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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Discussion Thread – The 13th Annual Greatest Games Event

Mnementh said:

Grounded feels like this years surprise entry, surprisingly good. But more titles are ahead:

#31: guessed by coolbeans: Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV

#30: Your heroes grow old and retire - if they aren't killed on the battlefield.
They also can acquire strange body parts, like a fire arm, a wolf's head or crow's feet.
The mages can manipulate objects in the battle stage to do damage.
Age of Ulstryx
This indie game feature pop-up book like graphics for it's tactical fight sequences.
Stories of the Yondering Lands

#29: Draw the map of the high school yourself on graph paper.
This is a mashup of one game series, with the gameplay of another.
This 3DS game got one sequel.
The game features characters from game series A 3 and 4, that meet in this game through mystical circumstances.

#28: Silver haired girl.
The Dawn Brigade rebels against the occupation by the Begnion Empire.
Although generally in a long running series, it is the direct sequel of the previous game that was on the console before.

ranking in the guessing game, list so far

29) Persona Q?



Try out my free game on Steam

2024 OpenCritic Prediction Leagues:

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UnderwaterFunktown said:
Mnementh said:

Grounded feels like this years surprise entry, surprisingly good. But more titles are ahead:

#31: guessed by coolbeans: Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV

#30: Your heroes grow old and retire - if they aren't killed on the battlefield.
They also can acquire strange body parts, like a fire arm, a wolf's head or crow's feet.
The mages can manipulate objects in the battle stage to do damage.
Age of Ulstryx
This indie game feature pop-up book like graphics for it's tactical fight sequences.
Stories of the Yondering Lands

#29: Draw the map of the high school yourself on graph paper.
This is a mashup of one game series, with the gameplay of another.
This 3DS game got one sequel.
The game features characters from game series A 3 and 4, that meet in this game through mystical circumstances.

#28: Silver haired girl.
The Dawn Brigade rebels against the occupation by the Begnion Empire.
Although generally in a long running series, it is the direct sequel of the previous game that was on the console before.

ranking in the guessing game, list so far

29) Persona Q?

Yes!



3DS-FC: 4511-1768-7903 (Mii-Name: Mnementh), Nintendo-Network-ID: Mnementh, Switch: SW-7706-3819-9381 (Mnementh)

my greatest games: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023

10 years greatest game event!

bets: [peak year] [+], [1], [2], [3], [4]

34. Dragon's Dogma

One of the PS360 era's biggest sleeper hits. Much like Alien Isolation, I bought this game during a bit of a dry spell, without much expectation, and ended up completely in love with it. Climbing around on monsters, cutting off limbs, stabbing them quite literally in the ass, etc...what's not to love about that? All the classes/jobs had their own unique, enjoyable flavor, that kept the gameplay highly engaging all the way through. The Pawn system was quite interesting, and could be greatly expanded for a future entry, and I really liked the idea of the endgame, with a shared world boss that players all across the world have to tackle together over the course of many battles (this too could be greatly fleshed out). It's been a long-ass wait for a sequel, but hopefully it'll be worth it.

33. Batman Arkham City

The best Batman game we've gotten to date, and Batman is awesome. Not much more need be said.

32. Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth

So, Lord of the Rings was pretty much my most favorite thing ever as a teenager. Yea, shocker, I know. I also love strategy games, and so Battle for Middle Earth was just perfection for me. 2 campaigns, that let me either follow the story of the movies, or fight for Sauron and tear it all down? Sweet. All the heroes and villains with huge impact abilities to affect battles? Nice. Command armies of all the various races and monsters of Middle Earth? Rohirim cavalry running over orcs, Ents stomping orcs, Olyphants stomping everything? Fuck yes. I actually also quite liked the very simple, modular base system they had in the game. One they abandoned for the sequel, and ironically, would have been a much better fit for a game built to also ship on consoles. In any case, probably one of my most played games of all time.

