C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2019

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Falcon Critical
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C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2019

Post by Falcon Critical » Mon Dec 02, 2019 7:46 pm

I feel like 2019 has been a bit light on big games (at least ones that interest me) compared to previous years, but it's always fun to reflect back on the games we've played and maybe say a little about what they made us feel.

The categories I'm going to cover this year are:

CATEGORIES:

:awesome GAME OF THE YEAR! :awesome
Pretty self explanatory - what game was the best!

:zoid BEST NEW CHARACTER! :zoid
Which character through voice/actions made you want to experience more.

:shibe SUCH MOMENT! MUCH INTENSE! WOW! :shibe
Wow! Such an experience! What specific moment in a videogame floored you!? (mark spoilers where appropriate)

:stare2 GAME TO WATCH OF THE YEAR :stare2
This one's a very me category, there are plenty of games I love to watch but have zero desire to play.

:awesomelon FALCON'S 2020 VISION OF THE FUTURE! :awesomelon
A few games coming next year that I'm definitely chomping at the bit to get my hands on!

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Bier_Engel
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Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2019

Post by Bier_Engel » Mon Dec 02, 2019 8:32 pm

Aww yeah, I was waiting for this year's thread!

1. Game of the Year: Fire Emblem Three Houses. I played it 4.5 times to experience all the content, and then started a new run (GD) when the third wave of DLC came out. I plan on starting another (BE) when the fourth wave comes out. That's a lot of playthroughs in a short period of time, and that is not something I normally do, especially for games this long. So yeah, my many plays and 260+ hours invested so far speak for themselves.

2. Best New Character: Hubert von Vestra (Fire Emblem Three Houses). Speaking of voice... I literally just love his damn voice, but he's also a well-written character with many facets. It's also nice to see a male character that would do anything to further a female character's agenda (even to the death) when normally that's the other way around.

3. Such Moment! Much Intense! Wow!: Eh, I don't want to be a broken record about 3H, but that game has at least one moment per route.

4. Game to Watch of the Year: Hmm, I've yet to watch any modern games this year (I'm currently watching an FE4 LP). I do watch Vinesauce's shortened videos but he covers shit from all over the place, so I can't think of anything specific, and nothing has jumped out at me like, "I need to watch this whole game!" I'm considering getting my BF Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night for Christmas since he's been anticipating it, but the fact that he rarely plays games these days and hasn't bought it for himself yet despite his prior enthusiasm (and no lack of funds to do so) has me concerned that he'd never load it up. But if I did that, I'd watch him play... *if* he played.

5. Vision of the Future: 2020 Q1 is already looking pretty lit. I have the Toyko Mirage Sessions FE game pre-ordered, and while that's a remake, I'd be going into it fresh and blind. Also, the FF7 remake and P5R. Um, as far as actual NEW games go, I'll check out the new Tales Of at some point.

My own category: I'm surprised you didn't touch on the most disappointing game of the year, since I think you usually have that category. I have to say Pokemon Sword/Shield for me. I've already gotten bored of it, barely 30 hours in. It was also super short and if I hadn't fucked off in the wilds as much, I'd have beaten the plot portion in 2 measly days. I know it's a series mostly meant for kids, so I don't want to be harsh, but I thought Sun/Moon and X/Y were far better, for modern comparisons. Also, they really botched the online system this time around. (That said, if anyone still wants to trade or battle me, I'll be down).

Point of reference, here are the new games I personally bought/played this year (Wow, so many remakes):
Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Ed. (Remake)- I beat the original, but got bored of this version close to the end due to the grinding and already knowing the story.
Trails of Cold Steel: (Remake, but new to me). I enjoyed it.
FF9 Remaster: (Remake, played many times before, usually never beat during replays. This time was no exception). Battles seemed harder than I remembered and the sidequests more tedious.
Tetris 99: Fun online game for when I'm in the mood.
Persona Q2: Great game, but the original PQ was better.
Trails of Cold Steel 2: (Still a remake, still new to me). Haven't finished it because the battle system feels cumbersome and sluggish and everything is suddenly harder than it used to be. Holding off on buying 3 due to that. Near the end, though.
Dr. Mario World: Do phone games count? I had it for maybe a week before I got sick of the constant begging for microtransactions. Cool concept, otherwise.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses: Enough said...
Pokemon Sword: Already mentioned my opinion.

I could make this post really long by adding the games on my to-play list and also by adding the games I played this year that didn't come out this year, but I'll only do that in another post if anyone is actually interested. I played much of the old FE roster. It was a good year.

