crim's Top 10 games (Plus one dishonorable mention) for 2021

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crimson_tide
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Joined: Tue Jan 29, 2019 5:07 pm

Re: crim's Top 10 games (Plus one dishonorable mention) for 2021

Post by crimson_tide »

Fine, I will end this charade now. I can't actually decide so I will just codify it. Just know that from a pure I had a goddamn blast playing from beginning to end, anything from 5 to 1 can honestly have been in the #1 slot. Somehow. I know, I am amazed too. Games are WAY better than people are willing to give them credit for. It's why the only fandom I can generally stomach being a part of is wrestling like half of the time. They are way more progressive than you'd expect and really seem to like the product on the whole and tend to be more constructive with their criticism. Yes, huge swaths of them suck too but it's easier to ignore them. But y'all, y'all are just delightful! I know I can post what would be slammed as a 'garbage tier' list here and y'all will just let me and everyone else just spout whatever. Additionally, we tend to open our eyes to a few others. Hence, Earthbound gets a 'welp, 13th time's the charm' :P (no worries izzy, taking it real slow, at Saturn Valley now. Found the text utterly obnoxious and need to do an equipment purge so gave it a minute. Got a good long ways to go I believe but gonna get through it this time ;) ) . Look, I'm just saying...

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NOW ON TO THE TOP 2...ish. Kinda sorta. I just need to end this...

2) Aegis Rim: 13 Sentinels

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So. There. This image is literally one of the first things you see. I can't with this game. Brass tacks, it's a straight up 2D visual novel with a weird food fetish coupled with light puzzle elements because time loops with a strangely fun but super, SUPER basic RTS slapped in there...except it's not and makes perfect sense in the context of the story they told. GOD, I LOVE THIS ******* GAME!!!! Ok...ummmm...oh God, all this will be a spoiler. I can guarantee you, once you start this game, you will NEED to know because every single scenario is just 'YEAH BUT WHY THOUGH?!?!?!?' and it's just the best kind of mind job. There are always questions...the **** is up with this cat? Why is she shooting her friends? Wait, that road leads where? But why DO the aliens/mecha/whatever they are look like that, that's a really good question!?!? Well this is not going to end well...right? Wait is he...huh...wait what? HOW THE HELL IS SHE THERE?!?!?!...Holy ****, WHAT THE **** HAPPENED IN THE GIRLS' BATHROOM?!?!?!?!?!?!...Dammit, let go do the other stories to unlock the path because C'MON, I GOTTA KNOW...Goddammit, now I have seven new questions...

This is only a small handful of the questions you will have going through this magnificent beast. It just all works. You kinda get to the point where you just want the wheels to fall off to enjoy the schadenfreude...but these kids man...these kids just grow on you! It's MAD anime tropes but they do a LOT with them and make them work for their story, not the other way like with every other anime tropey thing out there. It has a story it wants to tell and that story works only if you care about these kids. And care you will. Their little world just kinda rocks. The music, the art, the color pallet, the camera angles. This is one of the most intentional and deliberate games I have played in a while. It wastes nothing. It wants you to see the story through. It needs you to be invested in the characters and the world. You don't just want to save the city, you want this one to date that one. You want things to work out for this couple over here. You want those three kids to meet up for ice cream or crepes or yakisoba pan. You want to save that side NPC who hasn't had a date yet and wants to experience being in love because while she's a trope, they went out of their way to make her a whole ass character. It's masterful character work in here. Everything isn't perfect but when they execute on a high level, they really knock it out of the park! Are there occasional exposition dumps? Yes. Do they take away for the game? No. Is it weird it's a strictly 2D affair. Yes but did you SEE it? It looks really good! I will leave the trailer here, but fam...I swear to you that you will love this game. Essentially a visual novel? Yes. But it's well done and needs to be experienced. I love this game so much and look forward to another run through in a couple years like if it were a favorite book or something. I wish I had made it number one but...here's the game's trailer, hopefully someone is sold ;) !



And number one is...

1) NEO: The World Ends With You



There. I did it. I made a whole ass thread about it, I guess it HAS to be my number 1. First, there are some niggling little things to get out of the way:

-They lean HARD on the vastly undersold Switch version and anime for some reason. It works in the end but they could have done a bit more warning.

-They lean HARD on the original game cast and soundtrack. It's a good cast and GREAT soundtrack but they do enough new to justify the leaning on both but...

-Ok, elephant in the room: Rindo, the main charcter. kinda just is there. That is the point. But he's no Neku. Which is actually GREAT! But Rindo comes off as milquetoast and indecisive. That's the point. I get why everyone turned hard on this kid...gee, I wonder why he his timey wimey control powers being all milquetoast and indecisive? It's like there's a theme they are trying to get across...

