the better Final Fantasies, but it's just not quite as magical the second time around. It didn't quite retain the same replay value that, say, FFVII had when I was younger. Whether it's a result of a half-assed translation or whether even the original Japanese script was this bad, the dialogue is just atrocious to listen to at times. The heart's in the right place, but you still can't help but cringe. It's like having your high school crush finally reciprocate your affections, only s/he does so ten years after you've gotten over him/her and the heartfelt confession is so cheesy you can barely take it seriously. You know you really like this person and you know it's a dream come true, but dammit, the delivery wasn't what you imagined it'd be and the same person you adored in high school is now a decade older and hasn't done much with their lives since.

...But Auron is still such a lovable badass you're going to gleefully make out with it anyway.

Child of Light: I need to actually play this game I purchased sometime or Speroni's going to kill me.

Drakengard 3: It's not quite NieR, but given that NieR's basically going to retire as my undisputed Champion for the PS3 Generation of gaming, nothing could match it. Drakengard 3's introductory sequence is quite possibly my favorite intro of the year and, from there, it's a zany, sex-positive romp with all the twists and turns you'd expect. I haven't beaten Drak 3 in all its iterative forms yet so I can't really make any definitive claims but it doesn't seem so far to match NieR's emotional intensity -- I mean, this isn't a father fighting for his gravely ill daughter, and Zero's cussin'-everythin' hostility is sometimes just so over the top that you can't manage to take her as seriously as you take NieR's genuine and heartfelt raw determination (seriously, can every male hero in future RPGs be written like that guy?)

The gameplay is generic and the graphics are, well, somewhere between PS2 and PS3-era in quality (I played a sequence in NieR and a sequence in Drak 3 back-to-back for comparison's sake a few months back and I quipped to myself that I'd have guessed NieR was the newer title) but there's a lot to love about Drak 3 if you can get over its flaws and shortcomings, which is the kind of flavorless sentiment that rings true about everyone and everything. But Drakengard 3's respective successes and failures are just so unique compared to everything else in the industry that it's worth checking out, if only to admire the game's uncompromising vision of a strong female heroine who loves to have sex but always feels in full control of her sex life and who doesn't feel subjected to male gaze...the rarity of an empowered sexually active woman who won't take anyone's shit and who often acts independently of the wishes of the gamer 'controlling' her on the battlefield is a great sight to behold.

Transistor: I can't say I was as fond as this title as, well, the collective masses of Gamerdom, but its soundtrack, damn, what an incredible soundtrack. Just don't spoil the plot of this one for me as I haven't beaten it yet, it's that game I constantly intend to play right after I finish the game I'm currently playing, but I keep buying new games and poor Transistor is perpetually delayed.

Tropico 5: It's SimCity with a whimsical sense of humor, but once you've developed one island into a bustling tropical metropolis, there really isn't much incentive to go back and replay it. I really wish I hadn't paid full price on it, but if you want to distract yourself for a dozen hours or so with some mindless fun, definitely consider it when it's inevitably on sale for pennies on the dollar during the next Steam sale. Just be forewarned that is ridiculously easy, preparing a dish of Velveeta macaroni and cheese will demand more forethought.

Divinity Original Sin: I will never understand how this beat out the likes of Shadow of Mordor or Inquisition to be GameSpot's game of the year, unless GameSpot was just attempting to be contrarian for the sake of being contrarian, but even then, there's so many other, better games from 2014 to rebel against conformity with. I spent half the damn time skipping endless words of dialogue that just bored the crap out of me. I know I care more about plot and story than most gamers do, but I feel like when you're writing an RPG, that ought to be a prime consideration, but everything in this world is so lifeless and flat, and the game just seems to parody RPG tropes for the mere sake of doing so, without any consideration of context or any desire to evoke genuine laughter. It's like watching a really terrible stand-up comedian, only the comedian suddenly appears to begin his/her routine in the middle of an epic fantasy movie, and you're like, "What the fuck is Adam Sandler doing here, ranting and raving about the trials of modern-day life in New York City when I just want to rescue some peasants, master some magic and slay some fucking goblins?"

Tales of Xillia 2: I think the easiest summation of my Xillia 2 experience is to note that, upon getting the premature so-called "Bad Ending" for this title, I was so profoundly moved that I refuse to actually achieve the "Normal" and "True" Endings.

...You might think that's a compliment, but it really isn't. The reason why it isn't is because this story's plot shits all over the lovable characters from the original Xillia. It's actually kind of a brilliant storytelling device, but just one that I feel is utterly inappropriate for the Tales series: The characters you love from the first game return but circumstances have changed to such an extent that they're doing all kinds of sketchy and immoral things, deceiving new characters who bring a new perspective to people you once cared for and loved. It's like learning your best friend's been living a secret life all along as a dastardly serial killer, and you have to deal with the ensuing trauma of killing said best friend in order to save countless innocents and restore your lost dignity as a decent person. And in many other series, this twist would work phenomenally, but the Tales series is always so light-hearted in tone and lackadaisical that there's just this profound, ugly disconnect between the jovial banter among the characters and what the characters are actually doing. And as you're playing it all you can't help but think to yourself that it'd be much better executed under any other developer who makes RPGs, but the Tales crew is the last possible team you'd want handling this, as they're painting a smiley face over genocide and asking you not squint really hard and see the massacres taking place behind the harmless conversations about everyone's favorite colors. (The disconnect is particularly bizarre when one of the characters bending over backwards to understand the justification for executing countless numbers of innocent people is an adorable young girl, barely entering puberty.)