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Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2019

Post by Falcon Critical » Mon Dec 02, 2019 11:47 pm

I do normally have 'most disappointing' as a category, but this year it would be pretty much just Wolfenstein Young Blood, which despite having fun characters and dialog was just really not fun to play.

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Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2019

Post by Falcon Critical » Tue Dec 03, 2019 1:00 am

:awesome FALCON'S 2019 GAME OF THE YEAR! :awesome

NUMBER ONE!
Control

Image

This game is great. It drips with atmosphere from the very beginning, and throws you into such a well realised world that you get swept up in it. Unlocking powers feels really cool, I recall people saying that if the telekinesis in the next Star Wars game didn't feel this good, they done fucked up. It feels responsive and the combat was mostly enjoyable, especially as you get more and more powers to combine.

Then there's the story, everything from the lore they establish about the building and Bureau, to the descriptions of Altered Items and Objects of Power, to the tie ins to Alan Wake (and potentially all Remedy's previous games), to the Finnish Janitor who may be Thor? The lore is so dense but so interesting you just want to know more about it. The setting is so beautiful and they do such creative stuff with the space, the characters are great... there's not much that I can't recommend about this game.


NUMBER TWO!
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Image

I believed in Igarashi. I watched his dumb great Kickstarter pitch video where he leaned hard into Symphony of the Night. I wanted so badly for him to capture that lightning once again! I'm confident to say that he did.

Some of the most iconic/enduring aspects of SotN (terrrri-great voice acting) are largely missing, but it has the ridiculous diversity in weapons and play style and intelligent new systems, and dumb jokes and references to SotN, and the faces and cats and dogs of Kickstarter backers right in the game... It's great. I love playing it, I love watching others play it, I will definitely play this game again. And probably again. And probably again.


NUMBER THREE!
Indivisible

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This game seriously fought with Bloodstained for #2 on my list. It's so pretty, and bursting with life and energy, and full of great characters. The screenshot above shows Baozhai the Pirate Queen who is very much immediately in gay panic for Thorani (goddess of water). I really enjoyed all of the characters, including Ajna the protagonist who is hot-headed and not very smart, but in a way you can totally get behind.

The Valkyrie Profile style combat was a huge draw for me to this game, though the parry system (timing blocks perfectly = no damage) is something I suck at. Fortunately it wasn't super necessary till the very end so it didn't hurt my experience too much. In the end the thing that pushed this down for me is that I'm not sure I want to play again, at least not as soon as I do Bloodstained. The combat just got a bit much.


NUMBER FOUR!
Life is Strange 2

Image

Technically this hasn't fully released yet, so if anything this game could rise the ranks here if it sticks the landing. It's been really interesting to follow Sean and Daniel's journey. Personally I wasn't super into Episode 2 with the grandparents, LiS always feels best to me when it's exploring relationships and complex characters. Episode 3 for me was a huge return to form, all the folks on that weed farm were engaging and I got to kiss Finn while on the same breath agreeing to his harebrained scheme.. because I knew Daniel was going to either way. That is the power of these games, it forces you into a situation where you can't make a good decision. I just did what Sean would have done to best protect his little bro. The character who appeared in Ep 4 was a welcome surprise, and I appreciated that she wasn't as complex as Sean wanted her to be. I was disappointed too, buddy.


NUMBER FIVE!
The Sims 4: Strangetown, Island Living, Realm of Magic, Discover University

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The Sims has had a fucking banner year for me. I love beach/island life, I'm well into witches, and University is always one of the most fun expansions. This year ticked all the boxes for me. Pictured above is my witchy orphan who had serious complaints about her foster family's lack of privacy. You may remember my stories earlier this year about her exploits in trying to kill all the other sims in the house, she's certainly fed up in the image since this is I think the third time this old lady walked in on her while she was in the bath with two other empty bathrooms in the house. These kinds of stories give me life, and also it's never not fun to create two characters and make them kiss.


NUMBER SIX!
The Outer Worlds

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Admittedly I haven't finished this, but from what I've played I'm having a blast. In classic Oblivion style, I'm really engaged by pretty much all the companion characters, from the ace mechanic (pictured) who is trying to navigate clumsy advances from an NPC, to the Vicar who has a huge crisis of faith and goes on the warpath against those who caused him to 'waste his life', to the Medic who fronts a badass pirate persona in order to get jobs on pirate ships to be where the action is. People have said "It's Fallout New Vegas in Space" and that's pretty much accurate, but the combat feels a lot more modern and it hasn't crashed on me once. Yet.

