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veebs-hates-video-games · 4 months

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I'm glad I waited until the last minute to figure out how I felt about the games I played this year because there were some surprise changes right up until the end. I think I managed to get most things I played this year that weren't just demos onto a list and will have opinions on them.

There will potentially be too many to tag properly, but maybe I'll try linking the game titles to the tags and see how that goes, which should bring up any previous posts about them with more detail (although I still haven't finished updating all the old posts to the new tags yet as of writing this so they might not all work right away).

Also except for the final category stuff within each group isn't really in any particular order, and there's no hard boundary between some of the categories where I think everything in one is definitively better than everything in another (e.g. I think Aria of Sorrow is better than at least some of the stuff in the "pleasantly surprised category", but I liked it exactly as much as I expected to so it is where it is).

So starting from the worst:

Fate/EXTELLA LINK was the least fun I had with a game all year. It's like what if a Musou game felt worse to play and also had an extremely uncomfortable level of pandering to weebs and their waifus in the writing. Blech.

Diablo 2: Resurrected is literally unplayable without creating an account and being online even though D2 has always had offline single player. They don't actually mention this. I only have it because it was cheaper to get the bundle with D2 and D3 than D3 by itself.

Super Mario 3D World is the least fun I've had with a Mario game in literally decades. 3D movement with a fixed camera is awful. I still like the full 3D games and the 2D ones, but this is nope for me.

Pendula Swing is honestly probably fine on a different platform (read: with a mouse and keyboard), but the Switch version is borderline unplayable. The idea seemed interesting but it was so clunky I couldn't get into it.

Ys Origin just hasn't aged well. I played it a long time ago and it was in the "fine, I guess" category, but trying to replay it after some of the newer ones (which will be further down the list) was rough.

And then games that were mostly just disappointing to me:

Diablo 3 is one of those things everyone kept saying at least feels the best to play out of all the modern ARPGs for years, so I finally gave in and tried it to see what all the fuss was about. It feels like Torchlight 2.5 with a bigger budget and was kind of uninspiring overall.

The Outer Worlds was something I was really hopeful about, but I just didn't find anything at all about it enjoyable.

Pokemon Picross is just a bunch of free-to-play bullshit ruining something that could've been fun. The world is better off with the eShop shut down so no one can play it anymore.

Persona 5 Royal is another one I was really looking forward to that I just did not click with at all. The first few hours were full of minor annoyances and did very little to win me over.

AI: The Somnium Files had potential and sounded interesting, but moon logic for solving puzzles should've stayed in the 90s and I could do without all the random horniness.

The World Ends With You: Final Remix and NEO: The World Ends With You are frustrating because they have so many interesting ideas and a neat presentation but just aren't any fun to play, especially the first one.

Tales of Vesperia just hasn't aged super well I think. I know there are people who like it, and I was looking forward to it, but I think I would've had to play it closer to stuff like Tales of Symphonia to appreciate it.

Inscryption is not my thing at all. It's a shame because I loved Pony Island, but I just couldn't get into this one.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is a Donkey Kong Country game, which have always been just ok to me. I should've remembered that and not bought into the hype over the years.

Next is stuff I liked the idea of but didn't really like playing enough to stick with it:

Titanfall 2 has really neat movement and stuff, and I've heard the later levels do some interesting stuff, but beyond that the actual combat wasn't really my thing.

Ori and the Blind Forest had too many frustrating bits to keep me playing through the parts I did like.

Disgaea 4 seemed fun and like it had a lot of potential, but I always find that kind of SRPG way too fiddly, ever since I tried the original Final Fantasy Tactics.

Marenian Tavern Story: Patty and the Hungry God is just a worse version of Blacksmith of the Sand Kingdom (see later on the list), which is understandable because they made it first.

Bravely Default I mostly played a couple years ago, but this year I put another dozen hours in and finally gave up on it. I really like a lot of stuff about it, but there were just too many things that frustrated or annoyed me.

They Bleed Pixels seems like fun and has some good pixel art (mostly the story stuff outside the gameplay segments), but I don't think it's for me.

