Vidya Log September 2017

This was far too long for a tweet so here I am, at the fancier version of Twitlonger.

I’ve actually been playing quite a few games this year since I have a long commute every day, so I’ve been tearing through handheld games like no one’s business. I’m going to compile a list of games I’ve played from start to finish this year and give a rough ranking/recommendation list since I think it’s worth sharing.

First, the list of games I’ve played:

In Progress:

• Super Smash Bros Melee (As long as my hands work)
• Sonic Mania (I honestly might drop it idk)
• Kirby: Planet Robobot
• Xenoblade 3D (JP ver, so no “Chronicles”)
• PUBG (Only if the boyz are playing)

Dropped:

• The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (Might pick back up)
• Bayonetta
• Lawbreakers (lol this game fuckin sux)
• Fire Emblem Heroes (does this even count as a game)
• Bloodborne
• GGXrd Rev2
• Strike Vector EX

(I really feel bad dropping those last three, they’re amazing games but BB framerate give me a headache and I don’t have the time to learn the other two :<)

Completed:

• NieR: Automata
• Sniper Elite 4 (want to upgrade my PC and play again)
• Dark Souls 3 (x4)
• Memory’s Dogma
• Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA (Vita ver, will play PC ver too)
• Tokyo Xanadu
• Fire Emblem Echoes
• Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask
• Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy
• Great Ace Attorney/Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2

Planned:

• Pokemon Ultra Moon
• Metroid: Samus Returns
• Furi
• Sonic Forces
• Super Mario Odyssey
• Zelda BotW

The 2017 Top 5:

1. Great Ace Attorney 2
2. Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA*
3. Sniper Elite 4
4. NieR: Automata
5. Fire Emblem Echoes

• : Ys VIII Vita ver was released in 2016. I’m leaving it on here because the premium PS4/PC ver is from this year.

Notes on Some Games:

In General

I didn’t realize how heavily Nintendo-leaning my game tastes still are until recently. After switching between my Vita and 3DS for my commute over the past few months, I’ve noticed a certain degree of polish on first-party Nintendo games that is just not present on most Vita games.

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA

What a game. I can only sing praise about this title, this is an action RPG done right. The combat is fast and furious but at the same time rewards taking the time to accurately input your attacks, blocks, and dodges. The story is full of mystery and made me unable to put the game down until I found out what was going on. The characters are likeable enough that you emotionally invest in a handful of them, though that was a bit lacking in retrospect. And that OST… oh man. I really don’t mind paying the full $60 for the Steam version and another large sum for the OST if it means I can listen to Iclucian Dance more…

Tokyo Xanadu and Trails of Cold Steel

Immediately after finishing Ys VIII, I started scoping out other Falcom titles. Unfortunately, it looks like Ys is an outlier in terms of the pace of combat. Tokyo Xanadu had an okay cast but the combat was god fucking awful, I almost dropped it, but I had no other games in my backlog at the time so I just finished it. Not the worst, but several steps down from Ys.

And then Trails of Cold Steel… I had heard great things about it, but it was literally just Tokyo Xanadu, but instead of real time combat, you got turn based combat… better right? No, it meant that every time you started a combat encounter, you had to wait 5–10 seconds for the combat to load… After barely being able to get through one dungeon on my 50-minute one-way train ride, I gave up.

I might try the PC version, but I don’t think I can sit through a turn based RPG on my PC.

Sonic Mania

For years, fans of the classic Sonic games have complained about how the 3D Sonic games didn’t feel right, and that they wish that they just made another game just like the Genesis games. For these people, Sonic Mania is a godsend for a number of reasons.

I stand in the opposite camp: I really never liked the 2D Sonic games, and always thought they were too slow and the physics never felt quite right to me. I play Sonic games for the feeling of speed, and that feeling is pretty rare in the Genesis-style games.

I don’t dispute the fact that Sonic Mania is a good game nor the fact that it’s literally the best 2D Sonic game to ever exist, but as a 3D Sonic fan, the game feels slow and in general, just wrong.

And by 3D Sonic, I am not referring to the Adventure series. I am referring to this:

PUBG

Despite not playing CSGO lately, I am still a CS player at heart when it comes to FPS. I quit playing CS mainly because my internet connection has a pretty high latency which makes it inconvenient to play with people from around the country. I will probably play CS more if I can move out and get a better ISP.

Back to PUBG though, I think it’s a fun game to play with friends, and one of extremely few multiplayer games that don’t take an hour to lose. (Why are those dying off?) It performs like shit though, I don’t want to have to go down to lowest settings to break 100FPS.

Dark Souls 3

The Ringed City DLC came out early this year and the bossfights have been brilliant. During my job search, I cleared the entirety of DS3 four times, one of which was a run with no deaths between the Crystal Sage and Sister Friede. I bought Bloodborne since I liked DS3 so much, but it turns out playing Souls at 30FPS is headache inducing to me. Oh well, the day BB gets a PS4 Pro patch is the day I buy a PS4 pro. Or better yet, a PC port.

Great Ace Attorney 2

I can honestly say this is the AA Series’ magnum opus. It resolved every mystery from the last game, had consistently amazing cases with an interlinked story between each (fuck AA5/6 with the filler cases btw). The best part about Great Ace Attorney is that as a reboot, it can make subtle tributes to the main series but doesn’t feel obligated to bring in cameos from other games. As a result, the cases are the perfect blend of references to the classic AA games as well as new twists thanks to the presence of Sherlock.

God tier soundtrack (best of the franchise), consistently good cases with no fillers, new cutscene technology (voiced CG scenes instead of anime), and the best conclusion AA has seen since AA3…

This is my GOTY.

Greatest banger of the year 1900.

Fire Emblem Echoes

Say what you want about the slower gameplay, it was interesting enough. The reason I liked it so much was that it was fully voiced with little voice tidbits mid-combat, and like many other games have here, a brilliant OST.

You’ve probably noticed by now that I think with my ears when it comes to single player games, and that voices and music are a huge factor in my enjoyment of games.

Sniper Elite 4

My favorite single player FPS series returns with another installment. I think the game really speaks for itself with its degree of polish and smooth stealth gunplay. Not really much to say here besides I like sniping.

Anyway if you read this, definitely give these games a try!