...It is, however, a painstaking recreation of the horrific experience of owing an excessive amount of debt. Which, despite the absurd realism of said premise, is actually one of the few things Xillia 2 executes exceedingly well. A Debt Simulator! Just what I always wanted to play!!!

The Walking Dead Season Two: Season Two never quite matches Season One's zenith of cathartic storytelling achievement. But that's pretty much to be expected; after the unexpected soaring success of the original, any sequel was bound to be less shocking and less moving. We've devoured the best Telltale had to offer this universe already, and now we're just eating leftovers. What was more surprising to me personally is how -- despite this being a sequel to Season One, and therefore the type of game you'd expect to tout mechanical if not narrative improvements -- Season Two feels like a regression in all facets. Until the very end of Episode Five, the choices are less meaningful and have less an impact on the overarching story than they did previously. The gameplay sequences where you're mashing buttons feel even more bland. There's no innovation here, no new gameplay sequence to open up new possibilities or to challenge players. The ethical dilemmas you're confronted with are less grey in hue, though that does improve in later episodes.

What Season Two does have going for it is Clementine, whose maturation into a more capable and independent person is one of the few things Telltale really handles right. And [SPOILER], who is awesome. And [OTHER SPOILER], who isn't quite as deftly handled as [SPOILER], but whose inclusion in the narrative does finally provide for intriguing interpersonal tension in later episodes that the first few episodes sorely lacked.

Professor Layton VS Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: I'm not sure if I would have believed you if you told me a year ago that I'd prefer this game over Dual Destinies, but this game is better than Dual Destinies in nearly every imaginable respect. Better music, a more intriguing central mystery, better twists in turns in a strange but compelling narrative that gripped me from the moment it started. (And the mechanic in trials of dealing with multiple witnesses at once on the stand is absolutely something the mainline Ace Attorney series needs to borrow into its future titles.) It's hard for me to gush too much Layton VS Wright because it was quickly displaced in my mind by Danganronpa 2, and it's hard for just about any visual novel to compare well to any iteration in the Danganronpa series. But Layton VS Wright finished with a beautiful, meticulously concocted final act that just resonated with the contours of my soul like really phenomenal poetry does. All the puzzle pieces fit perfectly into place, the conclusion made me shed tears, and for a brief moment in time, all was right in the universe.

...On the more cynical side of the coin, though, the puzzles were egregiously easy and Layton's story arc wasn't nearly as interesting as Wright's, because the trials were much better than the puzzles. And given that Level 5 apparently was responsible for this, I'm shocked to say this, but I really feel like Phoenix and Maya as characters were handled better throughout the story compared with Layton and Luke. I mean, you'd expect it to be the opposite way around, so go figure.

Danganronpa 2 Goodbye Despair: It's hard to compare and contrast the two Danganronpas as each game excels, but in remarkably different ways. The original Danganronpa has a tighter overarching story to tie everything together, but Danganronpa 2's individual cases were more interesting. Danganronpa 2 has better characters overall, but the best characters in the original game survive longer, whereas the best characters in Danganronpa 2's cast tend to be forcibly expelled from the narrative. There are major social justice-related issues in the original Danganronpa that are handled slightly better in the sequel, but only slightly. Danganronpa 2's trials were much more difficult, with many more unexpected twists, but many of the sequel's minigames were also much more tedious. The main characters in both titles are very different individuals with very different worldviews, but they both have unique strengths and weaknesses as amateur sleuths that make them equally endearing. At any rate, I highly recommend them both. Together, they tell a delightfully macabre story that somehow manages to simultaneously be philosophically deep and pulp-fiction shallow (shallow in the good sense, though, like the ludicrously earnest Spanish soap opera you simply can't stop watching.)

And, Gundham Tanaka: Best character or BEST character?!?

Shadow of Mordor: So, really, who would have guessed that the best Assassin's Creed game to come out this year wasn't going to be an Assassin's Creed game at all, or even be made by Ubisoft? What's strange to reflect upon when considering Shadow of Mordor is how the Middle-earth setting is arguably the weak link of the game; Monolith really doesn't have much nuance to add to the story of Sauron's ascent to power, Talion isn't an exciting or an engaging protagonist, and Gollum's presence is treated as an afterthought. The Nemesis system, and the intertwined complexity of the sociopolitical lives of Orcs, is the sole component that elevates Mordor to the stratosphere. Without it, this game wastes away into the oblivion of mediocrity. With it, it's a genuine contender for Game of the Year.