Hero Hours Contract is an amazing idea and I love almost everything about it except for actually playing it.

Luckslinger took forever for me to get around to. The idea of luck being a consumable resource you have to manage is really neat, but I wasn't really enjoying the actual game, even if "pixel art hip hop spaghetti western" sounds great on paper.

Carto is one I don't really have anything against beyond apparently glitching it into an unrecoverable state and not being invested enough to start over.

Cris Tales is another one of those ones where I like a lot of stuff about it except for actually playing it.

Anarcute was a lot of fun for a little while, but it started introducing more elements I tend to not really like. Definitely one of the cuter games on the list with one of the best theme songs though.

Followed by things I had mixed feelings on or the "fine, I guess" category:

PixelJunk Eden 2 was fun enough, but they changed things from the original in a way that seems to be to make it more suitable for mobile, and I feel like most of them made it worse.

Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars didn't quite stick the landing. I loved the idea of everything being cards on a table with a single narrator/GM running everything, and the world and characters were interesting enough for a while. It didn't quite hold up for me all the way through to the end though.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is...better than Breath of the Wild, at least? It's smoothed over a lot of my biggest annoyances with that, and it's amazing that half the stuff in it even works at all, but it still doesn't feel like Zelda to me and has been pretty low priority to get back to and finish.

Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness and the Secret Hideout has one of the worst openings of any game I've played in years and absolutely awful pacing. It did seem to finally have opened up and gotten potentially rather good where I left off (and might get back to one of these days), but it shouldn't take half a dozen hours for that.

Yoku's Island Express is a clever idea and was a pretty good time for a while, but it's also one of the buggiest things I've played in the past year, and that's what drove me to stop playing.

Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age is frustrating to go back to. I loved the demo when I played it a couple years ago, but redoing everything now because I'm playing the full game on a different platform kinda sucks because of how slow the start is.

Will Die Alone has an interesting premise and way of interacting with it, but it stops short of quite saying as much with it as I would've liked.

Chaos;Head Noah had so much potential that kind of got wasted in the end. I really liked a lot of stuff about it along the way, but it's also kind of a mess. Hopefully when I get around to Steins;Gate they'll have learned to do it better because the anime for that one was great.

I'LL KILL HER is basically an interactive comic book, and the main strength is the art. The rest is fine I guess. Every content warning for this one.

Murder by Numbers is a constant mix of mildly amusing and mildly annoying. I hope they can even things out if they make more games in the future.

And then games that were pretty good but not my favorites:

Kuukiyomi: Consider It is a silly idea and doesn't overstay its welcome. I haven't felt an urge to play the sequels so far though.

Theatrhythm Final Bar Line is definitely the best in the series and has tons of great music, but I still have some issues with this style of music/rhythm game that keep me from completely loving it.

Cadence of Hyrule was kind of annoying when I first started playing the demo, but once I got the hang of it I had a pretty good time mostly. The huge difficulty spike at the end left me less happy with it than I was for most of the game though.

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is probably the best game in this category, much better than most of the others, and my favorite Castlevania game, but it's a little short of being one of my favorites overall this year.

Syrup and the Ultimate Sweet is probably my second favorite in thie category and rather cute and silly.

One Night: Burlesque is the "worst" game in this category and doesn't entirely succeed at what it's trying to do, but I appreciate the effort and the overall vibes.

Gunma's Ambition -You and Me Are Gunma- is literally just a single joke drawn out for like an hour, but they lean into it enough to make it work.

LOUD: My Road to Fame has a couple weird design decisions that make it a bit frustrating toward the end, but up until then it's a surprisingly fun music/rhythm game with decent original music.

Lara Croft GO has some pretty decent puzzles in it and is probably my second favorite Tomb Raider game at this point, but I also had some Issues with it that held it back a little bit.

Next are the ones that I was pleasantly surprised by that were better than I expected:

Pixel Puzzle Makeout League was not what I expected. I figured it would just be picross with a silly dating sim on top, but I had no idea about the themes and ideas it would go into, and the entire ending section of the game in general was great and totally unexpected.

