I once again tried and failed to do a write up for my choices. I may try again later if I can learn how to be more laconic.
The only change from the last thread was replacing Majora's Mask with Majora's Mask 3D. I played through the remake a while ago and went back to the original for a bit and honestly prefer the remake, mainly because of the reworked save system, button mapping changes, and improved graphics.
Here are my picks! Some words on them from top to bottom, left to right:
Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep
"Now our hearts have touched. Nothing else will slip away. And one day... you'll be strong enough to win back the part that already did." --A Brand New Heart
One of the myriad spinoff titles in the Kingdom Hearts series and generally considered the best. BbS is a prequel to Kingdom hearts taking place around 10 years before its beginning. The story follows Aqua, Ventus (more commonly called Ven), and Terra on separate paths as Master Xehanort, an old Keyblade master obsessed with the power of darkness manipulates them to further his goals.
The plot of Birth by Sleep is somber, and carries a sense of inevitability, as none of these characters appear in the titles that come before, so you just know bad shit's gonna happen but the journey of the three youths reveals important new details of about the Kingdom Hearts universe and its characters.
KH's Kudzu plot aside, BbS features a stunning combat system, the best in the series, in my opinion. The fights are fast-paced like KH2, but it almost never relies on the QTEs that 2 did to make combat stylish, opting only to use them for certain attacks instead. BbS instead uses the Command Style system, which evokes the Drive Forms of 2, but rather than being on a gauge you have to get pick ups for and using only for hard fights, the command styles are activated when you've used a certain number of moves, and each style has its own set of moves that trigger it. Furthermore, the boss fights are legitimately challenging, and require the player to master evasion, guarding and countering in order to be able to win consistently. Kingdom Hearts is a part of my childhood, and playing BbS the summer before last was the most fun I've ever had with the series.
Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD
"This is but one of the legends of which the people speak..." --Narrator
The Legend of Zelda is a series near and dear to my heart, and Wind Waker is the most precious to me. My first game on a home console alongside Sonic Adventure 2, Wind Waker evokes childhood memories of exploration, triumph, and dread.
The reason it still holds to this day as my favorite is the nature of exploration in the game. In Twilight Princess, the world was massive, but held little to do without combing through it. In Wind Waker, the world is as massive, but the secrets of each island don't require so much exploration that your eyes will bleed trying to figure out where to go. Secrets are a lot more obvious on singular islands than in a vast landscape, and even then, the secrets are much more fun and rewarding.
On top that, the visuals are lovely and unique, using color palettes to great effect in each area of the game, giving it a character unmatched by any other Zelda so far.
The HD rerelease on Wii U fixes some problems with the original by adding a faster sail and streamlining the triforce shards quest, as well as adding a hard mode, making it the definitive edition.
Jet Set Radio Future
"Rokakku and his gang are tryin' to stamp out our culture left and right, they don't give a rip about our rights! All they care about is profit." --Professor K
The reboot/sequel to the beloved Dreamcast title, Jet Set Radio, Jet Set Radio Future was released on Xbox in 2001. Taking place in the city of Tokyo-to in 2020, JSRF is as stylized as they come, featuring a soundtrack of hip-hop and electronica mixed by Hideki Naganuma, as well as a handful of other contributors. The player controls members of the GGs, skating through Tokyo tagging turf and expanding their crew while facing off against rival gangs and the Rokakku Group, a corrupt business conglomerate that controls Tokyo-to, right down to the police force.
Though navigation can be difficult with its use of skating-based platforming being necessary to reach hard to find areas, if the player's keen on extreeme sports games like the Tony Hawk series, they'll master the momentum in no-time. Each area in the overworld's drawn in bold, cel-shaded style, and has its own unique vibe, from the bustling Shibuya Terminal, to the neon nightscape of 99th Street, to the dreary and dilapidated Rokakku Heights.
If nothing else, the game has style.