31. Dishonored 2

Memory is a funny thing. It can mislead you greatly. I loved Dishonored 1 so much at the time it released, being the spiritual successor to Thief that I didn't fully know I needed in my life, that I actually viewed it in a very distorted lens for a while. So much so, that when I first jumped into the sequel, I wasn't impressed with it. This is just Dishonored 1.5...Arkane didn't do enough with 4 years...it doesn't have the same magic...etc. These were the thoughts running through my head playing the first hour or so of Dishonored 2, and I actually put it down. In fact, I didn't return to it for a couple of years. Alas, I eventually got back around to a craving for stealthy assassination in my life, so I played the definitive edition of Dishonored, and Dishonored 2, back-to-back. Wow. The Dishonored 2 is so many leaps and bounds better than the first game, it actually blew my mind how basic the first game felt in comparison. Like a proof of concept to the sequel's masterful execution of pretty much every aspect. Particularly the level design, which is just an absolute masterclass. Sometimes, it's good to be wrong. Once you finally realize it, of course lol.

30. Borderlands 2

If we could just take the gunplay, and gun variety of Borderlands 3, and throw them into this game, we'd have the perfect Borderlands game. I think it's generally agreed upon that Borderlands 2 is the best in the series, and it's for good reason. The story, the characters, whether it's base game, or DLCS...it's all excellent. I still go back and re-play the whole thing with some friends every now and again, cus it's just a damn good time. For contrast, I couldn't name a single new character from Borderland 3, nor do I care to ever play through that campaign again.



Angelus said:

30. Borderlands 2

If we could just take the gunplay, and gun variety of Borderlands 3, and throw them into this game, we'd have the perfect Borderlands game. I think it's generally agreed upon that Borderlands 2 is the best in the series, and it's for good reason. The story, the characters, whether it's base game, or DLCS...it's all excellent. I still go back and re-play the whole thing with some friends every now and again, cus it's just a damn good time. For contrast, I couldn't name a single new character from Borderland 3, nor do I care to ever play through that campaign again.

Let's face it: Borderlands 2 is the best in the series because of Handsome Jack. Handsome Jack is one of the best villains in video games, even in entertainment media. There isn't even a moment in the game you are unaware of him, the (pretty epic) intro cinematic shows Handsome Jack as the very first thing you see and goes on to set him up as the villain. Everyone you meet talks about Jack. And then pretty early on Handsome Jack starts talking to you via COMM. And comments everything you do. That fulfills for one the function that you always while looting and following other stories you always keep remembering your big goal. Kinda like Hyrule Castle or the Elden Tree are constant reminders of your goal in their games. But the audio connection also gives the devs room to develop Jack as a character. And he is pretty awesome. So yeah, I say 2 is the best game in the series because of Jack. May he rest in pieces.



3DS-FC: 4511-1768-7903 (Mii-Name: Mnementh), Nintendo-Network-ID: Mnementh, Switch: SW-7706-3819-9381 (Mnementh)

my greatest games: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023

10 years greatest game event!

bets: [peak year] [+], [1], [2], [3], [4]

Mnementh said:
Angelus said:

30. Borderlands 2

If we could just take the gunplay, and gun variety of Borderlands 3, and throw them into this game, we'd have the perfect Borderlands game. I think it's generally agreed upon that Borderlands 2 is the best in the series, and it's for good reason. The story, the characters, whether it's base game, or DLCS...it's all excellent. I still go back and re-play the whole thing with some friends every now and again, cus it's just a damn good time. For contrast, I couldn't name a single new character from Borderland 3, nor do I care to ever play through that campaign again.

Let's face it: Borderlands 2 is the best in the series because of Handsome Jack. Handsome Jack is one of the best villains in video games, even in entertainment media. There isn't even a moment in the game you are unaware of him, the (pretty epic) intro cinematic shows Handsome Jack as the very first thing you see and goes on to set him up as the villain. Everyone you meet talks about Jack. And then pretty early on Handsome Jack starts talking to you via COMM. And comments everything you do. That fulfills for one the function that you always while looting and following other stories you always keep remembering your big goal. Kinda like Hyrule Castle or the Elden Tree are constant reminders of your goal in their games. But the audio connection also gives the devs room to develop Jack as a character. And he is pretty awesome. So yeah, I say 2 is the best game in the series because of Jack. May he rest in pieces.