The Great:

-THE THEMING! The new bad guys are a real series of dicks. One of my favorite things from the original was the bad guys. They just kept putting the screws to you and it made sense. This crew is different. They are petty. It feels different from the first one and it feels good. P5 Strikers wanted to wear the cloak of rebellion and it did. Kinda. They say things like they despise cops. They only use their powers for good, yada yada yada. Fine. Whatever, y'all did that last time. In NEO, the new bad guys want power. That's it. They just take without reason because they can. By the time Rindo and crew come in, there is no really way to stop what is happening as you realize at the end of the first week (game is set up over a series of week). The Game your playing in NEO was rigged way before you come to the story. It's a story about systemic oppression. That's just what the game is about. Gee, if only there was some kind of timey wimey power you could use...

-The time thing. Look, everybody is on about time loop games. The loop here is preplanned. The loops you go through have one solutions and the game will not proceed until you do the thing. You will ALWAYS know what to do. That's not the point. The point is that it ties into the theming of systemic oppression. Even the tool you as Rindo are using to get outside of the system are able to be used against you. Do you risk continuing to use this dooming everything if you're wrong? Why? What's the point? Gee, I wonder how an indecisive normie would react in that situation...just saying :) .

- The new cast works. The issue I feel that people have is that in the original, Neku was palling around with one person at a time the whole game. Given the parameters of this game, the party is there from beginning to end. Their development is just naturally more spread out, it lacks the focus of the old game because it just has to so characters don't seem to get the big moments from before. However, that's false, they are a well developed ensemble and they need to be viewed as an ensemble instead of how they strictly play off Rindo the main character. They work, just in a different way.

-The music. God, this soundtrack. The updated songs are amazing and the all new tracks fit right on in. I cannot believe they nailed this soundtrack.

Here is the new vs original of my favorite remixed track, Someday:



And my favorite new track because the lyrics are hilarious (my wife did a double take at the opening lyrics :lol: )



There are soooo many more but I'll stop :D !

-The returning cast. It makes sense. They link the game casts really well. Example: My main man Sho 'Any tree can drop and apple, I'll drop THE MOON!' Minamimoto starts as a playable party member who really doesn't even care that your party exists beyond exactly one thing and just does things in the story at his own leisure with zero explanation, dropping in and out whenever he wants. Because he's chaos. This is the point. They get that. As others weave in and out of the tale, their place makes sense. It's way more intentional and less fan service. It feels natural.

-That battle system. Look, if there is one thing they could never replicate it's the battle system of the DS version. The single screen versions are like...fine. They make sense but completely rework it. It takes a hit right in the theming. So they fixed it. It's action Valkyrie Profile. And...

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It just makes me so happy to play this thing. The music, style, the combos, EVERYTHING works. I couldn't put it down once I started. There's still the pins and everyone gets one attack but the point is to get everyone in the same page working together. I was so into this game for so long. I didn't really take a break like I did everything else this year (even 13 Sentinels I needed a break and went back to FF7 Remake because I needed something far less emotional :lol: ). Was it a better system than the first? Nah. But it was its own thing that worked in the context of the story and I loved it for that. Hell, I am in the process of deciding which player pin tat I want from this game. I still love the thing!

SO because of that, because it was so fun to just PLAY, NEO gets the nod. Is the story life changing like the original? Nah. And that's ok. I feel that many wanted this just to be TWEWY 2 and it just wasn't. It was its own thing. And that's ok. I am beyond the point of looking for sequels to exceed their original. Sometimes it happens (PS4 Yakuza has blown away most of the early games, particularly the first) but others, I just want the thing to be fun, be an escape and if it stays with me for being thought provoking, so be it. Love the game, and so it gets the top spot. I'm getting a tat for Christ's sake, it HAS to be!

See y'all February next year for my 2022 list, fam :D !
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isthatallyougot
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Re: crim's Top 10 games (Plus one dishonorable mention) for 2021

Post by isthatallyougot »

13 Sentinels sounds really interesting. I read a little more about it, and I think I'd really enjoy it. I also still plan to play the first TWEWY believe it or not. It's been my intention for so long, but I meander through my backlog like I've got all the time in the world. One day the world will end with me. :P

Great list crim. I enjoyed reading your reviews. And to echo you, I love all you guys as well. I've thought about our tiny community several times over the years, and while I don't know any of you in person, I feel like you're all friends. It's funny because I don't even remember the details of how or why this group sprung up (from IGN is all I remember) or even why I followed whoever started it, but here I am/we are, after all these years. Wherever life carries you guys and however it eventually ends, I hope it's a fantastic journey while it lasts. Blessings to you all.
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Dragon kick your a$$ into the Milky Way!
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