Persona 3: Fes
"My highest priority is to be with you!" --Aigis
The Persona series has become a hit with the RPG crowd in recent years with the release of Persona 4, but in my opinion, Persona 3 is a more compelling entry. 3 is the game that introduced the 'One More' system to Persona, allowing the player to gain additional turns in combat by exploiting enemy weaknesses, as well as 'Social Links', a dating-sim like feature that powers up your Personae associated with the Arcana of the friend or lover you're interacting with as you grow closer to them.
Persona 3's plot features a compelling cast of characters and tackles the theme of death and loss. All but one of the main characters has either lost a loved one before the beginning of the story, or loses one over its course. The atmosphere is dark, and somber, but still has room for comedy and light-hearted interactions with your school friends.
FES in particular features a number of improvements to the game system and additional features, as a well as a social link with Aigis, one of the main characters of the game, giving the game further depth. In addition to this, it features a short sequel called 'The Answer' where you play as Aigis after the events of the game.
I'd delve further into the plot, but spoilers.
The World Ends With You
"Reach 104. You have 60 minutes. Fail and face erasure." --Message from The Reapers
When a teenaged boy wakes up in the middle of the Shibuya scramble crossing, he finds himself thrown into a strange 'Reaper's Game', forced to fight to meet their goals or be erased. Worst of all, he can't do it alone...
This game came at a time in my life when I'd need its message. I started the game not unlike Neku, unsociable, and generally irritated with people other than myself. I was never as bad as he was at the beginning of the game, but it helped me realize that maybe pissed off and angsty wasn't the right way to go through life.
Personal journey aside, TWEWY is highly stylized, taking place in modern day Tokyo. The Reaper's Game gives the deceased a second chance at life if they can survive one week under their rules. The price for their participation is that which is most precious to them, in Neku's case, his memories. In order to survive, the players, as they are called, can use psychokinetic powers or 'psychs'. However, they can only use their psychs if they have a partner. If one partner is erased from existence, the other is sure to follow suit. The reapers erase players by using noise, animal-shaped beings that feed on negative emotions.
The combat system lets players pick different psychs by equipping Neku, the main character, with different pins. Combat is in real time, with psych commands being carried out by making gestures on the DS or phone's touch screen. Pins give a wide variety of powers, but they also come from different brands. Shibuya has 13 big brands, each themed for a member of the Chinese Zodiac (plus the cat for the rare bonus pins and accessories). As a brand grows more popular in a district, the stronger associated pins are, if the brand's the least popular, pins of its brand are halved in power. In order to influence trends, the player can equip Neku and his partner with clothes from that brand, and win battles. The more neku wins battles while he or his partner are using that brand's items, the more popular it gets. Even displaying people who fit the profile of the top brand in the overworld as mill-about NPCs.
Not to mention, the soundtrack is full of an awesome combination of Rock, Pop, and Hip-hop. Everything about The World Ends with You is awesome, and I eagerly await the sequel that was teased at the end of the mobile remake. (cont'd)
"Hey Red... I don't think we're gonna get away with this one." --Mr. Nobody
The sophomore title from Supergiant Games, creators of Bastion, Transistor is a sci-fi action RPG with the same devotion to style and world building as its predecessor. Transistor is simply gorgeous, presented with a contrast between dark, muted, backgrounds and bright characters.
You play as Red, a famed songstress from the city of Cloudbank whose voice was stolen in an attempt upon her life. As you continue, the nature of the conspiracy on her life, and the nature of Cloudbank itself is gradually revealed.
Transistor features a combat system based around the eponymous weapon and its 'functions' which it gains by absorbing information on Cloudbank citizens. Each 'function' behaves uniquely, and can be equipped as a primary attack, an upgrade to an attack, or a passive boost. The best detail of this system is that in the stations where you can change out functions, you can read information on the person it was based on, getting more information as you use their function in different ways. This feature led to my total adoration of the game's first boss. (Hint: her surname is in my Handle)
Furthermore, Transistor possesses a strategy element that is implemented via the Turn() system, which lets you stop time to plan out movement and functions before carrying them out in the blink of an eye.
I highly recommend Transistor to fans of action RPGs, and especially to fans of Bastion.