...So basically, let's all pretend to be surprised when every new release in 2016 touts its own version of the Nemesis system. It's inevitable, but it's a positive force for the industry, because the introduction of a robustly developing narrative that the player fashions independently of linear storytelling restraints is exactly what videogames need.

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax: What's fascinating about the unexpected explosion of the Persona 4 series into all these spinoffs is how each new edition seems hellbent on gradually destroying the integrity of the original narrative. Persona 4 was a phenomenal game, but the Animation was incredibly problematic in simplifying its once nuanced portrayal of LGBT characters like Kanji and Naoto -- and, even more importantly, other characters' responses to the existence of said minorities in their world. Golden took all of the Animation's major issues and highlighted them; nearly every objectionable piece of content in the Animation was in some sense furthered in Golden's new and exclusive content. It's as if Atlus' feedback to the Animation was that everything terrible was actually phenomenal, and the world needed more of it.

I guess the best thing that could be said about Ultimax is that it's actually the first apparent reversal of this trend (I've also heard decent things about Persona Q, but I haven't gotten far enough in it to include it in this list.) Ultimax still has sketchy moments, but there are less damning individual moments of sleaziness or bigotry than in Arena or Golden, which is...good? I guess? Once something's stained though, it's hard to pretend any subsequent iteration can be cleansed. But the most damning criticism of Ultimax is that it's simply Arena DLC that's priced as a new full release. There's nothing here that demands even a $30 price tag, let alone a $60 one.

Dragon Age Inquisition: What else can I say? It's almost certainly my GOTY, and I'd say it's a delightful return to form for Bioware, except I was the one and only asshole on this planet who really loved Dragon Age 2, so I can't honestly say that because this series has always been on an upward trajectory after the fairly mediocre Origins. (Yes, my Dragon Age opinions are controversial.) One or two minor missteps aside, this experience reminded me of how first playing Skyrim on my brand new PC felt way back in...2011? (Was it seriously that long ago?) Just be sure to upgrade your PC graphics card for this, and don't try playing it on PS3 or X360...it's still a fine game on last-gen, but it's so much better soaring with the eagles in Ultra-land, where it belongs.


...There are probably at least a few other games released in 2014 that I've purchased and played but missed, but damn, I'm tired. I have to end this while I can still pretend any one of you might read it.

Child of Light is pretty short too, so that's nice. I like big games if the content matters or feels like it's enriching the world somehow. Most ofthe time though it's just fluff that wastes your time (like most of FF13).

I dunno, maybe I've overhyped CoL, but I was really taken by that game. Especially visually and musically.

The last game of 2014 I completed was Arkham Origins (which was a 2013 game?). It was a pretty average experience, and, speaking of fluff, it had a lot of it. I think I was through the main story in maybe a day and I started the game on Hard. But I really enjoy the Arkham spin on the Batman universe, so I even went out of my way for the fluff. Not gotta Platinum it though, thanks to online bullshit and some fairly dumb offline trophies.

Working on Downpour right now.

How do you people manage to find the time to play this many games the fuck?! I think I played 3 games this year, all of them cheap short puzzlers/2d sidescrollers (Spacechem, Gunpoint and Super Time Force).

I guess I also technically played one of those newer Worms games but I don't count that because Worms is Worms pretty much, and I watched a friend play some Alien Isolation breifly but I can't really say much because it seems more like the kind of thing you need to play on your own, at night, in the dark, rather than in a group during the afternoon whilst you're all hungover.

I guess I just haven't been impressed enough with anything that's come out recently to occupy my time gaming, I think because a lot of stuff is now just for ps4/Xbone and I haven't upgraded (and in a circular way, I haven't done so because nothing on those systems has interested me anyway, go figure), and partly because most of my disposable income has been spent playing MTG.

Hopefully they'll be something more to peak my interest this year and/or I'll finally get a decent gaming rig so I can catch up on some older things I've wanted to try out. I may also finally cap out on my Magic expenditure/addiction.

After I Platinum'd FF13 I actually quit playing games entirely for awhile. Maybe a month or two. I started questioning what the point was in playing games and what I was after in the experience. I read more books and started watching movies.

Eventually I came back around thanks to New Vegas. Since it's one of my most favorite games to play (on Very Hard with Hardcore turned on of course!) I gave that a whirl and it helped remind me that I liked playing games...though I still don't have words for it.

But I've pretty much given up on trophies and the stress/work that comes with getting good at fighting games (which is why I'll never buy a fighting game ever again). I may still attempt to Platinum a game if the list is good, but never again will I do the kind of horseshit FF13 had.

It's a lot easier to find time to play games when I approach them casually!

I read it! I can hardly start a thread with a wall of text and then not read through other peoples'. It's funny how we both played a lot of games this year but there's only one we share.

Probably because we don't have a time-consuming hobby getting in the way of our time-consuming hobby. ::V: