This one's still unguessed. I can't make any extra hints until I get back home though, so for now, I'm just putting it back there in case someone who knows missed it, and gonna post some more hints that I did make before travelling. Breaking into the top 10 already. Kinda anticlimactic to do it in a "trying desperately to keep up" way, but I mean, world champions and all, it's been a bit too crazy.

#12 - Sounds very atmospheric sci-fi-y. I'm guessing one of the Metroids. The audio sounds fairly modern, so I'll go with Dread.

#11 - Also sci-fi-y, but less forboding and also sounds less modern. I know you love Metroid, and we're in the top ranks now, so I'll guess Metroid Prime.

#10 - This one's really annoying me because I know I've heard that jingle before and it's super famous, but I can't quite put a name to it.

#18
- At the file selection screen, if you slightly misspell a prominent feature of the game, it’ll net you something good.
- If you want to find everything, you’ll have to opt for the worst possible prize at one point.
- As you conquer each world, the final boss’ stage draws ever closer.
- And the location of the final stage is the same sort of location that you start the following game in.
- A bonus stage hidden within a bonus stage? Pretty sneaky.

#17
- More action oriented to its predecessor, this sort of indicated where the franchise it took its cues from was going to head in the future.
- A more linear game, less focus on puzzles, and upgrading your arsenal via points accrued in combat are some other features that differentiate it from its predecessor.
- Features more outside areas than its predecessor - a more natural environment for the variety of enemies you face.
- Unlike its predecessor, it features two playable characters, who you switch back and forth between throughout the game. One of these characters was the playable character in the previous game.
- There’s a few instances of first person action, where you have to defend the vehicle you’re travelling on. It wouldn’t be the last time this franchise dipped its toe into the first person perspective - much like the franchise from the same developer that heavily influenced this series, there was a light gun spin off.

#13
- Introduces an audience that can help or hinder you.
- The size of the audience grows at certain intervals as you level up throughout the game.

My list so far

Baldur's Gate is one of the best attempts to bring a Dungeons&Dragons campaign to a video game. It had D&D license and made a lot of stuff very truthfully to the source material. The world is based on the D&D campaign-setting Forgotten Realms in the region of the Sword Coast. For this game the Infinity engine was developed, which was the base for a lot of similar games, including the sequel Baldur's Gate II, but also Planescape: Torment and Icewind Dale.

As in a D&D round you gather a party of individual adventurers and step out in the world to exterminate evil… or get rich… or both. You create your main character, following the D&D rules, but the other characters you find in the game and include them into your party, if you want. But once they are part of your group, you control them all directly. In combat things happen in real-time and you can give orders. If you are overwhelmed (and probably a good idea at the start of battle), you can pause the action to give direct orders. This can be in very fine detail, including which enemy to target, which spell to cast or which weapon to use.

Also outside of battles the game uses D&D rules, for instance for stealth, for pickpocket or for other interactions. Freedom to do what you want is the key philosophy here. Baldur's Gate is a game which often allowed you to play how you want. Therefore systems exists for a lot of things. Decide which party members to recruit. Which way to go. Be evil or a do-gooder. In a way it is a Skyrim with isometric view, a party (instead of a single fighter) and a much deeper battle system.

In Baldur's Gate you create your character based on the D&D-system, which starts out at the fort Candlekeep were you grew up. One day your mentor hastily wants you to leave the keep with him. Outside you encounter a figure that demand of your mentor to hand you over. Your mentor denies this request and fights to allow your escape. On your own now you try to uncover the secrets about this encounter and meet a lot of interesting characters on the way.

The characters are also great in this game. Who doesn't remember Minsc and his miniature giant space hamster Boo? Look, how lovely they are:

I generally think, that games that have the ability to show a group of adventurers instead of a single hero have a better opportunity to show character growth and more detailed character stories. You all know the trope of the protagonist, who basically is a blank page to allow the player to project themself. But games with a party of people at your control allow to give each character their own story, their own character. That is why I think games like Xenoblade or Ys work well. Baldur's Gate was one of the first games to do this, bring a party of characters under the players control and develop all these people as their own.