Blacksmith of the Sand Kingdom really surprised me. I had zero expectations going in, and while it isn't quite great at anything it's good to very good at a lot of things and was pretty satisfying in the end.

Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion is the most Zelda-like game I've played this year (with close competition from another game down the list), and an actual Zelda game came out this year. Exactly as long as it needed to be and went in a more interesting direction than I thought it would.

Majotori is something I accidentally stumbled on because it was on a list of games that at least tangentially have lesbians in them, and it's delightfully silly.

Death end re;Quest really surpassed my expectations, even if I have significant enough issues with it that it's hard to recommend without caveats. it did some surprisingly interesting things though, and I keep thinking about it from time to time.

Rabisco+ was an impulse purchase because it randomly came up and was very cheap and I had no idea what was going on in the cover art. It turned out to be a short but pretty fun arcade-style puzzle game.

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana was the first Ys game I played since Ys Origin first came out in English, and the series has really come a long way since then and is much better these days.

Demong Hunter was basically an impulse joke purchase because I had to know what makes a demong different from a demon. I still have no idea, but this was way better than I expected from what initially seemed like a cheap mobile game.

Ys IX: Monstrum Nox wasn't quite as good overall as the previous game in the series, but I still had a lot of fun with Goth Adol, and all the new movement abilities added a lot to it.

Perfect Gold did a surprisingly decent job of having flawed characters who worked through problems in their relationship without making them annoying or unlikable like often happens.

Trigger Witch is the other most Zelda-like game I played this year. I totally grabbed it because of the cover art and it was on sale, but it's a pretty solid twin-stick shooter mixed with the LttP/LA era of Zelda.

Will You Snail? was pretty unknown to me before I started playing because I somehow avoided anyone else playing it or talking about it, but it turned out to be a pretty good precision platformer with a fun gimmick, which is hard to pull off for me because I can be kinda picky about how platformers feel to play for some reason.

Vivid Knight managed to absorb nearly all my game time until I finished it, which I did not see coming. I did eventually start to see the cracks in the systems and stopped enjoying it as much, but up until then I got pretty wrapped up in it.

And finally the ones that were probably my favorites, not necessarily in order but with the best generally toward the end:

Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition and Xenoblade Chronicles: Future Connected would be more toward the top of the list except this was a replay so I'm disqualifying it. I played the Wii version originally, and they sure did improve almost everything in an already great game in this version.

Bowser's Fury was about as enjoyable as Super Mario 3D World was unenjoyable. I'm not sure it would quite work for a full size Mario game, but there were some good ideas in this one.

Trials of Mana really polished up an older game that I thought was kind of underwhelming back in the day and turned it into something I had a great time with. Between this and the recent announcement of the new game I'm cautiously optimistic about something good in the Mana series finally happening for the first time since the PS1.

Harvestella really caught me off guard. I was expecting a farming sim with some Final Fantasy-style nonsense on top, and it turned out to be 85% JRPG with a story I liked more than anything FF has done in years.

Can Androids Pray is the most last minute addition to this list on December 30th. When a short story (in any medium) really focuses in on a single relationship or conversation or event or idea so well that it implies the existence of the entire rest of the universe around that my brain just starts vibrating. This is one of those.

The House in Fata Morgana takes a long road to get to its ending and the characters earn every step of the way there. It also surprised me by being a totally different flavor of queer than I expected.

Unpacking wins the award for best vibes. I had a lot of feelings about this one, probably including some they weren't expecting people to have when they made it, and it does a better job telling a story than most stuff on this list despite having no visible characters and almost zero dialogue.

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim I think wins for my favorite story/writing this year. People said it was a great sci-fi story, and not just for a video game, and they were right.

Fire Emblem Engage is the winner for my favorite gameplay. They absolutely nailed a lot of the mechanics and systems on the game design side of things, and it's my favorite Fire Emblem game at this point.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed gets this spot for my favorite overall. They polished the already great gameplay of XC3, introduced some great new characters and brought back some old ones, and managed to expand on a lot of the story from the entire trilogy and tie up a bunch of stuff all at the same time.