Pokemon Heart Gold Version
"We are Team Rocket! After three years of preparation, we have risen again from the ashes. Giovanni, can you hear? We did it! Where is our boss? Is he listening...?" --Team Rocket's Radio Announcement
Pokemon was the first video game that I ever owned, and I need to include it on this list. Heart Gold is my personal favorite because it features my favorite region, the Johto region, with improved sprites and plot, and a number of improvements on the Gen IV interface (some of which were unfortunately, in my opinion, missing during Gen V)
It's really just a pokemon game, not much to say except that Johto is the freaking best. THE PAGODAS, THE MUSIC, THE PAGODAS AGAIN
And getting to go back to Kanto is cool too, I guess.
Shadow of the Colossus
"Are you Dormin? I was told that in this place at the ends of the world, there exists a being who can control the souls of the dead." --Wander
The second and thankfully not final (PRAISE DORMIN) release from Team Ico, Shadow of the Colossus is an adventure game that features a creative blend of simple mechanics, simple storytelling, and simple overworld layout. If you can't tell, I'm saying it's elegant in its simplicity.
The story is of Wander, a young man who wishes to revive his lost love, Mono, and travels to the Sealed Land seeking that power from Dormin, a being beyond mortal ken. To perform this task, he must slay 16 colossi, massive beasts that make their homes in the Sealed Lands. The game features no enemies other than the colossi, and the only other obstacles are the terrain. In addition, each colossus is defeated in a much different fashion than the others, requiring the player to understand its behavior and exploit it in order to access its weak point.
The soundtrack lends the game a mystical atmosphere, and the story tells you just enough to make an emotional attachment to the characters without giving away too much or throwing too much information at you. Honestly, I would say that Shadow of the Colossus is an argument for video games as an art form, but that's been said before.
Splatoon
"Hang on to your tentacles-- It's time for the Inkopolis News Report!" --The Squid Sisters
Splatoon is the newest addition to Nintendo's library of games, and a runaway success. If you had told me back in E3 2014, that I'd be playing this game more than any of the others that they had shown off, I wouldn't have believed you, but Splatoon is the most fun I've had playing a shooter since I was playing S4 League.
Splatoon's gameplay is centered around your two main abilities: Shoot ink, and swim in your own ink. Your weapon provides you not just the means by which you tackle enemies and obtain objective, but the most effective method of navigation in the game. Indeed, swimming through the ink makes for fun and creative ways of navigating your turf, and permits players with bad aim to still be able to contribute by making paths for their team. Indeed, not one of the game types have player kills as objectives, preferring area-control style gameplay.
Turf War is the standard mode played in casual, and the simplest mode. Ink more turf than the other guys in 3 minutes. This is where players start until they reach level 10, when they can play Ranked Matches.
The Ranked Battle game modes are Splat Zones, which resembles King-of-the-Hill style games where teams compete to keep a specific area covered in their ink longer than the other team's, Tower Control, which resembles a two-pronged version of TF2's payload, where rather than one team trying to advance upon the other, the payload, or in this case the tower, starts in the middle, and moves towards the enemy base when your team is riding it, and Rainmaker, a mode where the eponymous weapon is placed in the middle of the map, and must be carried to the opposing team's goal, with the added bonus of the Rainmaker being a powerful weapon that can OHKO opponents, but the added problem of the fact that it explodes if the carrier doesn't get KO'd or reach the goal in time, splatting the carrier and any nearby team mates.
In ranked battles, all of the modes are timed, and progress is tracked during the match, so that whoever makes more progress during the match is the winner. However, there is also a method by which a team can win via knockout, giving them an even bigger XP bonus. In Splat Zones, this is holding the zone until your team's countdown hits 0, in Tower Control and Rainmaker, this is delivering the objective to the enemy goal.
There are also 5 weapon types, 2 of which were added this past month. The shooter is a basic rapid-fire weapon, the roller is basically a giant paint roller with short range, but can easily OHKO enemies, the charger is like a sniper rifle, featuring the best range of all weapon types, but held back by a short charge-up before firing, the slosher is a bucket that launches ink in an arc over a wide area, usually KOing anyone caught in the splash, and finally, my new favorite, the Splatling, a gatling gun which charges up before firing a barrrage of ink for a good range that can KO opponents in short notice.