Jack is certainly fantastic, and he was amazingly utilized in Tales of the Borderlands as well. That said, him being a constant presence, only worked so well because the character himself was so well written. The twins in Borderlands 3 are a constant presence too...problem is that they're just super annoying, and cringey. It came across as the devs trying way too hard to replicate Handsome Jack again, instead of coming up with a compelling new villain.

But the problems of Borderlands 3 extend beyond its writing as well. They got it into their head to create all these huge, empty, and often stupidly twisted maps that you have to traverse with vehicles from one end to the other over and over again to reach various objectives. Nobody is playing Borderlands for that. We wanna run around, shoot stuff, use cool abilities, and get loot. Not have the experience constantly broken up with average at best vehicle combat and traversal.



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#30 Wildermyth
guessed by no one
platform Linux
release year 2021
developer/publisher Worldwalker Games
genre tactical RPG, adventure
links Wikipedia

Wildermyth was a game kept hearing good things about, so I gave in and tried it myself. And this was a good decision. Because Wildermyth is actually innovative.

In it's core Wildermyth is a story-driven development game, where you make decisions to bring forward your band of adventurers. Things will be broken up by events, including fights in a tactical RPG manner. The game features multiple campaign, each will stretch over decades, with your heroes getting older and younger folks (possibly their kids) taking over.

In it's core these elements are done decently well, especially given it is made by a small indie team. But what makes it special is the way it handles story. The story of Wildermyth is procedurally generated. This sounds bonkers, but let me explain: the game uses story templates, broadly describing an event. The characters put into it can vary and so can the direction it takes depending on your decisions or the character of your party members involved. That can change the outcome of these events.

But they also often change your character considerably. A dream that leads two of your party members away on their own journey might end up with the dreamer gaining crow wings and feet. Or fire hands. They can also be maimed in combat and for instance lose an eye. So you start seeing the adventure so far on the depiction of your heroes.

While each campaign has some set story templates, most of the events are drawn from a random pool, so each playthrough ends up completely differently. This works surprisingly well.

A lot of the story is presented in a comic book style, with your actual characters put into the panels and the speech bubbles are differing depending on choices or character traits.

The characters start off as normal people, they just act in the face of danger, picking up a pitch fork or a pan and facing the monsters. A special mention for the magic system here. The Mystics manipulate objects that are on the tactical map. For instance they can coerce wood to explode into splinter, damaging nearby foes. That can be a door or a book shelf. Or if there is a plant, a tree or bush, they can grow their roots to entangle the enemy. Interesting way to implement magic.

All in all I am wondering why I never before saw such an idea implemented. It is a cool way to create unique stories that are also engaging. If all I think the scope is lacking, a bigger team instead of a small indie could do a lot with this basic idea. But as it is Wildermyth is a great experience. I hope other creators see this idea and developing it further, as I feel the full potential of this style of storytelling is not yet reached. So I wonder how this will evolve in a decade and shape future games. I am pretty sure it will.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T6wqsRa1IU&t=35s&ab_channel=IGN

Last edited by Mnementh - on 02 December 2022

3DS-FC: 4511-1768-7903 (Mii-Name: Mnementh), Nintendo-Network-ID: Mnementh, Switch: SW-7706-3819-9381 (Mnementh)

my greatest games: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023

10 years greatest game event!

bets: [peak year] [+], [1], [2], [3], [4]

Phew, I am finally back on schedule. Check out Wildermyth. Anyways, upcoming games are:

#29: guessed by UnderwaterFunktown: Persona Q

#28: Silver haired girl.
The Dawn Brigade rebels against the occupation by the Begnion Empire.
Although generally in a long running series, it is the direct sequel of the previous game that was on the console before.
Grow your army from mission to mission.