Interplay projected 200K sales for the game, in the end it sold past 2 million, a major success for the time.

These group of games seemed gone from the market after the demise of Black Isle, but Black Isle veterans founded Obsidian and developed Pillars of Eternity, Interplay veteran founde inXile which released Torment: Tides of Numenera and Larian Studios started to go in this direction with Divinity. So in modern times we have more games in the style Baldur's Gate started, including after a long time Baldur's Gate III by Larian Studios (which probably will finally release finished in 2023).

The game got an Enhanced Edition some time back (also including console versions), which probably is the best way to play it these days.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiAsHuRO_Ao

#11 is a well known game, you all know it:

#13: Guessed by drbunnig: Another Code R - A Journey into Lost Memories

#12: Guessed by Darashiva: Demon's Souls

#11: Guessed by UnderwaterFunktown: Xenoblade Chronicles
I have no time for small fry!
With this, the future is ours for the taking!
Born in a world of strife, Against the odds, We choose to fight!

#10: Guessed by drbunnig: Star Wars: Dark Forces
This is a game set in one of the biggest IPs in the world, but it is a bit unusual.
This IP started as movies, but encompasses now basically everything in entertainment.
This game is unusual for the IP in that it is not a space flight sim, nor does it have swordplay.
Instead it is purely a shooter, but even in that was unusual, as it featured lives.

#9: Guessed by Darashiva: Okami

_{ranking in the guessing game, list so far}

Pretty sure Machina got 11 and maybe also 12 right, but I'll take a stab at 14: Earthbound?

11) The mention of the future is making me think Xenoblade Chronicles

Dark Forces?

Okay write ups for 15-11, steadily nearing the top. 12 went unguessed this time but I can reveal now that "the one free man" was in fact Gordon Freeman and that the game in question was Half Life 2 (guess Half Life is obscure around these parts).

That is the correct thinking. I decided to go completely with Dunban quotes in the hints this year, the second one with the future for the taking is from the intro, the others are battle quotes.

Indeed, Dark Forces.

Cing was for a time supplier of great adventure games for the DS: Hotel Dusk, Last Window and Another Code. This was just before adventure games got big again with Telltale games. Cing used the DS stylus for a comeback of classic point-and-click interface and had some clever puzzles and ideas in their games. But the most important thing was story-telling. This was great.

Now after some success with Hotel Dusk and Another Code, Nintendo of Japan asked for sequels of both. Last Window, the sequel to Hotel Dusk, was another DS game. But with Another Code R Cing brought the franchise to the other hot console from Nintendo: the Wii.

As with the DS stylus, they utilized the pointer function of the Wiimote to implement point-and-click mechanics. The story of Ashley Mizuki Robins is continued, more mysteries of her past about her mother and her research into memories are uncovered. This time is also her father around, and as it fits a teenager she is pissed at him. Rightfully so though, as even though they reconnected through the events of the past game, he is again unavailable, deeply buried into research.

Another Code R is among the visually most impressive Wii games, the excellent art style works even today, even with the limited resolution of the Wii. Gameplay works very well, the puzzles are clever designed. And the story-telling is great. The characters are really relatable and their emotions are well expressed in this art style.

But there is a sad part to the story of the game. Cing filed for bankruptcy later on. This might well have been the case, because Nintendo of America didn't release an already localized game, as it was translated for the european release. And the first game sold most in America, so Cing probably calculated with that in mind. NoA fucked this up. An excellent company is gone and sadly this probably also means will never see a port or remaster of their games. The only way for you to play it is to hunt down a physical copy. And this for a game that released only in japan and europe. Good luck. I know I keep my copy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zEtzLtEarU&ab_channel=HikikomoriMedia