Next set of clues.

#15

• Looking for GAIA

#14

• draw magic

#13

• Escort the cure across the United States

#12

• Ashes rise when the bell tolls

#11

• On the trails for the first time

Guessed by @TruckOSaurus 

Breath of the Wild is Breath of the Wild. A breath of fresh air plain and simple. I like the durability system. I like the cooking and survival-like mechanics. I like the fun mobility options like surf shielding down a mountain or gliding on the wind. I like everything that makes it unique because that along with the incredible atmosphere is what puts it the extra mile above games like Skyrim (which is also incredible though). It's not perfect but it's full of variety and tons of fun.

15: Illusions of Gaia?

14: Final Fantasy VIII

13: The Last of Us

Correct on 14 and 13, wrong on 15.

15) I haven't played it but I kinda want to make a blind guess and say Forbidden West. It could sound like some nature inspired technology code name.

11) Trails in the Sky

So I had an idea I wanted to try out. For the last 15 games (which is essentially like a top 10 for me that can't fit in a top 10) I'm gonna try to use my avatar as my hint along with a character as an extra way to give them some credit. These are the creme de la creme of video games. Depending on how it goes I might try to expand it to the whole list next year. Number 15 has already been guessed by Darashiva so lets just call this an introduction to the concept.

15) Repede (Guessed: Tales of Vesperia)

Finally finished this years list.
Building it based on what games I would recommend. Mostly shuffle around the games a bit from past years lists, but a few new (that is new to me/the list) got in.
Will post them here with a short reasoning for each game.

Correct on both.

#30

Change YoY: -2   My Rating: 9.3 / 10

Likely one of the more obscure titles on my list, Grandia was a game I discovered somewhat randomly while browsing through the PS1 section of the PS Store well over a decade ago now. I was a bit starved for new JRPGs at the time, the genre being in a bit of a slump on home consoles during the PS3/360/Wii generation, and Grandia looked like it might be a decent game, so I decided to give it a go. At that time, I had no idea what to really expect from it, as I had really only seen the name Grandia mentioned a few times online prior to coming across it on the storefront. A few hours later I was hooked, and once I finished the game it had become one of my favourite PS1 titles ever, as well as one of the best JRPGs I had ever played.

One of the key reasons why I love the game so much is because it manages to capture a very specific tone in a way that few games ever have, and that's the feeling of adventure in an uncharted world. Fitting, considering that adventure is the main character's primary motivation to leave his home town at the start of the game. Other reasons follow, and the tone and atmosphere turn far more serious as the game progresses, but that's where everything starts, and it creates this sense of awe and discovery with every new location the player visits because that's how the main character sees them. In general, Grandia does a great job at characterization. Every one of the characters you play as has their own specific goals and dreams, and the game makes sure to make each one stand out in one way or another. Another aspect that deserves to be mentioned is the battle system, which is really well-designed and should be adapted for use by other games beyond this series as well. In addition, the game has a great soundtrack, some really nice pixel animation on the characters that I took particular notice during my second time playing through the game, and an engaging story and quite an original setting as well.

The few weaknesses the game has (the dated 3D graphics, rather clumsy and stilted voice acting) are generally just a sign of the time period the game was released in, and an inevitability that you just need to accept in most games from the PS1 era, so those never really bothered me.

#29

Change YoY: -2   My Rating: 9.3 / 10

Prior to release, my feeling on Final Fantasy VII Remake was that of cautious optimism. It looked like it could be something quite special, but there was also a lot that could go very wrong in a project like this. Remaking one of the most beloved games of its kind is a tall order, and deciding what to change and what to keep true to the original had to have been quite difficult. Fortunately, the game we ultimately got turned out to be great, though it was also quite different from what I expected, though in a good way. One of the cleverest parts of this whole remake project, at least in my eyes, is that it isn't actually a straight remake, but rather more of a deconstruction of the original game and its story (or a part of it so far). I really like this approach, as not only does it make the new game stand out, it allows even returning players to be surprised by the story that they would otherwise be very familiar with. In addition, the original still exists anyway, so I can always go back to that when I feel like it. Neither version is obsolete or unnecessary, rather they can coexist side by side.

The game did a great job at expanding the Midgar section of the original, adding a lot of wonderful details to the world and story, including new sidequests not found in the original, and most significantly, giving so much more depth to many of the characters that lacked it in the original. This was also the game where Square Enix finally managed to properly combine the classic ATB battle system with a real-time one, succeeding in what quite a few past releases have struggled to do. Adding to that is an exceptional soundtrack, with wonderful rearrangements of the original game's music mixed in with all new pieces.

The only true negative I thought the game had was the decision to make Sephiroth the final boss already. Obviously, it was just the first encounter in what will ultimately be quite a few over the course of the three games, but I thought it should have been saved for a later point in the story. That was the only point that felt too "fanservicy" to me, and kind of unnecessary as well. That one blemish aside, this is a fantastic remake of the first part of the original game, and set the scene wonderfully for what was to come after.