NUMBER SEVEN!
Heaven's Vault

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This was an interesting game, you wandered around a bunch of small planetoids, uncovering artifacts and translating an ancient language. Each time you found a phrase it would use context to put potential words to sequences of symbols, and you could drag them onto the phrase to test out different sentences. It would never confirm a word right off, so you needed to find another phrase or two with the same symbols and the same meaning in order to 'lock in' a word as correct. I love that it's impossible to fully translate most of the writings (at least to my knowledge), the incompleteness feels right for the subject matter.

The characters are interesting too, your protagonist is apparently not gentle with her robot companions, something your current robot companion is not too fond of. Navigating their relationship is also part of the interest of the game, which all leads into an interesting final decision.


NUMBER EIGHT!
Draugen

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The walking simulator of the bunch. You row out to a small town to discover what happened there, accompanied by your plucky young companion. For much of the game it's not quite clear what your relationship is with this character, but there are other mysteries to be solving and so you do. It's very pretty and lonely and sad (villages don't abandon themselves), but that's kind of how the genre goes. It's a good one of those.


NUMBER NINE!
Untitled Goose Game

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You're a goose. You're an arsehole. Go forth and wreak havoc! This game is dumb fun, the objectives are just tricky enough to give you that good feeling of accomplishment when you steal a man's hat, or terrorise a child, or set two neighbours against each other. It's so silly and hit so wide that pretty much everyone played it, and it was the perfect length with a great ending. I watched I think two or three playthroughs after finishing it, just because I wanted to see other people embrace the chaos and learn the goosey tricks of the trade.


NUMBER TEN!
Neo Cab

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I really should finish this. It's a cool concept, playing a taxi driver but with the focus being on the passengers and their conversations and how that affects your mood. The pressure to make enough money, and keep your uber rating high, while managing your emotions... it's an interesting game.

Also there are some great characters you get as passengers, the lady pictured above is a quantum physicist, she is a scientist of the multiverse. She tells you that you are at a time where timelines are reconverging and that's why things are getting weird. There's also a couple of German tourists who are convinced that you are a robot, so they start asking questions to try to Turing test you, which very quickly become Freudian. At the end of their first ride they are apparently still pretty sure you're a robot, and depending on how your mood has been through this conversation you get different reactions and exit moods.


MISSED THE CUT
Rebel Galaxy Outlaw
Borderlands 3
Trials Rising

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Falcon Critical
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Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2019

Post by Falcon Critical » Tue Dec 03, 2019 10:23 pm

:zoid BEST NEW CHARACTER! :zoid

NUMBER ONE!
Razmi (Indivisible)

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Razmi explains that some soldiers invaded her home, so she locked them in and set it on fire.

Razmi is a shaman who is utterly bored with regular life, so she amuses herself by burning things. She had a pet tiger, Bom, but when they died she used dark magic to bind it's soul into a lantern, which she now uses to burn things. She is the second person you recruit into your headspace, and immediately becomes an ally against the guy who killed your father/village (who is also the first person in your headspace). Razmi is fun because she's so melancholy most of the time, until she has a chance to burn or curse someone, which plays off the happy-go-lucky Ajna really well. She was a staple of my party through the game, and one of the most frequent characters to butt into your conversations. I've heard mentions of her being Tharja without the yandere, which seems appropriate from the little I've seen of Tharja myself. Even though she mostly hates socialising, Ajna is such a trainwreck that Razmi actually really enjoys being along for the ride.


NUMBER TWO!
Doctor Caspar Darling (Control)

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Darling jovially records an informative video, while his staff wonder why they were told to stand in the background.

As Jesse explores the Federal Bureau of Control, a lot of the snippets of lore you get are videos of Doctor Darling explaining the various concepts of the Oldest House. As you progress through the game you start uncovering more conspiracy related videos, along with hints as to the secret experiments they have been doing. I'm so glad they had an actual actor to do this, because his performance is stellar and hilarious. Through a lot of the early game you see so much of this guy you're excited to meet him, but as the game progresses and his videos get more chaotic, you realise that may not actually happen. There are a couple of great moments near the end of the game, one where you find his last entry and he's full on Ancient Aliens with a conspiracy wall and stripped down to just his underpants, and another where he does an erotic(?) dance to the song dynamite. This really was a 'best actor' level performance, and one of the great joys of the game.