And I guess that's finally that. There were some pretty big disappointments for me, but there were even more really great games I played and ones I had no idea I'd like as much as I did. I think I'm just going to tag stuff in the final two categories (since that's what'll fit) and call it a day.

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fancypantsrecords · 2 years

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Falcom Sound Team jdk - Ys VIII: Lacrimosa Of Dana Original Soundtrack | Wayô Records | 2022 | "Blue Of Eternia" Marbled | /500

#falcom sound team jdk #ys viii: lacrimosa of dana #wayô records #vinyl #colored vinyl #lp #music #box set #records #record collection #vgm #video game music #soundtrack #ys series #nihon falcom

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satoshi-mochida · 1 year

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The PS5 version of Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana releases today in North America, and on the 18th in the EU. It is also available for the PS4, Switch, Vita(if you can find a copy) and Steam.

#Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana #Ys VIII #Ys 8 #Ys #Ys Series #Falcom #NIS America

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adoroos · 2 years

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Ys Series YuruHowa Buttons - Series 1

#Ys #Ys Series #Ys VIII #Ys 8 #Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana #Adol Christin #Dana Iclucia #Laxia von Roswell #Sahad Nautilus #Hummel Trabaldo #Ricotta Beldine

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nintendo-europe · 2 years

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Sample the epic tale of Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA for free with Game Trials, exclusive to Nintendo Switch Online members!

Download now so you're ready to begin your journey on 18/08: http://ntdo.co.uk/60144pqxr

#Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA #Ys VIII #Ys #Game Trials #Nintendo #Nintendo Switch

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professoricepick · 2 years

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Speculation on: Falcom, circa Summer 2022

Man, I know I wanted to hold off on doing another one of these for some time… but I think I may have overdone it. Granted, I made the decision to push back writing a Summer speculation article for Falcom until I finished my most recent post on Retronaissance… and since it’s just a rough draft waiting to be edited at this point, I feel like I’m safe to finally dip back into my sideblog. And not a…

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#kiseki #kuro no kiseki #nihon falcom #nis america #the legend of nayuta: boundless trails #trails #trails from zero #trails in the sky #trails into reverie #trails of cold steel #trails to azure #ys #ys i & ii chronicles+#ys ix: monstrum nox #ys seven #ys viii: lacrimosa of dana #ys x #ys: memories of celceta

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bangpuddingmuffin · 14 days

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Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana

I enjoyed Ys VIII, although I think I enjoyed most of the other Ys games (barring 2 and 5) more than it. The lack of fixed camera angles and the dramatic lengthening of the game were both to its detriment, I thought. The writing was occasionally far too verbose, and most of the characters simply weren't interesting to me, but I did think Dana and Adol were enjoyable characters.

Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMOeTsMoezKb4vDK0ILInSqcDmO4SlKs7

#ys viii: lacrimosa of dana #playthrough #series #finished #ys #arpg #nihon falcom #4/5

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todayimgonnaplay · 2 months

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Today I'm Gonna Play: Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA

The only Ys game I've played so far is IX: Monstrum Nox, and I've heard lots of praise for VIII. I've been putting it off but had some folks recommend the game to me which finally pushed me to play it.

What seems to be a staple in Ys seems to be what this series is really good at. Fast-paced combat with barely any input lag, a bunch of monsters to beat up to your liking, and a range of (somewhat flashy) skills you can use to wipe the floor. I think it works great for people that are into beat em' ups and hack and slash. Both titles focus on exploration as well, but the difference between IX and VIII is that the latter is more of an open world, with a castaway island setting where the cast has to survive and discover the mysteries behind the Isle of Seiren. On paper, this sounds really exciting and it does seem to have success on practice. But personally, this has not worked out for me. The map is by no means massive to the likes of a triple A title like GTA, but I don't think small open worlds work either. Much of the map feels repetitive with it having a sprinkle of resources to find for crafting or side quests, maybe a specific area or two that could be designated as a landmark, which is really just for completionist purposes and nothing else (I think it would've served as a good way to use fast travel, since they're landmarks), and a BUNCH of monsters littered about. I'm fine with fighting them as that's the main aspect of combat, but I felt that this quickly started to get stale compared to IX. My biggest gripe with the map is its design, which can thankfully be remedied via the options menu. By default, the minimap has a dynamic compass feature that moves as your character moves and rotates. If you're not good at reading directions like me, this makes traversing extremely frustrating and you'll end up running around in circles wondering how to get to another area. I nearly wanted to quit the game until I found out you could set the compass to static, making it much more easy for me to progress. But even then, I could notice its minimap system is a little lacking compared to IX, which to me has now become the gold standard of navigating in JRPGs. But I can't blame the game since this is a previous title.