#27: Meet a talking skull.

ranking in the guessing game, list so far



3DS-FC: 4511-1768-7903 (Mii-Name: Mnementh), Nintendo-Network-ID: Mnementh, Switch: SW-7706-3819-9381 (Mnementh)

my greatest games: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023

10 years greatest game event!

bets: [peak year] [+], [1], [2], [3], [4]

Mnementh said:

Phew, I am finally back on schedule. Check out Wildermyth. Anyways, upcoming games are:

#29: guessed by UnderwaterFunktown: Persona Q

#28: Silver haired girl.
The Dawn Brigade rebels against the occupation by the Begnion Empire.
Although generally in a long running series, it is the direct sequel of the previous game that was on the console before.
Grow your army from mission to mission.

#27: Meet a talking skull.

ranking in the guessing game, list so far

27: Bit of a wide selection for this one, but let's go with The Curse of Monkey Island.



Darashiva said:
Mnementh said:

Phew, I am finally back on schedule. Check out Wildermyth. Anyways, upcoming games are:

#29: guessed by UnderwaterFunktown: Persona Q

#28: Silver haired girl.
The Dawn Brigade rebels against the occupation by the Begnion Empire.
Although generally in a long running series, it is the direct sequel of the previous game that was on the console before.
Grow your army from mission to mission.

#27: Meet a talking skull.

ranking in the guessing game, list so far

27: Bit of a wide selection for this one, but let's go with The Curse of Monkey Island.

Not this one.



3DS-FC: 4511-1768-7903 (Mii-Name: Mnementh), Nintendo-Network-ID: Mnementh, Switch: SW-7706-3819-9381 (Mnementh)

my greatest games: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023

10 years greatest game event!

bets: [peak year] [+], [1], [2], [3], [4]

Darashiva said:

#31

YoY: NEW!    My Rating: 9.2/10

Seemingly one of the most divisive games of the last several years, The Last of Us Part II had people saying that the game sucks months before it was even released because the leaks revealed that something they didn't like would happen in the story. At that point I basically decided that I wasn't going to put any weight on anybody else's opinion regarding this game, as it was clear that a lot of people were never going to like it no matter what. I also did everything I could to avoid spoilers beforehand, though I did get spoiled about the big early game twist that sets the story in motion. To put it simply, The Last of Us Part II is an excellent game, but not one without a few shortcomings.

I found The Last of us Part II to be a great continuation of Ellie's story, making sure to develop the familiar characters further from where they left off at the end of the first game, while also introducing some very intriguing new ones. At the start of the game you get to see what life for Ellie and Joel could have been like if they had just been left alone, both having grow kinder and softer in the years between the two games. Unfortunately, in the end their actions in the first game come back to haunt them, forcing Ellie back into the world she had effectively left behind, and steering her towards some very dark places in the process. In many ways, this game is a cautionary tale of what happens when a person lets revenge consume their life. Almost none of the main characters come off this one unscathed, everyone losing something important over the course of the story. In general, The Last of Us Part II is tonally an extremely dark game, with no characters getting a truly happy conclusion to their story.

The gameplay received some great additions as well, giving the player more variety in how to approach each combat encounter, the visuals are, as would be expected, absolutely beautiful, and the somber music is a perfect fit for the game as well. However, as mentioned, it's not a perfect game. Perhaps the biggest issue for me is the length. This is a very long game, especially for something that is so emotionally draining on an almost constant basis. As a result, the story can drag a bit in certain parts, and the weight of the story can become too much at times simply because there's so little true levity to any of it. Even the first game, despite obviously taking some dark turns as well, had moments where the characters got a chance to just spend time together and even laugh. Here, those moments are few and far between. That's also partially why this game doesn't quite reach the heights of its predecessor, but it is still unquestionably a great game as far as I'm concerned. Just not one I want to go back and play very often.

Probably one of the most impressive games ever made in a lot of respects, but there are other games that I think are more fun to play.