NUMBER THREE!
Sean Diaz (Life is Strange 2)

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Sean and Daniel manage a peaceful moment at the end of Episode One, catching a bus south out of Washington state.

While I don't relate to Sean as much as I did Max, I really really felt for him throughout the game. I made decisions that I felt Sean would make, always to protect his brother, and himself. When you get potentially beat up or at least terrorised by some racists in Episode 4, then a truck driver pulls over for you and offers you a lift... I (and I believe Sean) wasn't in the headspace to take that risk. I read after playing that chapter that a lot of players rationalised that "they're not going to have two racist encounters back to back", but my Sean was so focused on not relying on anyone and getting to his bro on his own terms that I couldn't accept that help. What I'm getting at is that once again DONTNOD have crafted an experience that is so engaging and a main character so complex that I feel like I'm guiding them through what they would do, more than thinking about what I would do.

Kiss the boys, protecc lil bro, make it to Mexico. I just want them to be happy.

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Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2019

Post by Delthazar » Thu Dec 05, 2019 5:59 pm

My work has effectively shut down for winter, which means I should have plenty of time to play what remains of The List and, y'know, settle on a top ten and finish writing my thoughts and ACTUALLY POST IT this year. :pac

pr-probably

my WIP sorting and brainstorming is over here. Most of the blurbs are out of date; I'll rewrite those when I finish playing/replaying stuff and settle on a finalized order. It's safe to say Fire Emblem and Judgment will hold but everything else is in constant flux.

...maybe I should just buy Control and suffer through any performance issues it might have on my suboptimal video card (or PS4.) If the Switch port of Indivisible makes it out this December, ditto there, I wanna try to sneak that in before the new year. Could just stop waiting and grab it on Steam but it feels like a Switch game.

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Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2019

Post by Falcon Critical » Thu Dec 05, 2019 7:07 pm

Spoilers abound in this category! Read if you dare!

:shibe SUCH MOMENT! MUCH INTENSE! WOW! :shibe

I'm not going to rank them this time, because there were a couple of great moments in three great games that I had to wax poetic about. Also this time I've embedded videos of the specific sequences in question, which makes it potentially extra spoilery if these are games you're going to play.


Control - The Oceanview Motel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-0i94ZHhG4
Video Spoiler Level: Light

This is an early sequence in Control that uses awesome visuals and gameplay to kind of let you know what the game is about.

Spoiler :
Early in Control you are trying to get to The Hotline, a phone that dials to The Astral Plane. You see the phone in a glass room in the middle of a void (it's very Magneto's prison from the X-Men movies). There is a sign that implores you to adhere to the rule of threes when you pull The Lightswitch cord that hangs from the ceiling. Do so, and on the third pull you are suddenly in The Oceanview Motel. It is a place of power that connects various dimensions. Each time you enter it presents you with a different simple puzzle to complete involving three rooms, before giving you the key to one of the other doors.

While this seems to potentially be Jesse's headspace, one time when you enter you hear some people outside knocking on the door trying to see if they can stay the night (which implies this hotel is somewhere in the physical world), and another time you hear screaming from behind one of the doors and there's a trail of blood leading to it. Either way, you solve the puzzle and then enter whichever room it wants you to. There you find another Lightswitch, which can be pulled three times to return you to the material world. Upon your return however, there is a bridge across the void to The Hotline... which implies that it also has some control over the environment within The Oldest House. It's weird, and cool.

Control - The Ashtray Maze

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nudSXUMBEV4
Video Spoiler Level: Moderate

A late game sequence which spoils powers more than story, but is visually awesome.

Spoiler :
Early in control you can access The Ashtray Maze, but it is a weird space that shifts rooms and corridors around, always leading you back to the entrance. Later on you find out that it is being used as a secure locking mechanism, since only upper management are attuned to it noone else can pass through. The Janitor Ahti gives you his walkman, and tells you to listen to it as you enter the maze. Instead of looping you back the way you came, you get a metal song telling you to "Take Control" and new pathways open to you, and the space gets weird. The walls opening and closing happened before, it was how it guided you back to the start, but then when entire rooms shift and churn it gets really cool. It's a really well thought out area, and one of the enduring sequences in the game. It also represents Jesse realising the full extent of her powers, and is the final hurdle to cross before you uncover one of the greatest mysteries of the game.

Indivisible - The Revelation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHjiSX66EyE
Video Spoiler Level: HEAVY

After running around and fixing a bunch of problems, you're forced to consider the real implications of your actions.