Splatoon is a Wii U killer app that nobody saw coming, and it is wonderful. Stay Fresh~
Comments
He plans to add VR support at some point in the future.
Sort of like how I have had forum dreams and Homestuck dreams before, except with gameplay.
Huh!
I once again tried and failed to do a write up for my choices. I may try again later if I can learn how to be more laconic.
The only change from the last thread was replacing Majora's Mask with Majora's Mask 3D. I played through the remake a while ago and went back to the original for a bit and honestly prefer the remake, mainly because of the reworked save system, button mapping changes, and improved graphics.
Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep
"Now our hearts have touched. Nothing else will slip away. And one day... you'll be strong enough to win back the part that already did." --A Brand New Heart
One of the myriad spinoff titles in the Kingdom Hearts series and generally considered the best. BbS is a prequel to Kingdom hearts taking place around 10 years before its beginning. The story follows Aqua, Ventus (more commonly called Ven), and Terra on separate paths as Master Xehanort, an old Keyblade master obsessed with the power of darkness manipulates them to further his goals.
The plot of Birth by Sleep is somber, and carries a sense of inevitability, as none of these characters appear in the titles that come before, so you just know bad shit's gonna happen but the journey of the three youths reveals important new details of about the Kingdom Hearts universe and its characters.
KH's Kudzu plot aside, BbS features a stunning combat system, the best in the series, in my opinion. The fights are fast-paced like KH2, but it almost never relies on the QTEs that 2 did to make combat stylish, opting only to use them for certain attacks instead. BbS instead uses the Command Style system, which evokes the Drive Forms of 2, but rather than being on a gauge you have to get pick ups for and using only for hard fights, the command styles are activated when you've used a certain number of moves, and each style has its own set of moves that trigger it. Furthermore, the boss fights are legitimately challenging, and require the player to master evasion, guarding and countering in order to be able to win consistently.
Kingdom Hearts is a part of my childhood, and playing BbS the summer before last was the most fun I've ever had with the series.
Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD
"This is but one of the legends of which the people speak..." --Narrator
The Legend of Zelda is a series near and dear to my heart, and Wind Waker is the most precious to me. My first game on a home console alongside Sonic Adventure 2, Wind Waker evokes childhood memories of exploration, triumph, and dread.
The reason it still holds to this day as my favorite is the nature of exploration in the game. In Twilight Princess, the world was massive, but held little to do without combing through it. In Wind Waker, the world is as massive, but the secrets of each island don't require so much exploration that your eyes will bleed trying to figure out where to go. Secrets are a lot more obvious on singular islands than in a vast landscape, and even then, the secrets are much more fun and rewarding.
On top that, the visuals are lovely and unique, using color palettes to great effect in each area of the game, giving it a character unmatched by any other Zelda so far.
The HD rerelease on Wii U fixes some problems with the original by adding a faster sail and streamlining the triforce shards quest, as well as adding a hard mode, making it the definitive edition.
Jet Set Radio Future
"Rokakku and his gang are tryin' to stamp out our culture left and right, they don't give a rip about our rights! All they care about is profit." --Professor K
The reboot/sequel to the beloved Dreamcast title, Jet Set Radio, Jet Set Radio Future was released on Xbox in 2001. Taking place in the city of Tokyo-to in 2020, JSRF is as stylized as they come, featuring a soundtrack of hip-hop and electronica mixed by Hideki Naganuma, as well as a handful of other contributors. The player controls members of the GGs, skating through Tokyo tagging turf and expanding their crew while facing off against rival gangs and the Rokakku Group, a corrupt business conglomerate that controls Tokyo-to, right down to the police force.
Though navigation can be difficult with its use of skating-based platforming being necessary to reach hard to find areas, if the player's keen on extreeme sports games like the Tony Hawk series, they'll master the momentum in no-time. Each area in the overworld's drawn in bold, cel-shaded style, and has its own unique vibe, from the bustling Shibuya Terminal, to the neon nightscape of 99th Street, to the dreary and dilapidated Rokakku Heights.
