It's been about 5 and a half years since I did my last Top 100 list. Due to my OCD and compulsion to constantly create lists in my head I think it's time for an all new Top 100.
My first thought was to reevaluate the old top 100, but fuck it, it's easier to pick 100 new games that I didn't have on the list last time. In the past 5 and a half years I've played more than I usually have, largely due to COVID. And in that time I've played a lot of new great games.
Plus, when I made the last list, I avoided adding multiple games from the same franchises. So I can dip back into the Dragon Quest pool and a few others.
Anyway stay tuned. Starting tomorrow we're doing this shit again.
My first thought was to reevaluate the old top 100, but fuck it, it's easier to pick 100 new games that I didn't have on the list last time. In the past 5 and a half years I've played more than I usually have, largely due to COVID. And in that time I've played a lot of new great games.
Plus, when I made the last list, I avoided adding multiple games from the same franchises. So I can dip back into the Dragon Quest pool and a few others.
Anyway stay tuned. Starting tomorrow we're doing this shit again.
Recently Spotted:
*crickets*
I never played Pokemon Snap. Looks like good game to chill out for a quiet afternoon. The older I get the more of those kinds of experiences appeal to me. Full price is a bit too much, though.
Edit: This game is surprisingly addictive. I've unlocked the Tunnel and apples. I thought they would eat the apples, instead it just bonks them on the head.
It takes a few rounds to get the hang of it, as well as to figure out how they judge the photos. In the first round in a new environment is always a little bit tough. You never quite know where you need to look to find the most activity.
For most of gaming history, handheld games always felt watered down. Not that there want some incredible games on the Gameboy, GBA, etc. Most of the time when you play a handheld game, it's not hard to see how it could have been at least a little better if it was powered by proper gaming console. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga was one of the exceptions though. The game was fully realized, and graphics aside, it never felt like it was making any concessions for being on a weaker piece of hardware. It was a brilliant game from start to finish, and polished as much as any full console game.
Like all of the proper Mario RPGs, the game's story was utterly ridiculous. This time you adventured to the Bean Bean Kingdom, ruled by Prince Peasley, arguably the most glorious and Noble character ever created in all of video games. Anyway, you're there to save the princess from a curse that makes her speech turn into explosions and Bowser gets amnesia. Yep, just more or less ridiculous and that's what makes you want to keep playing it.
This was also the first game I picked up after I got my GBA player for my GameCube. And it only reiterates my belief that this was just about as good as anything you would have found on the GameCube at that time. Absolutely excellent, and possibly one of the best GBA titles ever released.
I love Mario and Luigi and I still have my fondest memories with the first one. I am excited for the new one.
Same here. Not really enamoured by the artstyle of Brothership, but more Mario and Luigi RPG is a good thing. The original on GBA was great. If I wasn't so starved for time (and constantly reverting to playing more Splatoon3) , I'd love to replay it.
Then I realized I didn't know my password anymore, and I wasn't able to reset it either. So I'm kind of stuck writing these on my phone which is just all kinds of suck. But I will try and light a fire under my butt and start writing again.
Growing up, pc Adventure games were pretty much my favorite things in the world. I pretty much played everything that Sierra Online published as well as a large chunk of the LucasArt games. But sometime around college I lost interest in the genre as a whole. I suspect I've missed out on a lot of good games, but if you throw the word Lovecraft on anything, I'm probably going to check it out and it absolutely paid off tremendously with Call of Cthulhu.
It's a pretty standard story for a lovecraftian mystery. A detective is hired to find a missing girl, and discovers a small town where no one trusts anyone. And oh yes, there's a cult trying to summon an elder God. But the story's pacing is perfect for a mystery. It has all the right peaks and valleys to keep you engaged the entire time. And the characters are all very interesting, so once this game grabs you, you will play it until the end.
Plus there are four different, extremely depressing, endings. Each one sad and depressing in its own right. When I played this the first time, there was an impending hurricane off of the Florida coast, so I pretty much just hung out and played games until the power went out (spoiler alert, my power stayed on the entire time). Once I got to the end of the game, I put it away for about an hour, and decided I needed to see more. So I almost immediately went for a second playthrough. And as I've said before, in my book, the best compliment I can give a game is how quickly I return to it.
Oh, and one last thing that's definitely worth mentioning is sanity. When you're in a Lovecraft experience, sanity is always a key and they did some fun and unique ways of integrating your ever decreasing sanity in this game. If it's too low by the end of the game, things won't just be bad. They're going to be really bad. So keep track of the mistakes you made the first time around and you might just keep enough to keep your shit together for the final moments.
PS: you all suck for not playing the tabletop role-playing game version of this with me.