Spoiler :
You are in a boss fight with the goddess Kala, who created the world and periodically destroys and rebuilds it because she is disappointed in what humans do with her creation. You are losing the fight, and in an attempt to save everyone Ajna gives in to her raw power (she is a part of Kala that was severed in the previous attempt to subvert the cycle of world rebirth). Ajna grows into a huge being of darkness, and lashes out at Kala with little regard for consequences. Her massive power almost levels a city, and her companions realise they have to try to stop her.

Dhar (the first recruit/dude who killed your dad/village) has never got along with the others in the party, but sees this moment as a chance for him to make a difference and try to redeem himself. He leaps in front of a huge mouthblast, and is obliterated. It does however snap something in Ajna's mind back to reality, and she falls from the sky.

Ajna then wakes up and is surrounded by darkness. While trying to rationalise what Dhar did, Kala interferes and reminds Ajna of the consequences of her actions so far in the game. Ajna has been very headstrong and punched all the bad guys, but now she is suddenly being confronted with the aftermath. She reflects on how in attempting to save three cities, she has in fact left each one worse than she found it. Reckless actions and good intentions don't tend to make good bedfellows. She is then confronted by the dark energy she was tapping into in order to save the world. She realises the error of her ways, and then sets about to fix the issues she created by talking to people and empowering them to bring about their own change. Her Thor-form is still one of darkness, but she has control of it now.

I really enjoy when a story bait and switches you on the consequences of your heroism. In an often goofy and fun game like this the story tends to be "punch the bad guy, move along, everything is awesome!", so having this game call Ajna out on her shit was a great moment for me. RIP Dhar, still don't like you.

Indivisible - Saying Goodbye

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clRtIun-i-k
Video Spoiler Level: HEAVY

The endgame sequence of Indivisible, and how it made me reflect on the future of some characters.

Spoiler :
You get to the end of the game, you fight the end-boss Kala, beat her up... and then she regenerates and the battle starts over again. You and your companions realise that because she is a Thor, she can do this forever, and you're all eventually going to lose. You decide to enter your headspace (which effectively stops time, and is where all your companions hang out) while Kala is in her regeneration cycle, because it will disrupt what she's doing and give you a chance.

The gambit works, however this leads Ajna to a revelation... the only way to stop this Thor is to re-merge with her, and hope that she can become the dominant part of that union. With this realisation, Ajna knows that she cannot ask any of her companions to come with her, and speaks to each of them before releasing them back to their lives.

Most of these farewells are fun and cordial, but the game and I both left Razmi to last. While most of your companions had other stuff going on and were just glad to have known you, Razmi really got attached. Like caught feelings attached. She also doesn't have anything else going on, so she implores Ajna to not let her go. She awkwardly confesses her feelings (9:03 in the video above), but Ajna is totes oblivious to the meaning and is just like "I like you too Razmi! I'm really glad we're friends." Big oof.

The part that slays me though, is that Ajna then talks to Kala instead of fighting her, convincing the Thor to give the world a chance instead of resetting constantly (since it hasn't worked so far). Kala agrees, you merge in a big flash of light, and then reincarnate to walk the world as a new person. It made me wonder for some days afterwards what Razmi would do in the aftermath. Its gets me right in the feels when you have a character so shut off from the world that they don't let anyone in, then they find someone who can break down their barriers... and then for that person to just disappear again makes me real sad.
Life is Strange 2 - Bad Kitty

One of the first times you're confronted with how scary Daniel's power is.

Spoiler :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZGJnPrluok
Video Spoiler Level: MODERATE

At the end of Episode 1, Daniel swipes a cute young pooch from some racists. Sean isn't happy about it, but goes along with it for his brothers sake and of course starts to love the little pupper too. It seemed a red flag pretty early on for me, a young dog is not condusive to a life on the run, especially when any human interaction could end poorly. Nevertheless, the lil doggo 'Mushroom' sticks with you into Episode 2.

The second Episode opens in a cabin in the woods. Winter has come and it's cold out, so you're crashing in the cabin because walls and a roof are better than the alternative. After some weeks however, you realise that Daniel has got sick and start making preparations to move on... when you realise Mushroom isn't in the cabin with you. You go out to look for her, but Daniel finds her first. A mountain lion stands over the mauled doggo, and Daniel is furious. As you approach he picks it up with his telekinsis, shouting at it as he does so.

