#20
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II (PS3, PS4)
YoY: +18
By far the biggest jump any game made on my list compared to last year. I've mentioned it before when I talked about the other Cold Steel games on my list that I played through all seven Trails games earlier this year, and while doing so I realized that Trails of Cold Steel II is even better than I had remembered. It effectively ends the first half of the story arc that had been set up in the first game, bringing that part of the story to a close and doing so brilliantly. I still have difficulties putting these games in a specific order, and when the 4th game is added to my list next year I'm sure I'll have to think about this all over again.
I've already talked about these games aplenty, so figuring out more things to say is getting really difficult. Somehow these games just managed to hit the exact right tone for me, and while the first two Trails in the Sky games are still better overall, these aren't far behind. The story is really well told, the writing is clever, each character feels unique and interesting, the multiple layers of the story are handled brilliantly, the music is great, and the gameplay is a lot of fun. I really don't have much negative to say here.