The story is intriguing, as it follows a classic formula of being in an undiscovered location filled with mystery, most notably about an entire civilization as well as creatures roaming about. It's perfect for those who love adventure which is what Ys is all about. It does have a couple hiccups though where there was a sudden tonal shift that didn't really add much to the overall story. Some parts about the reason of conflict/plot in the game didn't feel persuasive enough for me to support what the cast was fighting for. But as usual, Ys' endings leave a bittersweet feeling in my heart whenever I finish them. I can't seem to connect with the characters much in this title compared to IX, they seem to be a little more tropey (such as having a tsundere, or a pompous noble that gets barely any repercussions from others for the trouble they cause) although they do show some growth as the game progresses. There was also a weird part that suddenly introduced a murder mystery subplot, which I felt was unnecessary. It didn't really add much to the game other than just get rid of some characters that hinders the exploration part of the gampeplay. The character designs also seem to be really odd apart from a few. One would think (apart from Adol who does get a costume change) that characters may want to change clothes while being castaway to something more suitable for the situation and climate, but the game instead focuses on making their clothes fit their background/personality instead. This would be good as an introduction, but a wardrobe change wouldn't hurt, I think. A good example of a simple change could be from Persona 3 Reload, where the main cast now has access to outfits that look battle ready instead of fighting off Shadows in just their school uniform.

There are a couple aspects that I really do like about the game. One is notably the music. I've heard good things about Sunshine Coastline and it definitely doesn't miss! What I also love is the main theme of the game. It's been a really long time where a main theme impresses me from the first listen without some nostalgia factor being attached to it. Each track really fits the mood of what's going on; calming you in this mysterious yet serene island, or pumping you up to get into fighting off enemies. The second thing I like are the render images in the skills menu, showing everyone's serious faces with a dynamic pose gets me fired up when I equip new skills, It sets a nice example of UX in action.

Overall, I feel a little sad that I can't experience the joy that other players feel when they praise this title. But then again, I seem to like titles like IX which people seem to dislike, so it's interesting to see how opinions can differ. I'm glad to have given this a shot anyway, and wouldn't discourage anyone from trying it out. Heck, you might end up loving it.

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#game analysis #game review #game reviews #youtube #gaming #jrpg games #nihon falcom #nis america #nisa #ys #ys viii #ys 8 #ys viii: lacrimosa of dana #Youtube

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frickingnerd · 5 months

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being dana iclucia's protector

pairing: dana iclucia x gn!reader

tags: minor spoilers for ys viii, slight angst

as the maiden of the great tree, dana has a protector to accompany her wherever she goes, whether she likes it or not

dana doesn't believe that she needs someone to protect her and that you'd be better off protecting the city or some noble person living there

but neither of you can get out of this arrangement and while you try to not bother dana while she does her job, you still have to stick around her

though the two of you learn to get used to your situation, trying to view this as two friends spending time together, rather than a maiden and her bodyguard

still, you keep a respectable distance from dana, trying to be a friend to her, as well as her protector

you care about her a lot and not just because you're supposed to care for her

though whenever dana is in danger and you have to protect her, the two of you are reminded of the type of relationship you two truly are

in the end, she's above you and you're just here to protect her, even if it costs you your life

and while dana doesn't want you to jump into danger to protect her and wants to be your equal, you insist that this is what you have to do

because it's your job. and anyone could do your job, but only dana can do her job, as the maiden of the great tree…

#dana iclucia x reader #dana x reader #ys dana #dana iclucia #dana #iclucia #x reader #x you #x y/n #x gn reader #headcanons #fluff #angst #ys viii: lacrimosa of dana #lacrimosa of dana #ys viii #ys 8 #ys x reader #ys

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amygoldman90 · 1 year

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Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA (Epilogue) [HD]

#youtube #ys viii: lacrimosa of dana

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veebs-hates-video-games · 6 months

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Ok let's do the thing and be caught up for the first time this year probably. Ys 8: pretty good actually?