Decision time. Do you let Daniel get his vengeance, or try to talk him down? I chose vengeance, partly because I was concerned what this mountain lion might do if suddenly released with two humans attacking it. Daniel yells at the lion, and there's a crunching noise as he basically squeezes it till something breaks. You were kind of afraid of Daniel's power before, but seeing it harnessed in a controlled burst like this is really kind of eye opening as to what your little bro can do. RIP Mushroom, keeping you alive was going to be hard af but you didn't deserve to go out this way.

Life is Strange 2 - Bad Mom

When Sean's Mom shows up, she sucks, and it's a great moment.

Spoiler :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqadDQz31-A
Video Spoiler Level: HEAVY

In Episode 4 you've been separated from your little brother, and trek across the desert to find him. When you finally get to the destination, you find he's been taken in by a Church/Cult and they're using his telekinesis as a way of gathering followers (and revenue). They don't take kindly to you, and kick you out once they realise you could be a problem. Then, out of nowhere, your Mom shows up.

Up to this point, every time Sean looks at something related to his Mom he calls her "Karen", and seems generally hostile to the idea of her. You know by this point that your mother left soon after Daniel was born, but she disappeared without telling you why, and you hate her for running out like that. BUT... like any child, a part of you has to try and rationalise it. There had to be a good raisin for my own Mother to abandon me, right?

Sean isn't very welcoming when Karen shows up out of the blue, but with nowhere else to go he gets in the car with her. She drives you back to a motel room she hired, and tries to appease you with platitudes, things like buying your old favourite sandwich for you. It's up to you through this sequence how much time of day you give her, I went with Sean's feelings up to this point and was hostile and dismissive. She did, however, promise answers about why she left. I (and Sean) had to know.

Turns out it was pretty much what we thought. Being a mother was scary, she's a free bird and felt trapped, all kinds of BS excuses for running out on responsibility. Sean storms out of the room, to sit outside and reflect on how much BS that is. You, still pretty much a child yourself, have had to take on so much responsibility both before and after going on the run, and all of that is because your Mom was too scared to? Thanks Mom, you confirmed you're a dirtbag.

I loved this sequence because the circumstances surrounding your mother has been a running mystery through the first three episodes, and at the point where you could have the revelation that she's a spy or out getting world peace or some heroic crusade that'll make you question whether you should be mad... No. This is a story about humans, and humans fucking suck. Sean has been thinking his Mom was a dirtbag all the way through, and now he knows.

I did then choose to stay when she came out after me and sat down to try and explain more about her mindset. It didn't get any less bullshit, but by not immediately fleeing back inside it did clear some air between them which I feel made their continued interactions afterwards a little less tense. We do now, at least, know where we stand on each other.
Last edited by Falcon Critical on Thu Dec 05, 2019 7:30 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Delthazar
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Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2019

Post by Delthazar » Thu Dec 05, 2019 7:17 pm

Those LiS2 video thumbnails/titles alone might be really big spoilers so yeah, if anyone's looking to stay fresh on that stuff, don't look too close, keep scrollin'

youtubers are, uhh, not amazing about thumbnail hygiene, huh. (OBSCURE forum poster Del DESTROYS youtubers with FACTS and LOGIC)

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Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2019

Post by Falcon Critical » Thu Dec 05, 2019 7:31 pm

Fair call, moved the videos inside the spoiler tags for extra security.

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Delthazar
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Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2019

Post by Delthazar » Thu Dec 05, 2019 7:38 pm

oh shit I just remembered to check my itch.io library for the first time in a while and there's a bunch more unplayed 2019 releases in there. :pacdown Hopefully mostly shorties, as is itch.io's wont.

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Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2019

Post by Falcon Critical » Mon Dec 09, 2019 2:49 am

:stare2 GAME TO WATCH OF THE YEAR! :stare2

NUMBER ONE!
Super Mario Maker 2

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/518036784

Who I watched:
- thedragonfeeney
- Patrick Klepek
- Aurateur


I suck at platformers, and I don't have a switch so I was never going to play this... yet I love to watch. The three streamers I linked all have very different styles.
thedragonfeeney brings relentless positivity along with high skills, it's fun to watch her because she never gets frustrated and has some fun features she does like "no death normal" where she plays endless on Normal difficulty for as many levels as she can without dying once.
Our boy Patrick Klepek has hot takes and thoughts about hit boxes, his videos are often him banging his head against single levels again and again until he pulls off the perfect run, but it's kind of just a vessel for listening to him chat about level design and whatever else is on his mind.
Aurateur I drop in on now and then because he is one of the best players in the game. His particular gimmick is no-skip Super Expert where he plays the hardest levels and doesn't skip any. He often gets frustrated because a lot of what he runs into are stupid troll levels, but when he gets to a proper hard level and just experts his way through, it's a sight to watch.