If nothing else, the game has style.
Persona 3: Fes
"My highest priority is to be with you!" --Aigis
The Persona series has become a hit with the RPG crowd in recent years with the release of Persona 4, but in my opinion, Persona 3 is a more compelling entry. 3 is the game that introduced the 'One More' system to Persona, allowing the player to gain additional turns in combat by exploiting enemy weaknesses, as well as 'Social Links', a dating-sim like feature that powers up your Personae associated with the Arcana of the friend or lover you're interacting with as you grow closer to them.
Persona 3's plot features a compelling cast of characters and tackles the theme of death and loss. All but one of the main characters has either lost a loved one before the beginning of the story, or loses one over its course. The atmosphere is dark, and somber, but still has room for comedy and light-hearted interactions with your school friends.
FES in particular features a number of improvements to the game system and additional features, as a well as a social link with Aigis, one of the main characters of the game, giving the game further depth. In addition to this, it features a short sequel called 'The Answer' where you play as Aigis after the events of the game.
I'd delve further into the plot, but spoilers.
The World Ends With You
"Reach 104. You have 60 minutes. Fail and face erasure." --Message from The Reapers
When a teenaged boy wakes up in the middle of the Shibuya scramble crossing, he finds himself thrown into a strange 'Reaper's Game', forced to fight to meet their goals or be erased. Worst of all, he can't do it alone...
This game came at a time in my life when I'd need its message. I started the game not unlike Neku, unsociable, and generally irritated with people other than myself. I was never as bad as he was at the beginning of the game, but it helped me realize that maybe pissed off and angsty wasn't the right way to go through life.
Personal journey aside, TWEWY is highly stylized, taking place in modern day Tokyo. The Reaper's Game gives the deceased a second chance at life if they can survive one week under their rules. The price for their participation is that which is most precious to them, in Neku's case, his memories. In order to survive, the players, as they are called, can use psychokinetic powers or 'psychs'. However, they can only use their psychs if they have a partner. If one partner is erased from existence, the other is sure to follow suit. The reapers erase players by using noise, animal-shaped beings that feed on negative emotions.
The combat system lets players pick different psychs by equipping Neku, the main character, with different pins. Combat is in real time, with psych commands being carried out by making gestures on the DS or phone's touch screen. Pins give a wide variety of powers, but they also come from different brands. Shibuya has 13 big brands, each themed for a member of the Chinese Zodiac (plus the cat for the rare bonus pins and accessories). As a brand grows more popular in a district, the stronger associated pins are, if the brand's the least popular, pins of its brand are halved in power. In order to influence trends, the player can equip Neku and his partner with clothes from that brand, and win battles. The more neku wins battles while he or his partner are using that brand's items, the more popular it gets. Even displaying people who fit the profile of the top brand in the overworld as mill-about NPCs.
Not to mention, the soundtrack is full of an awesome combination of Rock, Pop, and Hip-hop. Everything about The World Ends with You is awesome, and I eagerly await the sequel that was teased at the end of the mobile remake. (cont'd)
Transistor
"Hey Red... I don't think we're gonna get away with this one." --Mr. Nobody
The sophomore title from Supergiant Games, creators of Bastion, Transistor is a sci-fi action RPG with the same devotion to style and world building as its predecessor. Transistor is simply gorgeous, presented with a contrast between dark, muted, backgrounds and bright characters.
You play as Red, a famed songstress from the city of Cloudbank whose voice was stolen in an attempt upon her life. As you continue, the nature of the conspiracy on her life, and the nature of Cloudbank itself is gradually revealed.
Transistor features a combat system based around the eponymous weapon and its 'functions' which it gains by absorbing information on Cloudbank citizens. Each 'function' behaves uniquely, and can be equipped as a primary attack, an upgrade to an attack, or a passive boost. The best detail of this system is that in the stations where you can change out functions, you can read information on the person it was based on, getting more information as you use their function in different ways. This feature led to my total adoration of the game's first boss. (Hint: her surname is in my Handle)
Furthermore, Transistor possesses a strategy element that is implemented via the Turn() system, which lets you stop time to plan out movement and functions before carrying them out in the blink of an eye.
