Games Important to Me 10-1
Top ten baby, let's go. Supersized version because I just want to finish this project.
10. Okami (PS2)
Okami makes this list because it's one of the first games my then-girlfriend-now-wife bonded over. It is their favorite game ever, and it shows: we have a half dozen copies of it across several consoles. The PS2 copy was one of the first gifts they had given me too.
The game itself is gorgeous. Like, drop dead gorgeous, even on the standard definition Playstation 2. It plays beautifully, and it's a really good take on the 3D Zelda-like formula. It is a game I can recommend to almost anybody.
9. Hi-Fi Rush (PC)
A musical, rhythm based character action game, in a genre that I am not super good at. Character Action games can be hard for me, but this game pulls it off well. The several needle drops in it are delightful and it does one of my favorite game things: the entire group coming together at the end to work together, using their various strengths to clear the way to the final area. It didn't hurt that The Joy Formidable's "Whirring" was playing during this, and it kicks so much ass. Lots of cool, lovable characters, and the bright, color blocked visuals make everything really readable. This was my game of 2023.
8. Super Smash Brothers Ultimate (Switch)
One of the few games I have put like, 200 hours into. Smash is my preferred fighting game, and there's something about it as a chaotic party game. Love to throw items on, flying through most of the stages (a couple can go fuck themselves). But I also like to just lock in and play 3 game sets against people online and try to win those no item games. It scratches both my competitive and casual sides.
7. Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines (PC)
I'm not a super big Vampire (the creature) person, but this janky, dark, and fairly ambitious RPG sits in my memory. The Ocean House Hotel is an incredible bit of suspense and horror, as you piece together what happened there as shit goes to pot. It's a self contained survival horror game neatly contained within this RPG. Really really rough out of the box, but the fan patch adds back some cut content and fixes to the game. I think the fan patch is so prolific that it's even included with the GOG install of the game.
6. Paper Mario (N64)
The first Paper Mario is a charming turn based RPG. This is a game I first played on my friend's N64 and it still is as a pleasant of a game now as it was back in 2005. A delightful art style, the timed hits kept combat engaging, and yeah, the story isn't anything to write home about, but sometimes you need a little saccharine in your gaming diet.
5. Pokemon White
Gen 5 going "Hey, no familiar pokemon until after you beat the Elite 4" was such an inspired move. It is obviously something that cannot be done that often, but this feels like it was a perfect time to do it. Gen 4 solidified the game into a pretty familiar state to what it still is today, by finally confirming the Physical/Special split. Gen 5 added reusable TMs, so you didn't have to agonize who got to learn what move. The story was A Pokemon Story, but also had some interesting parts of it, with Team Plasma pushing an agenda of "Pokemon Trainers are forcing their Pokemon to Fight. Why would they do that if they purport to be partners or equals or friends?" But of course, this messaging is to just disarm people so they would be the only ones with Pokemon willing to attack.
Also Zekrom is one of my favorite legnedaries. It's a fuckin' dragon with a turbine on their tail.
4. Blitz The League
Is this a good football game? Kind of. Is this a good Blitz game? Kind of. Is it a game that lives in my head and has since 2006? Absolutely. Blitz the League is one of the few sports games that lets the seedier side of professional sports show. The second half of the first cutscene of the Campaign mode has your team owner striking a deal with the mayor of your city, trying to leverage a new stadium paid for by taxpayer money. Stadium initiatives like this put such a burden on citizens, and the promised "economic boom" that the team owners promise never seems to follow.
That's just the tip of the iceberg too. You can also try to sneakily give your players Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs) that will linger in their system and give them stat bonuses for a set period of time. If they get clocked by a random drug test then your team will be harshly fined and you'll lose money. Money that is incredibly valuable to purchase better training gear and equipment for your team to improve their attributes. The better your training gear, the better the stat gains from training. And equipment just gives a flat bonus to their specific stat.
You deal with dirty players in the campaign (and one even gets assigned to your team from a rival once you get promoted to the second league). There are cutscenes where the rookie on the team gets a bit of hazing, with the big one being "Hey, why don't you lead us out on the field for this road game" and then everyone else stays behind as he goes out on his own in front of the entire road crowd. Some games allow you to spend money to debuff your opponents, such as sending escorts and dancers to their hotel. Oh right, you can also gamble on your own games.
Losing the NFL license for the Blitz series enabled them to do this. It enabled them to take these swings, and man, am I grateful for it.
3. Undertale
If the Hi-Fi Rush entry didn't tip you off, the ending of the True Pacifist Ending of Undertale ruined me. The game even going "Hey, why did you open the game back up? Everyone got their happy endings... are you going to take that away from them?" made me back off and just uninstall the game. Yeah, the game told me what to do whatever. I still feel like that's a good cap on it. Games don't need to be replayed. They don't need to be mined for content. They're nice as bespoke instances. It's the same reason why I probably won't ever replay Mass Effect or any of those other Big Choice Games That I Can't Think Of Right Now.
2. Doom II
The level design of Doom 1 may be sharper, but the gameplay of Doom 2 is just fun. Archviles suck and Pain Elementals suck, sure, but the super shotgun is ***the*** FPS shotgun for me. This is one of the few games that I have played multiple times through just because the gameplay is so engaging to me.
1. Final Fantasy VIII
Sorry haters, this is the best Final Fantasy. Final Fantasy VIII was the first Final Fantasy game I owned. Sure, I played VI and VII first, but VIII was the one I got with my PSX in like, 2004-2005. And it rules! You have schools for mercenaries, questions of who you really are, vast power at the cost of your own memories, the ***FUCKING MOON CRIES BLOOD RED AND THAT'S HOW MONSTERS GET TO THE PLANET***. Goddamn man. It's so cool.
The bad: monsters scale off your level, but it does mean that if you want bosses to be easier, you can basically give yourself a new ruleset: Kill monsters only by Card. See, to increase your stats you need to use the Junction system. A skill you can unlock from that is Card, which allows you to turn enemies into cards for the Triple Triad game. You can also use Card Refine to get items from cards, which can then be converted into various magics, allowing you to increase your stats by junctining say, Fireaga, a tier 3 fire spell to your Attack stat. This can lead to you dealing like, 900 damage early on when opponents are only dealing 65. Life Magic Refine + Tents, available at the 1st mission city after the "tutorial", turn into Cureaga. You can have 4000 HP at the time enemies are still doing sub-100 damage.
Incredible game.
So there you go. 25 games to get a feel for my tastes.
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