Ys is another series I have a weird relationship with. Like I remember when bump combat was still a thing, and the most recent one I had played was Ys Origin when it was still newly released in English, and I liked it enough to finish it but that's about it. I kind of gave up on the series at that point because I'd never been very invested in it, and I didn't expect much from it going forward.

Finally after hearing lots of people say lots of good things about Ys 8 and putting it on lists of their favorite RPGs next to a bunch of other stuff I really like I gave in and decided to give it a try, but I didn't really expect much. I was pleasantly surprised though, and it's really come a long way from those older games.

It's another one of those games that doesn't quite do anything amazingly, incredibly well, but pretty much everything it does do it does well enough to be pretty satisfying, and there's not much it does wrong enough to get annoying.

Adol Christin continues to be The World's Least Interesting Man (who has the most interesting things happen to him), but most of the other characters are fun to have around and have a lot more personality than he does, and the story was a lot more involved than I expected from last having played Origin like a decade ago, because that's pretty story light and has pretty weak writing. Ys 8 doesn't do anything totally groundbreaking or revolutionary, but it's a pretty enjoyable story and paced pretty well alongside the mechanical game progression side of things (except for toward the end where it drags a bit in a few spots).

And on the gameplay side of things they've definitely refined the concept a lot over the years. There's still a bit of room to improve on the ideas and polish stuff a little more, but it has a pretty good loop, and running around exploring or getting perfect dodges/guards and all the bonuses those give you is pretty fun. I kind of wish there were slightly more depth to the skill system beyond find the strongest one that feels good to use and spam it whenever you can afford to, but oh well. At least the accessory that increases your run speed basically gives you bump combat back (which isn't good, just like it never really was, but it's kind of nostalgic). Also bonus points for doing a much better job than most things I've played this year at having actual variety in boss fight mechanics and making you approach them differently.

Image quality playing handheld on the Switch is kind of questionable like a lot of early Switch games, and there's tons of aliasing and texture shimmer that gets a little distracting sometimes, but aside from that it looks nice enough. The music never quite does anything that really makes me stop and go wow they did something really interesting and unexpected there, but it's catchy enough and gets stuck in my head sometimes.

I could write an entire separate post about the game's take on gender, which sometimes is vaguely 2010s progressive with several female characters who can do anything any of the guys can just as well or better, but while the game simultaneously has weirdly regressive "women and children" attitudes like 20 seconds later in a different scene, and half the female characters are in ridiculously contrived half naked outfits. Super weird and jarring sometimes, but also kind of interesting how odd it is that it managed to do both at the same time.

Random other thoughts:

Fishing is fun and it's amusing that there are boss fights for the fishing minigame, but seriously please we've moved beyond having to button mash for stuff like that. Spare my poor fingers.

Sahad surprisingly ended up being one of my favorite characters because he's so genuine and just seems like a good dude and is great with kids, but he's also the only character I can think of who talks about peeing themself more than that one girl from Death end re;Quest, and I could've done without that.

Speaking of kids, I actually liked a lot of the kids most of the time and thought they were handled better than average (which I know isn't saying much with how terrible they can be in some games). Quina in particular is a little gremlin, and that's great.

And speaking of great, Silvia is great, and they should let me play as her.

So yeah, pretty good game overall, enough to get me to finish like 95% of stuff in it and make me want to play Ys IX: Adol Goes to Goth Jail, and now that my faith in Falcom's ability to make good games has been restored I'm more interested again in playing the Trails games. That would require my computer though since hardly any of them are on the Switch, so that'll have to wait until I have a comfortable way to play games on there and actually see the screen.

#ys viii: lacrimosa of dana #ys

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