I highly recommend Transistor to fans of action RPGs, and especially to fans of Bastion.
Pokemon Heart Gold Version
Shadow of the Colossus
"Are you Dormin? I was told that in this place at the ends of the world, there exists a being who can control the souls of the dead." --Wander
The second and thankfully not final (PRAISE DORMIN) release from Team Ico, Shadow of the Colossus is an adventure game that features a creative blend of simple mechanics, simple storytelling, and simple overworld layout. If you can't tell, I'm saying it's elegant in its simplicity.
The story is of Wander, a young man who wishes to revive his lost love, Mono, and travels to the Sealed Land seeking that power from Dormin, a being beyond mortal ken. To perform this task, he must slay 16 colossi, massive beasts that make their homes in the Sealed Lands. The game features no enemies other than the colossi, and the only other obstacles are the terrain. In addition, each colossus is defeated in a much different fashion than the others, requiring the player to understand its behavior and exploit it in order to access its weak point.
The soundtrack lends the game a mystical atmosphere, and the story tells you just enough to make an emotional attachment to the characters without giving away too much or throwing too much information at you. Honestly, I would say that Shadow of the Colossus is an argument for video games as an art form, but that's been said before.
Splatoon
"Hang on to your tentacles-- It's time for the Inkopolis News Report!" --The Squid Sisters
Splatoon is the newest addition to Nintendo's library of games, and a runaway success. If you had told me back in E3 2014, that I'd be playing this game more than any of the others that they had shown off, I wouldn't have believed you, but Splatoon is the most fun I've had playing a shooter since I was playing S4 League.
Splatoon's gameplay is centered around your two main abilities: Shoot ink, and swim in your own ink. Your weapon provides you not just the means by which you tackle enemies and obtain objective, but the most effective method of navigation in the game. Indeed, swimming through the ink makes for fun and creative ways of navigating your turf, and permits players with bad aim to still be able to contribute by making paths for their team. Indeed, not one of the game types have player kills as objectives, preferring area-control style gameplay.
Turf War is the standard mode played in casual, and the simplest mode. Ink more turf than the other guys in 3 minutes. This is where players start until they reach level 10, when they can play Ranked Matches.
The Ranked Battle game modes are Splat Zones, which resembles King-of-the-Hill style games where teams compete to keep a specific area covered in their ink longer than the other team's, Tower Control, which resembles a two-pronged version of TF2's payload, where rather than one team trying to advance upon the other, the payload, or in this case the tower, starts in the middle, and moves towards the enemy base when your team is riding it, and Rainmaker, a mode where the eponymous weapon is placed in the middle of the map, and must be carried to the opposing team's goal, with the added bonus of the Rainmaker being a powerful weapon that can OHKO opponents, but the added problem of the fact that it explodes if the carrier doesn't get KO'd or reach the goal in time, splatting the carrier and any nearby team mates.
In ranked battles, all of the modes are timed, and progress is tracked during the match, so that whoever makes more progress during the match is the winner. However, there is also a method by which a team can win via knockout, giving them an even bigger XP bonus. In Splat Zones, this is holding the zone until your team's countdown hits 0, in Tower Control and Rainmaker, this is delivering the objective to the enemy goal.
There are also 5 weapon types, 2 of which were added this past month. The shooter is a basic rapid-fire weapon, the roller is basically a giant paint roller with short range, but can easily OHKO enemies, the charger is like a sniper rifle, featuring the best range of all weapon types, but held back by a short charge-up before firing, the slosher is a bucket that launches ink in an arc over a wide area, usually KOing anyone caught in the splash, and finally, my new favorite, the Splatling, a gatling gun which charges up before firing a barrrage of ink for a good range that can KO opponents in short notice.
Splatoon is a Wii U killer app that nobody saw coming, and it is wonderful. Stay Fresh~