NUMBER TWO!
Noita

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUt8YLlO4qk

Who I watched:
- Day9TV


Noita is one of those games I'd like to tell myself I'd like to play, but I know I'll never get around to it. All of the interlocking systems however are fascinating, and Day9 is very much into that shit. Watching him go into this game cold and figure out all the systems is one of the things I love about him. He's another streamer who brings relentless positivity (and occasional cat sightings) but also really smart observations about life and game design. I watched some other twitch streamers play this game at super high levels, and it becomes a very different game which I really respect but seems super inaccessible to someone like me. One of the rare games where it's really interesting and different to watch really high and really low skill level players.


NUMBER THREE!
Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPV72bN7dOE

Who I watched:
- Jesse Cox


Star Wars is hot again right now, but I really don't have the skill or patience to play this Dark Souls style videogame. I chose Jesse's playthrough because he and the friends he plays this with a waaay huger Star Wars nerds than me for the deep lore. That makes it more fun when they get excited about something and explain what it means in the canon, along with the theories they come up with as they play through the game.


NUMBER FOUR!
BitLife

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voD7El12DVE

Who I watched:
- Vixella


I love Vixella from her Sims content, she is fun and has a lot of clever screen effects. BitLife I had never heard of before she posted some on her channel. It seems one of those games where you need to bring your own fun, and having someone to watch getting into it really makes it shine. It's a short watch (compared to the others on the list), and yes maybe I just wanted to talk about how much I like Vixella's channel.

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Falcon Critical
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Posts: 4616

Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2019

Post by Falcon Critical » Thu Dec 26, 2019 2:23 am

:awesomelon FALCON'S 2020 VISION OF THE FUTURE! :awesomelon

Here's some of the games I'm really excited about, and how I think they'll be received.

Cyberpunk 2077

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YApuEWtG30w

Genre: First Person Shooter / RPG
Platforms: PC, XBONE, PS4, Stadia
Release Date: 16 April 2020

Chance of coming out in 2020: 90%

PREDICTION: This game is going to get a lot of things right, but similar to the Witcher it's going to trip up on some of its representation and messaging. Will be in GOTY discussions regardless.


Watch Dogs: Legion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVP1xQqE0Ik

Genre: Third Person Stealth HAction
Platforms: PC, XBONE, XBOXXX, PS4, PS5, Stadia
Release Date: Later than April 2020

Chance of coming out in 2020: 80%

PREDICTION: They're going to actually pull it off. They're going to make a game where you can play as anybody actually interesting and people will share stories about their attack grandmas. The gameplay however is going to be very much the same as previous watchdogs, and probably they're going to have missions where you are forced to go lethal - the premise being "well someone in your crew would kill".


Vampire The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ssLizHtFK4

Genre: First Person Action RPG
Platforms: PC, XBONE, PS4
Release Date: 2020

Chance of coming out in 2020: 80%

PREDICTION: This will be the Bloodstained of Vamp Masquerade games. Those not in the know probably won't even think about it, those that are in the know will be a little disappointed that it's kind of just Bloodlines 1 uprezzed. For folks like me that have interest but haven't played previous ones, it could be GOTY.


Arcadian Atlas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RIIze_PhfM

Genre: FF Tactics-like
Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux
Release Date: 2020

Chance of coming out in 2020: 30%

PREDICTION: It's telling that the video I linked above is 3 years old and still the video I link to. If it comes out it'll have a bunch of bugs and probably a half finished story. If it's not out in 2020 it's a hard RIP.


Boyfriend Dungeon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRQjfd0Zf5U

Genre: Dungeon Crawler / Dating Simulator
Platforms: PC, Switch
Release Date: 2020

Chance of coming out in 2020: 70%

PREDICTION: This game will be fun but probably pretty simple. They'll end up making it too much dungeon crawl/grind, which will limit replay-ability for those who come for the romance.


Haven

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUii-qD7QuY

Genre: Exploration / Story
Platforms: PC, XBOX, PS4
Release Date: 2020

Chance of coming out in 2020: 100%

PREDICTION: This is going to give everyone journey vibes, the combat is going to feel unnecessary to the overall vibe, and people will be hot/cold on the romance. I'll prob be hot. :awesome


Witchbrook

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA97uJ8sbpc

Genre: Stardew School Simulator
Platforms: PC
Release Date: 2020

Chance of coming out in 2020: 60%

PREDICTION: Though there haven't been any updates on this game in a year, I believe that like Stardew it'll suddenly pop up as complete and grab peoples attention. It'll be a game that's chill and nice like Stardew, and probably will inspire more school themed life sims.


------------------------ BONUS ------------------------

Star Citizen: Squadron 42

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aCE7gxQOVY

Genre: Too Ambitious Space Sim
Platforms: PC
Release Date: 2050

Chance of coming out in 2020: 0%

PREDICTION: Chris Roberts is too much of a perfectionist, and this ain't coming out this year. This game probably limps out in another 5 years, or at least parts of it do. The work they've done will push the industry forward, but at the end of the day this is going to be a giant tech demo and a warning about expanding scope.

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Delthazar
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Posts: 12001

Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2019

Post by Delthazar » Mon Jan 13, 2020 10:16 pm

Delthazar wrote:
Thu Dec 05, 2019 5:59 pm
My work has effectively shut down for winter, which means I should have plenty of time to play what remains of The List and, y'know, settle on a top ten and finish writing my thoughts and ACTUALLY POST IT this year. :pac
lol

The least I can do is start hitting some of the other categories and maybe a couple of my own while I try to figure out what my actual top ten looks like. I did not manage to check out everything on The List, unfortunately, but I'll be sure to give what remained their due, one way or another.

:kick DEL'S GAMES TO WATCH OF THE YEAR :kick

In no particular order,

FINAL FANTASY 7!

https://youtu.be/Q-jpetxsaI4?t=1426

via Eurogamer's Zoe Delahunty-Light and Aoife Wilson

What better way to pregame for Final Fantasy 7 than with a little Final Fantasy 7? As with a lot of one-expert-with-one-newbie Let's Plays this has been a delightful run so far and will likely continue fairly close to Remake's release date, so go jump in and follow.

The bit embedded above - Zoe and Aoife's reaction to Vincent's bullshit after dealing with the Shinra Mansion safe puzzle and its boss for too long - is among my favourites from 2019.

MASS EFFECT 2!

https://youtu.be/KS2vkmY4oFE?t=67

via Giant Bomb

Continuing my trend of mainly watching people play old games in their entirety rather than new ones, Alex and Vinny continued Mass Alex in 2019 with Mass Effect 2 and it was as consistently fun as always, if perhaps not quite as full of hilarious standout moments like "a whole Geth walker falls on top of the Mako from offscreen for no raisin" like the original.

2020 will almost certainly bring Mass Effect 3 into the Mass Alex family and I'm here for it.

CONTROL!

https://youtu.be/S3xvodsYQ8w

via Geek Remix

Still ongoing, Mari and Stacey's run through Control has been a good one, with both picking up a lot of little details I noticed on my run but haven't seen talked about a lot, like the Cuba thing above. Also worth noting that Mari is way, way better at Control's combat than I am, christ. She wrecked the Former boss in only a few tries vs. me slamming my head against the wall for countless tries and eventually giving up. :pac

OVERWATCH!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHOxP4Crb2g

via Overwatch League

Long before the Hong Kong thing happened and everyone kinda got depressed and lost pretty much any enthusiasm for Blizzard products (quick aside: Jeff Kaplan and the Overwatch team has at least been way better about this than other parts of the Activision/Blizzard mothership, for whatever that's worth) the Shanghai Gawtdang Dragons finally snapped their record-setting 42-game losing streak by smoking Boston in a full sweep, in one of the best feel-good moments of the year. The Dragons then went on to keep winning, eventually taking a stage championship, and they remain pretty competitive to this day.

Overwatch League could grind to a weird halt under the weight of its unique schedule or uncertainty around the upcoming sequel or its commentators jumping ship or the political situation above, but at least we'll have the Dragons vs. Boston, and OWL as a whole will probably remain the only esports thing I've ever given any kind of shit about.

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Falcon Critical
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Posts: 4616

Re: C-F GAME OF THE YEAR 2019

Post by Falcon Critical » Tue Jan 14, 2020 2:34 am

Jeebus was Mass Effect 2 this year? :pacdown

Control is one of those games I do love to watch new people play, Mari and Stacey do love to get sidetracked, but also did some deep dives on specific lore bits I missed. Jesse Cox's playthrough is also entertaining, I love watching him play anything conspiracy related.

I'll check out that FF7 playthrough.